/lit/ - Literature

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Nobody?

>>18054207
It sounds like you need a good rhetorician to listen to for motivation. Hearing another man's genuine perspective is something they can offer but is not for here on /lit/, and can help inspire and motivate you. If you genuinely don't want organized religion, which in turn I interpret to mean you don't want any books affiliated like the Upanishads, any Buddhist Sutras, any books of the Tao, the Bible, etc., then I say you should go listen to Alan Watts due to his eclectic nature and capacity to entertain various perspectives.

Also you need to build up some nerve and self confidence you meek weasel.

>>18054207
>>18054996
What is your spiritual background? From where did you derive your faith that there was a "next life?" What (if anything) happened recently to change that?

>>18055021
The faith had always been there, since childhood. I started reading about two years ago, but not as a way to confirm it, just out of interest for spirituality and to understand it better through the words and experiences of others. I've read some of Plato's dialogues, a lot of eastern texts (the Gita, Zhuangzi/Tao te ching, and Buddhist texts, though I disliked the latter), the NT, and a bunch of esoteric material including gnostic texts and traditionalism/perennialism. I want to emphasize that these things did not bring me to the spiritual, though; it was my vague, nondescript but strong faith that led me to seek knowledge out of interest.
>What (if anything) happened recently to change that?
Nothing major that I can identify, which is why I feel so distressed about it. There was no major event in my life to make me question things, it just happened. I suspect that acquiring knowledge about various traditions but being unsatisfied by them planted seeds of skepticism, but I don't think that's a sufficient explanation

>>18054207
>>18055076
Holy shit you read too much.
Stop reading others' thoughts and think, for once, for yourself.
2 years of reading many different traditions, no wonder you feel like shit.

No one can help you with your life. So start by asking yourself:
>What is it that I want out of life?

>>18055128
>you read too much
When I started, I understood nothing, so I figured it'd start making sense if I read more. Right now the big picture makes even less sense than before and I've completely lost touch with what I valued.
>>What is it that I want out of life?
I don't know. I used to take it for granted that the aesthetic experience was sufficient, I didn't articulate it as a life goal, I just lived, because I "knew" that things would be revealed to me in the end. Now I don't know anymore.
Right now I'm thinking I should look into Jung's theories of individuation and that they might be able to help me figure out the answer to those questions.

>>18055154
>the big picture makes even less sense
>so let's go and read ANOTHER FUCKING BOOK
Stop reading and think.

>>18055190
I haven't read another book for a while. Being stuck in my thoughts isn't helping either.

This has a very specific solution, and it's not found in a book... It's found in something a little more Eleusinian.

>>18054207
You might like this book anon
https://sacred-texts.com/nth/twi/twi02.htm

>>18055224
Could you explain?
>>18055231
I think I've read this preface before but I don't remember clearly, what is it?

>>18055203
And books are probably not going to help you get out of this confusion.
After thinking comes not thinking, just living, being.
Go with the flow of things for a few weeks.
Your subconscious will send you a message some time later to lead you in a good direction.

You can always read more of course if you think you're on the verge of understanding something or think it's the right direction.
You ought to "[d]o what thou wilt" after all.

>>18055224
>So I'm going to be vague and not say shit
kys retard, help him of stfu

Go to a church

>>18055248
>Go with the flow of things for a few weeks.
I'm doing it. Started recording my dreams, but so far it's all nonsense.
Though at the moment I'm very stressed out from external factors too and this is really not favorable to any kind of personal realization.

>>18054207
> Schelling
> Kierkegaard
> Bergson

>>18055254
I've been to churches, my family is orthodox. I don't subscribe to that faith.

>>18055264
>so far it's all nonsense
Keep doing it, dream analysis is hard but you'll see that some symbols keep coming back.
Record as much as you can.
>at the moment I'm very stressed out from external factors
Detach yourself as much as you realistically can. No use being affected that much by things outside of our control.

Keep at it, fren.

>>18054207
You are the seeker and the guide. Seek and you shall find. If you need a place to start, try plato's republic.... Evola has a great set of books investigating different spiritual systems... try them out, practice them, more will come if you are seeking and are meant to be found.

>>18055076
>>18055292
You've read but have you practiced the ideas?

>>18055288
I've always been bad at interpreting dreams. I actually have a huge compendium of dreams back when I also used to record them a couple years back, I'll try to see if there are any recurring symbols but from the top of my head the only recurring thing in my dreams is that they tend to take place in enclosed places, sometimes underground.
Should symbols be interpreted idiosyncratically or through the lens of a particular method/guide?
>Detach yourself
Yeah, I used to be extremely detached, and now I care way too much about trite and meaningless things.
>Keep at it, fren
I appreciate your help, thanks.

>>18055292
>>18055305
I haven't read a lot of books from Evola because traditionalism didn't resonate with me very much. I did make time for praxis when I read his books about Buddhism and Tantra, but I felt that it wasn't the path for me. Didn't get any specific insights, much less jhanic experiences or anything of the sort.

>>18055340
Well that sounds like you know when you should move away from something... but you read the Gita yea? did you practice pure action?

>>18055316
Dreams are very personal.
Look at them through the context of your life at the time they happen(ed).
This is going to be heavy conjecture as I don't know anything about you.

The enclosed space might be a representation of your confusion about the spiritual as you've explained.
Might also be a representation of you perceiving life only through the materialistic lenses.
>you see the 'cage'
>now look for the exit
That's it from me. Again, nothing much more I can say as it's a very personal thing.

Read the gospels with an open heart and mind

>>18055345
I struggle a lot with doing anything when there's nothing to be anticipated or no expectations to hold on to. This is also why parts of Buddhism were extremely hard for me to get, let alone apply.
>>18055354
Yeah I suspect you're right. Underground and confined spaces are restrictive and should be escaped from through ascension, it's definitely something along the lines of me needing to change the specifics of my current situation that have been causing me distress.
Interpretation without anything to fall back on feels like shooting in the dark though.

>>18055376
I'm the guy who's stressing the aspect of application of the ideas for them to have any spiritual impact; but, I have also studied fried and Jung and can tel you how to interpret your dreams in a straightforward manner if you're interested.

Otherwise, expect no spiritual impact without practicing them. IF I am told letting go of the outcomes of success or failure is a key to spiritual attainment of the self.. then I practice it, and retroactively notice when, how, and why I am not and take responsibility for it.

>>18055431
>can tel you how to interpret your dreams in a straightforward manner
Please, that would be very helpful.
>expect no spiritual impact without practicing them.
I'm aware of the importance of praxis, though my issue isn't really about seeing no results from it, but more about falling out of touch with the spiritual itself.

>>18055447
Its all abut manifest content vs latent content. In order to go rom manifest content to latent content you must let go of your ego when you are analyzing the content. Manifest content is the content that appears in the dream immediately. latent content is the content that appears in you as ou are analyzing the dream. To reiterate and give an example of a dream interpretation = say I dream that I danced with my mother - that is the manifest content - but then as.I am anaalyzing the dream thought and feeling come up the say I want to sleep with my mother - that is the latent content - what must t be done is the ego cannot refuse the latent content - regardless of how disgusting it is or unsuitable to your 'ego." Explore the latent content - it will take you deeper - once you deal with your personal unconscious I.e the unconscious impressions you've gotten over your life experience then the collective unconscious comes in but that is a story fro another time. Understand? or any questions?

>>18055627
I understand, thank you anon. So basically I go over the content of the dream and pay attention to the immediate impressions that are drawn to light from my unconscious mind as I'm recalling the dream.

Gravity's Rainbow

>>18055641
yes and it can go deep as you do that to even the first latent concern keep a journal etc and write down dream immediately after wake

>>18054207
Read Jordan Peterson (pbuh). I'd recommend his new book, Beyond Order

>>18055670
lol

>>18055663
sorry a bit drunnk so my writing is getting worse, but go line by line of the dream you write down...

>>18055154
>I used to take it for granted that the aesthetic experience was sufficient
Read The Birth of Tragedy, it will either reaffirm this for you or you will be utterly repelled by it

>>18054207
Shopenhauer, The Will. It is tough, but once you get it, life changes.

>>18055952
What is the will?

>>18055245
>Could you explain?
Google heroic dose. That's your solution.

>>18056096
It is impossible for me to help you understand it in this format. You'll have to read Shopenhauer's text. The tldr is that spatio-temporal reality is an illusion of cognition and that existence itself is basically a Monsim. This can be proved by way of Kantian epistemology.

>>18056348
I def agree space and time are a hypothesis of the ego my friend..... but that al of existence is of one monism? I donno

Leiibniz?

>>18054207
Reject your inner spark completely and start reading LessWrong.

>>18056556
My dude stop looking for bite-size explanations on a forum and actually read the book. It is Shopenhaur, I said this in the first post.

>>18056753
bite size my dude? BITE SIZE?

>>18054207
There is only one Book for you, my friend.

>>18055272
Bergson + Heidegger really allowed me to grow out of my naive realist positivism.

>>18057777
>>18057777
>>18057777
>>18057777
>>18057777
>>18057777
>>18057777

Kierkegaard.

>>18056772
Eat shit and die you fruity shmutz

>>18054207

The divine is experienced, not understood. You may need to read to allow your mind to be open to the experience, but it will not enter.

Here is how I re-experienced the divine after years of ardent athiesm, followed by similar amount of reading without 'getting': I drove alone without my cell phone, no books, nothing, to an area with no one else in sight. Then I sat for 4 hours and did nothing but watch rain pass over the desert (southeast new mexico). I got soaking wet. I watched the sun set. In the dark, I finally was able to pray, and reconnect. It is not a verbally transmittable experience, but it is how I reconnected. That rekindling has persisted, though the fire must be stoked with similar experiences every once and a while.

Hope that is helpful.