Books for moderating cynicism? I'm sick of being a doomer.

[Anonymous No.11937546]

What are some books that are life-affirming? Specifically, what books help encourage the sense of wonder in exploring all things, and what are books that encourage the will to survive against all odds?

I realized that my life-denying cynicism is making me miserable. I don't pursue lofty goals because of the fears of struggling in the dark with only my wits to guide me. I haven't been curious about uncovering the beauty in all things, small and large. I've become easily manipulated because I cannot trust other people, even when they deserve it, and I fail to recognize their virtues because I'm not open to seeing them. I'm not suicidal, but if I were to get hit by a car tomorrow and couldn't walk anymore, I probably would kill myself. While there might be some advantages to the lifestyle as an austere, traditional, and yet productive lifestyle as a wistful and reluctant misanthrope, I don't have the coherence of character or the intelligence to pull that off.

I felt that Storm of Steel was helpful, and I wouldn't mind more books in that direction, but I need other books that focus more on the "sense of wonder" and don't take place in a bleak, violent setting.

[Anonymous No.11937558]

>but if I were to get hit by a car tomorrow and couldn't walk anymore, I probably would kill myself.

Why? Julius Evola wrote most of his books, which are quite life-affirming, while confined to a wheelchair after he was wounded during WW2 during allied bomb raid.

He also never felt sorry or bitter for his condition.

[Anonymous No.11937563]

Read Yotsuba.

[Anonymous No.11937573]

>>11937558
He was responsible for his own condition.

[Anonymous No.11937584]

>>11937573
Don´t believe all shit you read. It is a myth he went wandering during a bomb raid.

>Someone has spread the rumor that my accident was caused by pursuit of a 'Promethean' endeavor of some sort. This, of course, is sheer fantasy, not least because, at the time of the accident, I had long interrupted any work in the realm of the supernatural. Besides, I was living in Vienna incognito and under a false name. It is rather odd, however, that René Guénon himself favored a similar interpretation at first. For when I got in touch with Guénon after the war, and informed him of my accident (in the secret hope that Guénon might help me to 'understand' the event), I was asked whether I suspected that someone might have acted against me by occult means. Guénon added that he himself had been confined to his bed for several months, apparently on account of arthritis, but actually as a consequence of an outside attack; and that he had recovered from his illness once the person responsible had been discovered and neutralized. I told Guénon that a similar attack would be an unlikely cause in my case, not least because an extraordinarily powerful spell would have been necessary to cause such damage: for the spell would have had to determine a whole series of objective events, including the occurrence of the bombing raid, and the time and place in which the bombs were dropped.

-Julius Evola, On Pre-Birth Superconsciousness & the Power of Occult Forces over 'Backward'

[Anonymous No.11937604]

>>11937584
>Not much changed in my life following the accident, as my handicap was merely physical: aside from the practical disadvantages, and the limitations it entailed from the point of view of my profane existence, the handicap hardly bothered me, for my spiritual and intellectual work remained unaffected by the accident. In my heart, I have always thoroughly subscribed to the traditional doctrine I often quoted in my writing, which teaches that we have wished all relevant events in our life before our birth. I could not, therefore, avoid applying such a doctrine to the aforementioned event. To remember why I had wished such an accident upon myself, and to understand its most profound significance, is what truly mattered in my eyes - more than 'recovery' itself (something I cared little about). (Besides, as I saw it, had I been capable of grasping the 'memory' of such a wish by the light of knowledge, I would no doubt also have been capable of removing the physical handicap itself - if I had wished to do so.) To this day, however, the fog which clouds my memory has yet to lift. For the time being, I have come to adapt myself to the circumstances. Occasionally, I am humorously led to believe that it is gods who might be responsible for the situation, having used a little too much force when playing with me.

[Anonymous No.11937840]

>>11937558
I wrote a whole post detailing why. I admire that. I just don’t think I have it in me to follow in the same footsteps, if I were ever in that situation. Probably because I don’t have my mind fully sorted out. I shudder to think about the painful thought loops that I would endure if I suffered a freak accident and became trapped in a paralyzed state where I remained conscious but couldn’t even bat an eyelid.

[Anonymous No.11939581]

>>11937546
Augustine's Confessions is a book that could definitely save a stubborn doomer. Christianity will turn you back towards love for you fellow man, and love for all God's creation. The doctrine of Original Sin is a good way to reconcile your pessimism with a new worldview. This is important, because people do bad things. Any new worldview needs to be able to deal with this idea, because it demands an answer. Sometimes reading too much exit-level lit can push you off the edge (this can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you recover) I remember falling into a bit of a rough patch myself after going through a few Houellebecq books. But funnily enough, it ultimately led me to God. I really don't think that Atheist philosophy can ever be life affirming with God missing from the puzzle. Definitely read Huysmans' Against Nature; the protagonist is a recluse who likens his desire to life as a "normie" to an atheist who wants to believe. Huysmans ultimately became Christian later on in life but he definitely dealt with some heavy stuff earlier on, its a good read too.

[Anonymous No.11939960]

>>11939581
Very interesting. Thank you! In the interest of being non-partisan, do you have some recommendations from a non-religious standpoint?

[Anonymous No.11940173]

>>11939960
It's a tough one, when I think back on my most optimistic years quite a while ago I was pretty obsessed with Dostoyevsky, but it's hard to separate what he says from religion because it is so essential. Im not sure to be honest because I struggle to see any hope in non-religious texts. Maybe get into classical music if you don't listen to it already, I find it still evokes beautiful things in my mind, even from a non-religious standpoint. There is something universal in music that keeps me happy. Like I said, I think some people can benefit from going right off the edge, it can put things in perspective and make you realise that there is a whole world of ideas which are "too much" for you, as long as you read them with a certain skepticism: Marquis de Sade (Philosophy in the Bedroom) Houellebecq (Whatever) (The Elementary Particles), Céline (Journey to the End of the Night). Basically just really depressing shit. Some people can read these and sincerely agree with what they saying so be careful with them because they are quite convincing.
I haven't read anything by Ernsnt Junger apart from Storm of Steel, but I know that his later works are very different and speak from a "magical realist" sort of point of view, it might be worth looking into his later period?
I hope you find what you are looking for anon, I dont think I can help you much more than that. Good luck!

[Anonymous No.11940178]

>>11937546
Feed birds. Watch them, life. Text is as alive as the reader.

[Anonymous No.11940361]

bump

[Anonymous No.11940773]

>>11937546

[Anonymous No.11940945]

>>11937546
Where I found consolation were the first lines of Through the Looking Glass. Like this guy's suggestion >>11937563 it instilled in me this long-lost sense of childlike wonder. I think it was Alice's open-minded attitude and willingness to play along with her beautifully naive assumptions that somehow revitalized my mind which had built around it a rigid shell after bearing the brunt of life's harsh hits. Let's pretend...

[Anonymous No.11941034]

>>11937546
Tolstoy and Dostoevsky

[Anonymous No.11941052]

>>11940945
Fuck that's it I'm downloading it to my e-reader

[Anonymous No.11941068]

>>11937546
bumping for interesting thread

[Anonymous No.11941852]

bump for life-affirming books

[Anonymous No.11941893]

Plutarch's lives did it for me

[Anonymous No.11941899]

bump for dubs

[Anonymous No.11942206]

>>11937546
Ulysses
The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years (very depressing/bleak at times, but I think it fits into the sense of wonder younare describing)
The Book of Sand
Homo Faber
Love in the Time of Cholera
Journey to the East
The Glass Bead Game
The Tin Drum
Memories of the Future

[Anonymous No.11942229]

>>11937546
>but if I were to get hit by a car tomorrow and couldn't walk anymore, I probably would kill myself.

And if a ten ton truck...Crashes in tonight...To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die

[Anonymous No.11942429]

>>11937546
I strongly recommed Boethius's The Consolation of Philosophy, nigga had his mind cleaner than crystal water, was rich, had power, a good job, a good family, and one day one of his "friends" backstab him, put him in jail and was sentenced to death, and even then in his position he was able to see the light, he rationalized everything like a true champ. The book is like asceticism for beginners but on stoic steroids.

[Anonymous No.11942454]

>>11937546
Mein Kampf is the most inspirational rags to riches story ever. If it doesn't motivate you to get out there and do something, may as well off yourself.

[Anonymous No.11943294]

bump

[Anonymous No.11943325]

> Bloomer Novels
Brothers Karamazov
Anna Karenina
War and Peace
Pilgrims Progress
Middlemarch
Huckleberry Finn

>Bloomer verse
Virgil
Whitman
Dickinson (most of her stuff is quite life affirming)
The Divine Comedy
Browning
Emerson
Wordsworth

>Also
The Bible and Tao De Ching

[Anonymous No.11943978]

bump for midwit lit

[Anonymous No.11943997]

>>11937546
join them

[Anonymous No.11944743]

>>11943997
Hah this amuses me.

[Anonymous No.11945917]

>>11937546
My diary desu.

[Anonymous No.11946081]

>>11937584
>>11937604
Holy shit, people are crazy, they'll believe anything.
I live around fanatics, but it always surprises me.