/lit/ - Literature

The Holy Bible

>>18038457
I often end up back there too. I'm kind of there at the moment.

Existentialism only works for a while - whenever I try and construct a big narrative or "purpose" it falls apart and leaves me feeling more lost than before.

I'm just going to try and produce seratonin and reach financial security.

I genuinely dont understand how people fail to find meaning or are bothered by the lack of some sort of grand overarching meaning that the universe is apparently supposed to bend over backwards and present to you on a silver platter. are you just completely disconnected from real life and living entirely in your own head or something?

>>18038465
That's because we need concrete outcomes, not some grand tragic existentialist melodrama, to motivate us.

>>18038457
Destination is a futile goal. The real goal is walking. The road leads toward no certain destinations. Completely give up or start walking and don't look back.

>>18038467
People rightfully find the annihilation of their entire being and many aspects of the human condition to be troubling.

>>18038474
>>18038467

The human brain is designed to look for meaning and a coherent narrative in all things, including themselves and their own past.

It is human instinct to create a meaningful narrative, even if that narrative is just doing well in your job, or living a moral life. Without an internal narrative we are nothing - and I can guarantee you have a purpose that you have decided upon, even if it isn't at the front of your mind.

>>18038485
if you believe nihilism and such is true then who cares? you literally have nothing to fear. if it isn't true then there you go, your existential questions are already answered

>>18038500
so are people like OP just incapable of finding some sort of meaningful narrative? that does sound pretty shit desu but i dont understand why it would be so hard for someone

>>18038516
OP here
I have shit I care for and I am productive most of the time
but at the end of the day most nights I feel I am unable to live in the present and I just feel most shit is meaningless and useles and I wanna kill myself
why is it like this

>>18038485
You should push this despair to extreme. Where you should stop suffering.
Start reading Cioran. There is hidden strength in absolute pessimism.

>>18038503
People aren't rational creatures, nor should they be. A sense of meaning is fundamental to a happy life. It's programmed into us. That's what makes the existentialist dilemma so painful.

>>18038537
>happy life
This is your biggest mistake. To expect happiness. I live in a 3rd world country where nobody expects a happy life. They just simply exist and still go to through their lives. Don't fell for this new age western bullshit meme invented by snake oils gurus to make money.
As in ending scene of Godot where one character complaints that he can't live like that and other says this is what you think.

>>18038523
well i suppose i certainly cant blame you for that given the way society is. I have no trouble finding meaning that lights a fire in heart but sometimes it feels like there is little hope of actually APPLYING that meaning to life in the context of the modern world, that is the thing that cools my passion and makes me fall to despair. I used to be really good at hyping myself and other people up to face this dilemma but im certainly falling into a slump the last couple years

>>18038562
Blame the enlightenment

>>18038562
I don't much of a point to a life like that, but tastes differ. Note that by 'happiness' I don't mean some hedonistic freak show, but rather a pervasive sense of contentment, optimism, and peace with the world.

>>18038457
By not reading philosophy and switching to comics instead.

get good at something, live in the present, find meaning in the journey rather than the end goal
most smart people I know stopped thinking about finding a meaning or purpose at the age of 12
because it's mainly what you do all day
there is no one objective meaning

>>18038457
The Mystery of the Grail

>>18038503
You miss the point. It’s a existential CRISIS for a reason. It’s a crisis because you don’t know, if you did know you wouldn’t be in crisis. Nihilism is the belief in nothing, a strange inconceivable concept. It answers nothing. What does it even mean for nihilism go be true?
>if it isn’t true
First you have to prove that it isn’t true

>>18039010
>What does it even mean for nihilism go be true?
*What does it even mean for nihilism to be true?

>>18038620
This

I’ve haven’t been able to stop thinking about meaning. Like OP, it’s left me miserable, depressed and apathetic. I’ve read a lot of existentialism to try to find some semblance of meaning. I’ve concluded that all religion and philosophy is bullshit. Just find something and commit yourself to it entirely, it doesn’t matter what it is. Just stfu and push forward, we all die in the end anyway, might as well die living towards something rather than nothing.

>>18039019
Nihilism is true if meaning cannot exist independantly of the human mind

>>18039090
What would take the form of meaning, outside of the human mind?

>>18039090
This anon >>18039210
https://youtu.be/bLwJq92JBak

Anyone going to answer this question?
>>18039210

>>18038524
This

Bump

>>18038524
>You should push this despair to extreme.
How without wanting to kill yourself? You push to the extreme it ends in suicidality?

all I can do is wait and hope.
I have a modified trigger on my pistol, escape is one light squeeze away.
waiting and hoping.
Its all I can think about really. I think i'm going insane. I don't see how I can integrate into normal life after living in this pit for so long. But I still have some pride that won't allow me to bottom out while I'm still alive, so I'll kill myself which is more honorable. I don't feel good.

>>18038457
Thus Spoke Zarathustra. But it was not enough, I went further with Being and Time by Heidegger.

Book? No.
They're not magic.

I never did. I just got distracted by the petty concerns of daily life and stopped caring about meaning so much.

>>18038457
Richard Brautigan did. He was melancholy and capably prosaic... but the dude also fucked. It made me realize I should fuck too and loosen up a bit without giving up the darkness.

>>18038463
Ecclesiastes really changed me

>>18040994
all is vanity

>>18041283
if all is vanity I don't understand what path one should choose other than devoting one's life absolutely to God in a monastery. But this would make me sad to live life as a perpetual prayer.

>>18040326
> I don't see how I can integrate into normal life
You can my friend, its easier than you think
>so I'll kill myself which is more honorable. I don't feel good.
There is no point in ending your life prematurely man, I'm not one to give advice, but I wish you the best. Hope things get better for you.

Finding a passion or passions is the solution to nihilism.

In my case it is the desire and will to contribute to science. I also enjoy art, creating and appreciating it.

It makes for a fulfilling life, I believe. What matters is what we do with our time here, and leave a legacy if you so desire. If we all go extinct at one point in history, is irrelevant.

You can't get over it intellectually, you need either a religious conversion or a radical change of your environment (you can change your environment yourself though)

>>18039210
Teleology

>>18039323
Well for one god would disprove it, as the source of all meaning is separate from humanity. Inherent value would upset nihilism - I.e. if it was somehow a natural fact, no idea what that would look like.

An after life would disprove it, as life is given meaning, same for the concept of an eternal soul.

Basically anything that would indicate something "other" that justifies human concepts existing I.e. if heavenxisted then so would morality.

>>18040994
Yeah into a huge homo probably

>>18042617
>If we all go extinct at one point in history, is irrelevant.
What we do in life echoes forever in eternity.

>>18042727
>Well for one god would disprove it, as the source of all meaning is separate from humanity
How is god separate from the mind?

> An after life would disprove it, as life is given meaning
Why does life’s duration, give, or take away meaning?

> Basically anything that would indicate something "other" that justifies human concepts existing
What would that take the form as?

>>18038523
Read Persuasion and Rhetoric.

>>18038457
Not a book, but the Futurist Manifesto by Marinetti. Takes 10 minutes to read. May change your life.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.societyforasianart.org/sites/default/files/manifesto_futurista.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi2qoGh7oPwAhW9QEEAHZ91BXoQFjAIegQIERAC&usg=AOvVaw3d4tX-kWVlVmZg8I-82THC

>>18043005
This was great, thank you.

>>18038463

Praise be, brother

>>18043089
watch out, futurism is a gateway movement

>>18043100
Gateway to what?

>>18043116
Some consider it a foundational text of fascism, but all the futurist were later killed off by the traditionalists. Quite literally, Futurism ended up classed as degenerate art, alongside all modern art.

It had a tendency to celebrate violence and the destructive potenntial of technology.

>>18043089
You're welcome. Hope it helps.
>>18043100
If you think it's a gateway to fascism, you didn't get the message. Fascism is dead and gone. Marinetti is dead and gone. Overcome them and make the future.

>>18038467
bait post

>>18041497
Vanity in this case refers to things that are insubstantial, not important

>>18038467
>disconnected from real life and living entirely in your own head or something
this is what it is for a lot of them

In this world the existential crisis never ends for sapient individuals; at one's absolute best the hurt merely accumulates, and subsides; the important thing is to be crashfree.

>>18038457

>>18038457
book cannot replace kitten, woman, love, Jesus.

>>18044532
>kitten
Pretends to love you for free food.
>woman
Pretends to love you for sex and attention.
>love
Blanket term for lots of things (the English language is retarded), most of which are illusions.
>Jesus
Helped people cope in a dying civilization. His followers will help you cope too, but they're not as principled as he was.

>>18038465
This post trigger my existential crisis.

>>18042778
great. after i'm dead, why do i give a damn what the effect my life had on the world?

if my actions forced god himself to praise me yet i still died only to face oblivion, then what would it matter?

>>18043605
yea and he says everything is vanity. He even says wisdom is vanity because the wise man and the fool both still die. and then he says this fact is also vanity and a fruitless solicitude of the mind

i just want to eat ass

>>18038457
try something from this list anon

>>18044599
what are your thoughts on if i were to knit myself a blanket and love using it because it makes me happy and keeps me warm?

>>18046912
How is phaedo blooming cooming and life affirming