/lit/ - Literature

>>5931725
>Tl;dr if you want to find out why you are the way you are, read Emerson. Or don’t. Either way, you are what he said you would be.

More precisely, ¿Which works should be read?

How does Emerson justify school shootings, OP?

>>5931737
Individuality etc.

Not OP, but Emerson is so broad that what he writes can be applicable to almost anything. It's beautiful nonsense.

Interviewer: When I read Emerson, I feel like he's talking to me.

Interviewee: Of course, and that's the best evidence of his genius. Before you were even born, he knew you. He knew your mind. More importantly, he knew what you hated -- unwanted pressures from outside. He knew what you wanted to say and do and he told you to do it. In essence, Emerson proved that if we make enough room for ourselves, we can all live as if the world begins and ends with the whims or our individual selves.

Read the essays and his notebooks. It's ALL amazing.

>beautiful nonsense

Exactly

>>5931753
But in those regards
[Individuality, the striving for personal goals over ties of society and even family, etc.]
Emerson was just continuing Enlightenment thought.

If you are American and are participating in this forum NOT HAVING READ Emerson's "On Self-Reliance," you are banned until having done so and subsequently posted a thread reflecting meaningfully on the experience.

Good day.

>>5931737
I honestly think that Emerson was so severe in his worship of the autonomy of the self, he would pat Adam Lanza on the head and say "Well done, boy. You went out with great spectacle and terror. You mazimized your individuality and I congratulate your courageous and daring exit from the world."

This would all happen in hell of course, but you have to understand. Emerson was the original King Contrarian, and you know, surrounded by 'outsiders' (threats to the autonomy of his individuality) who all wanted to go to Heaven, Emerson sought Hell instead.

And of course toward Hell is where America walks today.

And tomorrow.

Transcendentalism is antithetical of everything American, tard.

>>5931875
>transcendentalism

reduction to ism makes you feel on top

Emerson in action

>>5931973
Let me say it this way then.

Transcendentalism, the religion started by Emerson and reinforced by Thoreau, is directly against those values which made America rise to power in the first place and the organization of our modern day industries like finance and modern economic theory.

>>5931987
Or let me say it this way.

You haven't read Emerson. Stop posting.

How does one actually train themselves into embodying the sentiment of 'self-reliance' into their being?

I doubt anyone has read it once, decided that was the way to do things and they changed immediately

>>5931991
Yes I have. Nature is one of my favorite books of all time.

The way he deduces concepts from the physical conception of nature is beautiful.

>>5931779
I remember reading that book at 14 and thinking how wrong-headed it was.
I re-read it in uni as part of my major and, well, yeah.
It's drivel.
Drivel that has captured the American spirit, but drivel.

>>5932048
Emerson does not capture 'American spirit'.

>>5932048
lol

Regardless, the number of people who have actually lived up to his standard is pretty much zero, probably

>>5931753
>Individuality etc.

How does individuality cause school shooting?

You seem like you have your face stuck up your ass, this has to be the most retarded non-sequitur I have ever read.

>>5932076
>lived up to his standard

He didn't set a standard. He asserted the right of every individual to focus their area of concern onto their realization of themselves and their faithfulness to that realization.

It's a dangerous philosophy, and it has produced a dangerous culture. But still, it is better to understand that culture than to judge it.

>>5932094
>the right of every individual to focus their area of concern onto their realization of themselves and their faithfulness to that realization.
isn't it existentialism reworded? how's it dangerous teleologically? the hell you jabbing about

>>5932052
>Intense focus on individualism
>Dedication to personal goals
>'Freedom' defined virtually exclusively as 'personal liberty without moral consequence'
>Nature exists for the profit of Man
>Good, evil,and even truth are subjective
>The ambitions of the individual trump social norms and even family
>Youth, the future, and change are inherently good: age, the past, and tradition are inherently bad

That sounds like the American spirit to me

>>5932094
What you described is a standard

>>5932104
Considering the fact that American society, in contrast to European society is extremely puritan and extremely religious, I'd say you're flat out wrong.

The "American spirit" for centuries has been a dedication to religion and puritanism, and certainly NOT "freedom defined as personal liberty without moral consequences".

Apart from the Middle-East America is the most religious and conservative place on this planet.

>>5932076
see
>>5932094
All he said was, really,
'Do what you want and tell others to like it or lump it'
It was as if Ayn Rand had a little more talent andtried to write a novel based on Sinatra's "My Way"

>>5932102
>How is existentialism dangerous?

>>5932110
>American society ... is extremely puritan and extremely religious
So you've never heard of rugged individualism, the Spirit of the West, the icon of the Lone Gunfighter/Cowboy, etc?
>Apart from the Middle-East America is the most religious and conservative place on this planet.
Well, except for Asia, South America, Central America, Mexico, and Africa, sure!

>>5932116
explain

>>5932104
>>Nature exists for the profit of Man
Emerson would never put profit and nature in the same sentence, you dilettante. Emerson believed nature existed for the utility of mankind, because they were reflective of it.

>>5932135
>“Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process and the result. All the parts incessantly work into each other’s hands for the profit of man."
-RWE, "Nature"
That is a direct quote, buffoon, and it took me less than 30 seconds to google it, C&P it, and hit 'Post'

>>5932148
Drat, gg.

>>5932135
So you both haven't read Nature *and* think of 'profit' as only meaning cash?
You really shouldn't call people names

>>5932132
>So you've never heard of rugged individualism, the Spirit of the West, the icon of the Lone Gunfighter/Cowboy, etc?

I have heard of it yes, but America, because of religion has been a predominately family-oriented society, not an individualistic society. Besides, that Lone Gunfighter/Cowboy shit is just a historical cliché.

>Well, except for Asia, South America, Central America, Mexico, and Africa, sure!

No doubt, they are also religious, but among first world countries, America is the most religiously conservative.

>>5931732
his essays. nature. self reliance. friendship. his poems are okay.

>>5932155
lol, what a dumb cunt you are

>>5932160
>first world countries
you are fucking dumb

>>5932110
The puritan strain in American culture was once deeply set, for sure, but what remains are token directions in its shadow.

Larry Flynt is an Emersonian hero saying fuck you to all prudery and in America he wins. Not the puritan. He becomes American myth, not the puritan.

>>5932170
You're not a good winner, man.

>>5932160
>America is the most religiously conservative.

try traveling outside of American sometime.

>>5931868
Hell doesn't exist though

>>5932160
So it was just one post between you stating
>Apart from the Middle-East America is the most religious and conservative place on this planet.
and walking it back to
> but among first world countries, America is the most religiously conservative
That is still rather doubtful - Ireland, Poland, Russia, could easily claim the to trump America.

FURTHER, a general sort of 'religiousness' does NOT preclude a strong spirit of individualism. between the Independent Baptist movement, the Unitarians (of which RWE was one), and America is famed in theological circles for a dedication to
[wait for it]
personal liberty, individualism, and personal interpretation of good and evil.
hell, the Catholic Church has a *heresy* called Americanism that is (among a few other things) a belief that the personal conscience is paramount, that personal liberty is critical to the development of the self, and that traditions are less important than change.
So, the European religious saw American religion as being infected with an American spirit of individualism, etc.

>>5932170
That is some stray commentator.
[why I like IDs]

>>5932193
Different guy
That's why i sometimes tripfag, to avoid confusion like that

>>5932208
>FURTHER, a general sort of 'religiousness' does NOT preclude a strong spirit of individualism.

Indeed, and I never said that.

The point I'm trying to make is that, saying individualism causes school shooting is like saying that taking a shit causes rainbows.

They are not even remotely related, and the things attributed to individualism, usually have nothing to do with it philosophically.

Communism was also a completely collectivistic ideology, I doubt it stopped people from fucking around, taking drugs, or drinking themselves to death, neither did it stop people from having personal judgements about good and evil.

There is no a single good post in this thread.
Not.
A.
Single.
One.

>>5932219
And your shitpost helps how?

>>5932222
What makes you think I was trying to help

>>5932222
these quads are pretty good in my opinion

>>5932216
>saying individualism causes school shooting is like saying that taking a shit causes rainbows.
But I never said that
I just said RWE is drivel that captures the American Spirit

>>5932239
>But I never said that

The OP did, which is why I am even in this thread arguing.

>>5932239
See that?
That's why i tripfag sometimes

>>5932241
I'm out

>>5932110
>muh momentary phase
You are an idiot. Amerishits have always been these type of family hating individualist capitalist, that are barely religious with their catholic hatred.

>>5932160
>an amerishit thinks he can talk about different cultures
Please. When you are from the most powerful country on Earth, you have a very narrow-view of the world. You are tottaly wrong. It's americans who kick their children out at age 18, while us euros(slavs and southerns) can probably never be asked to leave the house.

>>5932249
>You are an idiot. Amerishits have always been these type of family hating individualist capitalist, that are barely religious with their catholic hatred.

You seriously need to read more about the history of America.

>>5932258
I'm not even American you flaming faggot.

>>5932219
This is the only good post in the thread

>>5932110
>American society... puritan

Pull your head out of your ass.

>>5932216

Of course "individualism" causes school shootings. American "individualism" is a devastating crushing of the ego, which is forced to act to assert itself. If there were any remaining actual functioning social bonds aside from nepotism or "be like daddy", this wouldn't actually be the case.

This isn't to say that there is self-reliance or actual self-realization in any non consumerist sense, only isolation.

>>5932295
>Of course "individualism" causes school shootings.

There is no "of course".

What about being an individual, and having individual rights makes you want to shoot children?

Please explain.

These retards are greeting card fascist perverts along with neetskeet and carlyle. Trash.

>>5932110
>Apart from the Middle-East America is the most religious and conservative place on this planet.
...

>>5932116

>how is a mode of thinking, in which you CHOOSE ANY sort of justification as to why your life has meaning, dangerous

The American Stirner