/lit/ - Literature

>>17901012
>Do books define your identity?
Not at all. That sounds awful.

>>17901012
>larper
indeed

>>17901012
Absolutely. I even base my whole person on the book I am currently reading and act accordingly. Can you guess the book I am reading right now? It starts with an L.

>>17901034
Kek

>>17901012
I left my identity at the ferris wheel and when I went back it was missing

>>17901057
Ok murakami

hobbies are fucking gay man. I wish people would shut the fukc up about them. They all seem so unnatural or shallow. Hobbies are so flimsy I dont understand why people even consider them worthy of conversation. Why doesnt anyone have passions anymore. Its just 'ummmm i like to watch tv idk'

>>17901084
What do you do?

>>17901084
There's no reasonable distinction between a hobby and a passion except that which you've invented. Watching TV isn't a hobby. Why don't people have hobbies? People are shallow, lazy, and uninteresting, the same reason you spend most of your free time here.

>>17901096
I don't have any passions worth discussing. I exist, barely. Nihilism killed my interest in the material world. I spend my days contemplating the meaninglessness of my suffering and finding the strength not to put a bullet through my head. Yes i've had shallow interest that people would consider hobbies, but unlike them I don't consider any of them a part of my identity in the slightest, just fleeting compulsions.

>>17901084
this is unironically one of the most NPC tier things I've read on this board

>>17901012
Fuck no I'd be no better than a drone at that point

>>17901204
I'm describing my frustration with NPCs you fool.

>>17901012
No, and you should never judge a person by what they read either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyWFwVjVIeE

>>17901190
>I exist, barely. Nihilism killed my interest in the material world. I spend my days contemplating the meaninglessness of my suffering and finding the strength not to put a bullet through my head. Yes i've had shallow interest that people would consider hobbies, but unlike them I don't consider any of them a part of my identity in the slightest, just fleeting compulsions.
To be frank, I dunno if this mindset is bringing you much happiness.

>>17901190
So you just sit there being mad all day?

>>17901012
I like fapping to hentai and marvel movies

>>17901282
I jerk off too

>>17901012
no because I don't want to attach my ego to something external

>no one wants to have kids with me, i run once a week, i read once a month, i take photos of sunsets, i once volunteered in highschool
lel okay

>>17901219
You're frustrated because you are one.

>>17901233
Its not.
>>17901282
I don't get mad about anything, because I don't believe in free will. I don't just sit down all day, I do all the things a normal person does. I just don't attach my identity to external materialistic trash. I take long maladaptive daydreaming walks where I imagine my suicide attempt triggers immortality. I can masurbate for hours. I read philosophy in an attempt to find a reason to live. Sometimes I walk the trail at night and assault homeless people. I am earning a degree. Im learning a new language. Everyone else is wearing a mask and I can see past it. I don't understand why people keep up such transparent facades, maybe they aren't even conscious of it.

>>17901012
Identity is a spook

>>17901367
You sound like a 13 year old but is probably in his twenties

>>17901429
early-twenties

>>17901367
Utter bugman.

>>17901367
Is this pasta?

>>17901429
what if I say it like this instead

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

>>17901412
no because the unique is p good you know because of uhh well reasons n shit

>>17901444
>>17901367
schizoid

>>17901479
and i'm tired of pretending i'm not. I don't even think any of you are real anymore. This is an interactive diary. Who knows what you are. I doubt the government would put this much energy into manipulating me. Which is why I'm starting to think everyone's individual 4chan experience is controlled by an AI. I come here to vomit thoughts and surf the zeitgeist.

>>17901412
>>17901473
Those are some rare Stirners. Saved.

>>17901490
anon you need to unplug for a bit. have you tried picking up drinking?

>>17901012
I don't define my sense of self based on external things like hobbies, employment, possessions or relationships, or lack thereof. Because I'm not an NPC.

>>17901012
I am large, I contain multitudes

>>17901190
>reeeee you can't just not be happy playing shitty video games all day! you have to get into esoteric waterlogged wood carpentry or something, that'll totally make you happy!!! stop not doing things!!
t. the NPCs replying to you

>>17901680
verily, too many calories though.

>>17901012
Well, I like to play vidya, workout, watch football, play the piano (learning), invest (crypto), and of course reading

I guess you could say that the specific books, and even television and such stuff that I enjoy are actually fairly representative of my passions and hopes and dreams of the past and the future, I dont think I would define myself by the fact that I read books though so much as by so many of the ideas and feelings they convey, my passions and sorrows for gods creation, all that jazz.

>>17901012
That is DEFINITELY a fucking tranny. Trannies are like a cancer. They are a tumor on the female sex.

>virgin defining yourself by your hobbies
>chad defining yourself by your familial relations, your greatest accomplishment, and how many ships you brought the achaeans

>>17901190
Man im so happy i never fell so hard for the nihilism meme

>>17901072

I’m mildly amused.

>>17901012

>Or do you have many hobbies and interests?
Yes, many.

>Do books define your identity?
It doesn't and nor do any of my hobbies, it's probably more my job, things I have done (University, courses etc), and how I interact with the world socially.

>>17901012
Books add spice. I wouldn't say they define me. But reading widely adds to your knowlege of the world and gives you multiple perspectives to draw from. So reading generally makes you a more interesting person.

Identity is a spook, however. Study Hume. We're just a bundle of sensations that exist in the present and our only sense of persistent identity is memory impressions of a past that no longer exists. I share no identity or fellowship with myself as a newborn infant than I do with any other infant. There is no essence of identity, only hazy self-perceptions and culturally constructed associations that have no real substance if you strip them away and remove the context.

>>17901012
No but "dry" (aka the brainlet filter) prose does.
I really like learning new technical words.

>>17901969
IT IS I ANONOMOUS, THE SOLDIER
SON OF FAGGOTCULUS, WHO DRINKS MEN'S MILK
I HAVE SLAYED THE LION OF NIGGERLAND
AND CLIMBED MOUNT OLYMPUS IN SEARCH OF "MILK"
I BRING 795 SHIPS

no having a bunch of original ideas/perspectives and forsaking the world defines me

>>17901204
it might be stupid, but its not an npc stance. get you categorizations correct. you can like hobbies, but that doesnt mean that the vast majority of people would say they haveone.

>>17901190
>>17901367
based contemplation hobbist.

Iam also quite a fan of it.

>>17901499

>defining your identity through your hobbies
>defining your identity

>>17901499
>>17901412
why do sternerites act like such redditors?

>>17901367
idk you seem pretty based to me despite being retarded (a nihilist). what's wrong with your life as it stands? surely if you can pierce through everything you should be able to know how to direct your own mind such that you can generate happiness. it's as weak and fake stuff as anything else, no?

>Everyone else is wearing a mask and I can see past it
everyone can dude they just won't admit it because it shatters their mental constructs and results in a debilitating self-consciousness. even the reason used to come to this point is broken, making you wonder if it had any weight to begin with.

also, there are many reasons for it, first and foremost having functional/effective social interactions and being able to form relationships. it's not muh society gotta chug along it's that people want to do this. i don't see how acknowledging this is a problem though. to see the flimsiness of something doesn't make it meaningless or nonexistent. the bottom of the stack, the final distilled truth, does not exist and if it did it wouldn't affect anything.

>>17901012
Wrong. She's a genetic dead end.

>>17901282
>>17901285
lol

>>17901012
I have many hobbies and interests, reading is just one of them. Books don't define my identity, though they have influenced how I think and who I am to a small degree.

I have varying levels of involvement in all of my hobbies, some I am super in to and spend hours every week doing and improving in, some I do casually or even seasonally.

I have one hobby of 20 years where I would consider myself to be of master skill level. This one provides a part of my identity as I am known for my skill by friends and family, and I occasionally get approached by people I don't know, from the hobby community, who are aware of my work and skill.

I have some hobbies that are minor. I play electric guitar perhaps 3 hours per week, perhaps 30 minutes per day or so. It's fun but I don't think I have any knack for it, even with repeated practice. This hobby doesn't make up any of my identity, because it's not a big part of my life and probably wont be. I will continue to try it for another year and decide if I want to continue. If not I will probably try something else to see if I can strike up a new interest. Finding a new hobby and getting in to that flow state where you're finding true enjoyment where time flies by and you know it's been used on something more meaningful than browsing 4chan or watching youtube is a true joy that not enough people experience regularly.

Thanks for reading my blog post.

>>17901190
You would benefit from heroin

>>17902499
a larper, as she said. but so are most of us.

no but they can became small part of my personality deepening on the impact and to be precise its not unique to books at all almost anything and everything can do that

>>17901490
You're right, I'm just a product of your imagination. This message is just a series of 1's and 0's created to cause you great disturbance

>>17901204
nihilistic piece of shit?

>>17901190

>>17901282
Not him but yes that's how I spend all my days.

>>17902456
reject spooke
return to monkego

>>17902047
>We're just a bundle of sensations that exist in the present
Kinda, we also exist in the future before it happens and create it to our own will.
> our only sense of persistent identity is memory impressions of a past that no longer exists
It definitely exists in our minds. Which in turn defines the way we act, hence why it shapes our present and future (it goes without saying that we 're not automatons that just act on past experiences). That is why the past is also very much real, through the transportation of ideas in time things of the past dont die and the future already exists.
>I share no identity or fellowship with myself as a newborn infant than I do with any other infant
Debatable but I'll agree
>There is no essence of identity, only hazy self-perceptions and culturally constructed associations that have no real substance if you strip them away and remove the context.
See point 1 and point 2

>>17901367
if I make it out of the next few months I'm writing a novel about you anon. This is probably the funniest thing I've read in the past few years.

>Is your personality based on one thing?
>No, because my personality is based on more than one thing
Uhm, icelbros...we got too cocky

based her entire life on reddit lmao

>>17901367
>I can masurbate for hours.
>Sometimes I walk the trail at night and assault homeless people
lmao

>>17901190
for starters, dump nihilism. absolute meme

>>17901367
bruh ur literally a psychopath

>>17901190
Holy reddit

>Reddit screenshot OP
The absolute state of /lit/

>>17901084
True, passion is pure cringe!

>>17904846
Can you read? It says the opposite

>>17901012
I detest the LinkedIn/Twitter-driven obsession with self identifying labels. I’m just a human being. In fact, I’m barely that.

>>17901367
How are you going to manage this when you inevitably have to get a job? I can tell you from experience that detachment and indifference to it is not an option. Not wearing a mask isn’t even an option most of the time.

>>17901084
I completely agree. They’re just not important.

>>17901190
>>17901367
I am basically you but I manage to somehow care enough to hold a job from 9 to 5 and despite being completely isolated and lonely, I have a desire to meet women and double suicide with them.

>>17901190
>>17901367
This is going in my character inspiration collection

Even framing things one does as a hobby is capitalist bullshit. The only thing that differentiates a hobby from a job is getting paid for it. You are defining yourself as the individual and the objects you interact with. By defining yourself by your hobbies you are removing the one thing that actually gives you credence and uniqueness, your relation to the people around you. You are isolating and removing the context of who you truly are by telling people the activities you like to engage with.

>>17901190
I think you're just a boring individual explaining your own banality with nihilism lmao

>>17901012
>childfree
none of her play pretend identities won't make up for the fact she's absolutely meaningless and she'll come to realize that once the attention stops flowing. people will stop inviting her over for gatherings and stop complimenting her stupid photos.

my only pleasure is seeing others crash and burn by their own stupidity and I'm close to saying I wouldn't want it any other way.

>>17905061
Your relation to people isn't exempt from being a consumer product (sign). However, people do often use their hobby as self-marketing; but I see that more as a symptom of how social-media culture has warped people.

>>17903383
Based

>>17905027
lay that dream to sleep, no woman is that interesting

>>17905061
If that so, through what can i define myself? Emotions, feelings? Does telling my preferences in literature or movies still qualifies as "capitalist bullshit"?

>>17901034
I don't get it

>>17901034
Les miserables?

>>17905006
I managed it for six years when I was in the Army, I'm very adaptable. I can fit in just fine. I get $1600 a month in disability payments, so if I can't hold a job after college I'm planning on buying a trailer in the desert and riding out my time there. I think the most probable outcome is I will hold a respectable well paying job in my field for a few years before I have a mental breakdown and commit suicide.

>>17906141
I think army is very different from a 9 to 5.

>>17906079
>>17906106
Second letter : o

>>17906185
>>17906185
Lowers in the Attic?

>>17901012
It's funny because shes not talking about how she sees herself, the end puts the validation firmly back in the palm of an external.

>>17905957
Your uniqueness is based off your relationships to other people. Your taste in consumptive media isn't unique. Sure, it's part of what facilitates those relationships, but it is the bond itself that sets you apart from the other 100,000 frogposters.

>>17901034
Linfinite Jest?

>>17906185
Lolita?

>>17901012
Why are women so desperate for this?

It's like they're being driven into creating these lifestyles where they have multiple hobbies and career goals, perhaps achieving various academic qualifications too, all at the expense of being a Wife and Mother.

Why are they so obsessed with all of this superfluous stuff?

Is it really third wave feminism that has done this to them?

>>17901012

>>17901012
How can books define your identity? You can literally read about anything. Every intellectual interest basically has some reading component and even hobbies that have you making/doing something have books that advance your skills.

>>17901367
You're probably the closest to enlightenment out of anyone here. All you have to do is find a cave and meditate there for a few years until you dissolve into light or something. You must be really close with all that dispassion.

>>17901333
Based and kekpilled

>>17901012
Books don't define my identity

My identity defines books

>>17901367
have you considered that maybe your own mode of thought and identification is completely unexempt from the thing you are describing?

>>17901190
you on some reddit shit

>>17907663
bro if he's close to enlightenment that means pretty much every 16 year old male is too

>>17901012
>Do you ever feel like your identity is based on one external thing?
The woman replies that NO, it is instead based on MANY external things!

How telling.

>>17901034
Lon Quixote?

>>17901012
Identity is a meme, and everyone who cares about it is a retard

>>17901190
>>17905027
I hope you guys can find peace in life. And first anon, is the homeless person thing a joke? Do you not believe in morality? Have you guys thought about seeking help?

>>17901012
I don't have an identity. Because the word "I" does not exist.

>>17902007
Amused enough to listen to a specific jazz record while making spaghetti?

God I wish I had an identity. I just feel like an amorphous blob with severe anhedonia.

>>17908662
Why not get a personality instead?

>>17908677
Dunno how. I'm bad with people and just come across as an anxious CS major. Fucking hate CS majors though.

>>17908693
Get rid of your anxiousness then

>>17909806
yeah bro just be happy

>>17908577
>seeking help?
You can't talk me out of this valley, i'm in too deep.

>>17906778
We have a winner!

>>17909866
It's either being happy or not being happy; your choice!

>>17901084
Much better than ((consume))

>>17909868
I don’t think you’re hopeless, anon. Do you think you could find meaning in bringing happiness to others? What’s the primary driving force behind your nihilism? Do you think there’s any hypothetical way that an existence could have meaning, or is its meaninglessless intrinsic?

>>17901367
this is why i stopped coming to /lit/

>>17901012
I don't have any hobbies or interests.
I like pussy, good food and beer. And maybe the occasional good book.

>>17907524
Bro my mom had tons of hobbies, what are you even babbling about?

>>17901012
>counter to non-existent accusation of having an identity based on an external object is to list multiple objects
I'm so grateful that I am not a woman.

>>17910037
Those are all interests

>>17910084
No. Those are basal. More in the line of needs.

>>17909997
>Do you think you could find meaning in bringing happiness to others?
No that doesn't sound compelling to me. I've been thinking recently, why do we even promote happiness so much? Like it is a default or even common state. I can't even remember a time when I was consistently happy for more than a couple hours. Is this normal? Are most people happy for the majority of the time in their lives?
>What’s the primary driving force behind your nihilism?
Yes, I think you're right that my feeling of life being intrinsically meaningless is killing my ability for feel happiness. But does that mean I'm wrong? From my point of view its a coin toss. But if I would try to talk about this with people they would obviously, if they are trying to persuade me to live, argue for the side that life may have meaning, kind of like Pascal's wager. God might exist so you may as well believe, just to be safe. You might find true meaning and happiness one day, so you may as well stick around, just to see.
They must not understand what hopelessness feels like. If they did they wouldn't be so confident. The small flame of hope that's keeping me alive is that there may be a way through this desert of nihilism. But the only way out is to cross all the way to the other side, and I have to do that alone.

>>17910089
agreed you're basically a caveman. Pretty based good job anon.

>>17910109
Why thank you.

>>17910089
You don't "need" beer. Can't believe you retards are pretending not having any interests is something masculine

>>17910116
Didn't say it was masculine. I just don't have any hobbies or interests. Yes I don't need beer. The rest of it I do.

>>17910097
Read Undoing Yourself by Christopher Hyatt to be either entertained or saved (do all the exercises)

>>17910097
I’m not totally sure how to answer you because i’m not sure if I do consider happiness inherently meaningful. Like, if we were all hooked up to opium tubes for the rest of our lives, I wouldn’t see it as a positive development. It’s existence itself— the state of being a conscious, thinking entity—that I find meaningful (as in “worth making moral judgments about”, and I don’t need to boil it down to any part of existence to find meaning. But obviously, if that was satisfactory as a moral axiom to everyone, then you wouldn’t be in your present condition. What I’m trying to get at is that if life has meaning, then you can find meaning not only in yourself but in the people around you — it’s worth acting as a moral agent. Sorry if this sounded pretty pseudy and meaningless, just thought I’d tell you my thoughts.

>>17901282
Sounds based and redpilled (unironically)

>>17901490
I had those thoughts when I was 15 and I used to browse /x/.

>>17901034
Lulysses?

>>17901282
Kinda based ngl