/lit/ - Literature

>>3113512
It looks to me that you're on the brink of contracting "the nihilism".

Do anyway.

>>3113515
Bloody hell ! Not that miasma ! My father had that once. He never came back. He grew a grand mustache and hide himself in the mountains.

>>3113517
It's not as I was on the edge of killing myself. I love life, I simply disappoint myself.

>>3113515
He's not nihilistic enough. Nihilism renders the accomplishments of others moot as well, therefore soothing his own incompetence. Nihilism is metaphysical egalitarianism.

>>3113532

So what's the problem? Keep disappointing yourself.

>>3113537
Hence why I said "on the brink". He's not quite there yet, but I think he's in danger.

>>3113512
Break through the modern myths of fame and success, of course! Why would you need to produce a great work of literature or whatever? Just live, work, have babies if that idea grabs you, do no harm, maybe try to leave the world a slightly better place. Job done.

Stop comparing yourself to others. You take what you believe to be great and what you believe to be horrible in a person and you apply to yourself, so of course you get frustrated, you are stretching from one end to the other.

You are thinking in terms of success and failure, which is just silly. You are trusting the idea of merit way too much, as if all great writers are even remembered. You don't know all the great writers, you don't even know how to spot them. Not saying this because I do or because someone does, but exactly because no one does and everyone do at the same time. That is, things are not objective as you put it, not as rigid in any way. That is an illusion created to keep things rolling.

If you give up on yourself, if you let go, you'll find yourself. When you have no ground underneath your feet, don't be sad that you can't walk, just swim. You are taking yourself way too seriously, see: >>3113524, which suits this thread very much, actually.

>>3113539
Indeed I could continue on this track. But, I can't stop thinking of all the greats sophists that existed, how their lifes were grand. And how mine will be boring and dreadful because, I'm a stupid animal that doesn't deserve to join humanity. I have nothing that can help the world. I'm shitty in everything.

>>3113560
Oh, and in terms of reading, seeing as this is /lit/... personally I'd recommend Lin Yutang's The Importance Of Living. It's like a self-help book, but good.

>>3113573
...and the fun part is the Chinese title is actually The Art Of Living- he refers to a genre of Chinese books on the subject. I think he decided that western people needed to be told that living was actually important before they could get to how to do it.

>>3113569
That doesn't matter.
>>3113560

>>3113560
The really weird thing is OP started this thread with Kurt Vonnegut. I'm 90% sure Vonnegut has written similar things many times. In a more literary way, obviously.

>>3113569

"Don't mope over it all day, he said. I'm inconsequent. Give up the moody brooding."

>>3113587
I don't want to be successful or glorious : it proves nothing.
Iwould just have liked to be more talentous, more intelligent than I am.
And well, modern life and the daily life are something that I hate. Not having friends, or a family, is something that doesn't bother me.

>>3113595
He surely did. I read that. But, well. I'm an idiot, you see. And I can't get over it.

>>3113599
>I would just have liked to be more talentous, more intelligent than I am.
Do you imagine that there are humans who wouldn't?

>>3113599
Who doesn't? Jesus Christ, you're human and imperfect. It's the same for everyone. Put on your big boy pants and do things you enjoy without pushing yourself around over not being the new Socrates.

Read a shiton of books, listen to music, study art, watch films, etc.
Even if you're not smart, this will make it seem that you are. Every very cultured person is really insecure deep down.

>>3113541
It's not danger, it's a tremendous relief. Nihilism will set you free. Embrace it.

>>3113560
>Just live, work, have babies if that idea grabs you, do no harm, maybe try to leave the world a slightly better place. Job done.

Disgusting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_man <- u

>>3113619
>Jesus Christ, you're human and imperfect.

So I googled the word "estim" thinking it was maybe some fancy foreign word. It brought me to a page about sex with electricity.

ITT: people confusing not pushing yourself too much with being sheeple and conforming to society.

ITT: people confusing saying to OP not to push himself too much with saying that he should be sheeple and conform with society

>>3113664

>>3113664
you were looking for e-stim. Short for e-stimulation, which essentially means getting a boner when tased

>>3113653
>mfw accidental blasphemy

I fucking love Vonnegut.

With all mine heart.

OP i know all that feel. ;_;

>>3113651
>last man
More like most men throughout history, Nietzscheface. Maybe you'd realise that if you could see past your enormous moustache.

It IS an impressive moustache, though

This is a good thing, OP. The fact that you aren't comforted by a high opinion of yourself, you can work on getting the good opinions of neighbors.

Live, don't dream about living.

Don't worry so much about being average; only a very small percentage of us humans can be brilliant. Don't sweat it, man, it's not so bad. I suppose everyone has this anxiety about being special at some time in their lives, but you'll work through it, and get used to it. Have fun!

>>3113832
not op, are you saying we will get used to being average. ;_;

>>3113839
I certainly hope so. If not you'll find it hard to deal with life.

>>3113845
Lçife's hard, and when it becomes livable, we die.

Very interested in how this concept formed in your head. Religion? Old ass books?

>>3113852
>lçife
frenchman spotted, my dear watson

>>3113512
>even if I read a lot, write a lot, work a lot, I won't acquire perks or any talent.

Very interested in how this concept formed in your head. Religion? Old ass books?

>>3113852
Perhaps, but so it goes.

it is fairly easy to get your hands on material written by 'deep' people. what you do with it to be more like them should be fairly obvious.

you should do your best to avoid their mistakes though, because those are why they're all so sad.

>>3113666
Number of the beast here.

I'm sorry, but I'll have to say it again. This thread is incredibly bad for this, people are trying to cheer you up by saying "it's okay to fail", but they can't get past the idea that success and failure is a social construct which undermine our psyche.

There is no such thing. It's not about accepting (as in conforming) with being average, small, forgettable or a failure. Because that's just as awful as holding the illusion that there is such a thing as success, immortality, being great on itself. The dichotomy itself is imaginary, this is not said so that the "failguys" can find solace in it, but something that you'll find even the guys you call out for being successful believe.

The comparisson is the problem. The idea that you only exist as an individual next to the others, which is true, but completely misguided due the importance we give to statistics, to what is average, to numbers, not to people. So instead of human relationships, healthy challenges or personal values, you get brainwashed by a mess of values, you get diminished by "highscores" and dilluted inside the crowd.

You have to look ahead this whole issue, ask yourself what makes being a writer so great in our heads, what is the core to what we treasure the most or want to ourselves, what is the origin of that which we are willing to do, etc. And you'll find that you are able to do exactly what you are willing to do, truly.

Don't compare.

Are you female? Did you read Nietzsche and get seduced by his sexy style? Do you feel "predestined for service" because it has a nice ring to it?

"to dream perhaps of equal rights, equal education, equal claims and obligations--that is a _typical_ sign of shallowness, and a thinker who has proved shallow in this dangerous place--shallow in his instinct--may be considered altogether suspicious, even more--betrayed, exposed: probably he will be too "short" for all fundamental problems of life, of the life yet to come, too, and incapable of attaining _any_ depth. A man, on the other hand, who has depth, in his spirit as well as in his desires, including that depth of benevolence which is capable of severity and hardness and easily mistaken for them, must always think about woman as _Orientals_ do: he must conceive of woman as a possession, as property that can be locked, as something predestined for service and achieving her perfection in that."

>>3113512
>even if I read a lot, write a lot, work a lot, I won't acquire perks or any talent.
Was it a combination of any of the above? A pattern?

Whatever the cause, your brain is running on expired ideas. Read Mindset by Carol S. Dweck. Read also Outliers by Gladwell if you can't get past the stupid cover of Mindset.

>>3113512
Embrace your mediocrity.

>>3113865
This is all nice and swell as a concept, but who is not influenced by the society around them? Sure, we can see this dialectic of success vs. failure as a social construct, but we can't escape its effects--we actually have to work within this framework, because as individuals we aren't that powerful.

>>3113864
I don't want to be successful, nor happy.

>>3113866
Nope. I see what you did there, but I still think that there's a sense for that thing we call Life. But, I disappoint myself when I live.

>>3113881
>I don't want to be successful, nor happy.
then you're going to get what you want even if you fail. what more do you want from me?

>>3113882
Listen to this advice.

god damn bitches not even knowing how to keep themselves happy.
Dude listen, art is an expression of self, there is no wrong way to do art (to a limit). Just fucking do it man.

>>3113892
don't listen to this advice

>>3113896
Listen to this advice.

>>3113872
>>3113856
A lot of people advices me to stop whining and as the horse in Animal Farm to work more, write more, read more, so I will be stronger, smarter. But, I don't believe in this neoclassic logic.

>>3113904
>I don't believe in this neoclassic logic.
Why not?

>>3113865

Dear Lord, so mucht this! Couldn't agree more with you and what you just have stated! Only it is very hard to keep this in mind constantly. Could you please offer some advice, or in other terms: teach me, Master!

>>3113886
I only want to not disappoint myself, fellow. It's difficult to keep going, if you're convinced that it won't work out in any way or in any sort.

>>3113886
/thread

If not, I suspect OP of desiring a pity-party more than improvement.

That feel when you are probably to stupid to get a bachelors degree in philosophy or literature. With my 100IQ i should be happy with driving someone's buss or cleaning a fucking toilet. Should I even bother trying to get that bachelors? Should I accept that i am a fucking failure and kill my self?

>>3113865
This baby gets it.

>>3113911
if you don't feel you are good enough, feel free to become better. if you're not sure if you're good enough, test yourself to see if you are.

generally people who are successful have just found a winning streak. it has less to do with planning and more to do with a million blind birds looking for a worm.

>>3113879

great, a prophet of positive psychology

>>3113920
>Should I even bother trying to get that bachelors?
No, get one in Science.

>>3113931
>great, a prophet of positive psychology
One of chapter of either of those books > Vonnegut library.

>>3113880
I'm talking about frames of mind, ways to think. Success and failure are also concepts, not real things. The effects (that is, what happends), are the real things. But effects of what? The causes are atributed to success and failure, but that's not really it. By saying it is socially construct, I'm not saying we must ignore our social context, but to understand its place, not to grow these concepts beyond their reach, that is, to make them universal (which they are not). I'm saying that people are confuse and anxious, because they don't know where their own values come from, and thus, they assume they are laws, that they are obvious truths.

So by understanding this, one can ask oneself where does the issue come from and see who you are trying to please with it. If it's others, or God, then it might sure be frustrating. If it's your own ego, the same. If it is part of you that doesn't exist anymore (a childhood dream you feel you need to live up to), the same. So what's the real actual difference between one conclusion and the other and why is one desiring one so much and afraid of the other?

Otherwise, it's an endless cycle. You feel guilty for failing and you feel guilty about being guilty instead of overcoming it. And if you are successful, you'll push others to feel they're guilty, so that they move. And if one thinks outside of this context, one is considered to be in denial, a failure with an excuse. This is how the social value is taken as universal.

>>3113920
iq does not actually mean shit.

99.9% of people are average. Nothing special. Just average. Around 90% of those people think they're above average. The truth is that almost everyone is just another person with no great achievements.

>>3113948

consider the following: listen to this book is indoctrination with a certain mindset. you have to leave this mindset behind!

The young marx had nearly the same idea (overcome systems) wittgenstein uses the metaphor of a ladder for his tractus (climb it, then remove it). You could even interpret Nietzsche (acceptance of the recurring [of forming and loosing mindsets]) this way.
I think it is right to do some research on what exactly makes people happy. But positive psychology is mostly used as a chant to the ego.

>>3113948

You're a fucking moron and should leave this board.

>>3113996
✓ Pleasant life: Pleasures, instant gratification, or hedonism
✓ Good life: Getting the things that you want or desire
✓ Meaningful life: Belonging to and serving in something larger and more
worthwhile than just your own pleasures and desires

Authentic happiness combines all three lives and provides for the full life — a
life that satisfies all three criteria of happiness.

>>3114001
>You're a fucking moron and should leave this board.
YOU'RE a fucking moron and should leave this board.

>>3114054
>YOU'RE a fucking moron and should leave this board.

YOU ARE a fucking moron and should leave this board.

>>3114054

How so? For thinking Vonnegut's more worthy a read than pop-pysch tripe?

>>3114058
>YOU ARE a fucking moron and should leave this board.

YOU ARE a fucking: moron and should leave: this board.

>>3114008
Dude, positive psychology really has no real place. It just perpetuates the notions of success and failure that we are talking about here, instead of going beyond, it assumes with a certain disgusting objectivity that we need virtues and that lack of happiness only exists because we have failed to achieve those virtues. It puts happiness on a scale, it reduces life to certain methods, it doesn't see it hollistically or in a much flexible manner. It takes statistics way too seriously. It doesn't attack the roots of the problems, it's just a new shape to ideas on happiness which are far more complex on their origins, rather than what they say exactly. It's a product of functionalism.

>>3113664

>>3114062
Them's fightin' words. You want a quote battle with pop-psyche tripe?

>>3114081
What i posted was from the book Emotional Intelligence which is not some bullshit positive psychology. It makes sense though, if you ain't working towards something a part of something bigger then your self you probably are a miserable shit. Those tree things really are important, especially that last one.