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/lit/ - Literature

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19383583 No.19383583 [Reply] [Original]

What should I read if I'm dissatisfied with a materialistic worldview and want to strive for something more? I'm agnostic but I'm beginning to suspect that there's some kind of higher power orchestrating the world.

Materialism has brought me nothing but despair.

>> No.19383593

Start with the Mesopotamians

>> No.19383599

>>19383583
Start with Plato

>> No.19383609
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19383609

Bataille

>> No.19383618

dont waste your time reading and instead take some psychedelics

>> No.19383619

> I'm beginning to suspect that there's some kind of higher power orchestrating the world.
Why?
>Materialism has brought me nothing but despair.
How so?

>> No.19383627

>>19383619
If materialism doesn't make you want to blow your head off, there's something wrong with you.

>> No.19383631

>>19383583
>admitting publicly you're coping but going along with it anyway

you're unironically fucking pathetic.

>> No.19383641

>>19383631
Coping? What are you getting at?

>> No.19383643

>>19383641
kill yourself

>> No.19383660

>>19383627
Nah your just a pussy bra

>> No.19383724

>>19383583
>G. K. Chesterton - The Everlasting Man
>C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity, Miracles
>Edward Feser - The Last Superstition

If you want stuff that's not explicitly Christian, Carl Jung is a good bridge between scientific materialism and a more spiritual/mystical view of the world

>> No.19384098

>>19383583
libido dominandi dr e michael jones

>> No.19384115

>>19383583
Read Berkeley 'Principles of Human Knowledge'.

>> No.19384119

The Quran

Maybe watch some lectures by Abdal Hakim Murad

>> No.19384154

https://sacred-texts.com/nth/twi/twi02.htm

>> No.19384268
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19384268

>>19383583
Here you go

>> No.19384323
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19384323

I love how the choices are Christianity or materialism.

>> No.19384343
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19384343

OP literally ignore everyone else and read The Sacred and the Profane by Mircea Eliade. He was a historian of religion and specialist in comparative religion. He paints in broad strokes creating a picture of how cosmological ideas of a grand ordering of the universe express themselves through myth and ritual. The point isn't to 'trick yourself' into subscribing to a single doctrine, it's understanding that they are all grasping at something higher than the physical realm that is impossible to describe in full. It's a perspective much easier for a person soaked in atheism and modernity to understand. You can be religious without having a religion. This book is a good intro to his work but I've since read all three volumes of his History of Religious Ideas since, they've really affected how I look at things. Please enjoy :)

>> No.19384404

>>19384343
Appreciate it, anon!

>> No.19384412

>>19383583
fat cope, dont be a fucking pussy and running away, face actual reality

>> No.19384446

>>19384412
What book would you recommend arguing from this perspective?

>> No.19384464

>>19384412
What is 'actual reality' in your opinion?

>> No.19384493

>>19384412
Are you happy?

>> No.19384516

Bump

>> No.19384537

>>19384323
What is the third option?

>> No.19384541

>>19383609
based clive barker understander

>> No.19384544

>>19384115
Will this give me hope?

>> No.19384556

>>19384323
The choices are Christianity or heresy. Materialism is just an especially popular heresy online.

>> No.19384573

>>19384556
I wish it was that easy. I would to believe in Christ, God, the afterlife

Materialism is just obvious at this point, anon. It would be deluded for me to turn my attention away from it.

>> No.19384580

>>19384573
^would love to

>> No.19384604

This is a path that does not have instant gratification so don't be frustrated if you get nothing out of it within the first years, but you have started your first step nonetheless. There are many that lead nowhere so you need to be careful (i.e. stay completely away from new age shit, except maybe Jung)
>>19383618
This won't really get you anywhere, but it will affirm and ground your beliefs so it is worth doing at least once if you haven't.
>>19383631
>Buddhism is a giant cope

>>19384343
I haven't read this but this is the line of thinking I would advise. I would also read Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth after this. I would read these kind of more general spiritual books (such as C.S Lewis) before delving into any specific religious texts.
>>19383599
After do this. You have to actually study him though. After Plato then it is just Plotinus.
After Plato & Plotinus you can start delving into religious texts, you should be able to understand the metaphysical concepts of the texts more easily due to reading those guys and getting into their mindset. It is up to you where you want to start but I would choose either the Pali Canon or the Bhagavad Gita. I would recommend the Bible but the terse nature of the historical sections will probably put you off initially and cloud any truth you seek. Of course you should study it eventually.

Ideally read and understand the core texts of each major religion, at least Hinduism, Buddhism & Christianity, maybe Taoism. You will find more similarities than you can possibly imagine (ON THE SURFACE LEVEL), of course the deeper you go into religions the more you realize that they aren't compatible - especially Christianity because of the trinity. So eventually you must pick a path and stick with it and believe. If you feel you just can't commit to believing in religion or a deistic/theistic God then just study Jung, or almost paradoxically.. even Nietzsche. it is the best you are going to get without committing to a religion.

You will probably come across a strange looking Frenchman eventually, I would probably stay away.

>> No.19384662

>>19384573
Drop acid.

>> No.19384682

>>19383627
Cringe

>> No.19384727

>>19384682
He's not wrong

>> No.19384765

>>19384541
Witnessed

>> No.19386123

>>19383583
Julius Evola, "Revolt against the Modern World"

>> No.19386924

>>19383583
>I'm beginning to suspect that there's some kind of higher power

You're just getting desperate in your search for a meaning. There's none, get over it. Don't fall for literal jewish tricks.

>> No.19386949

>>19386123
That book doesn't really give the impression that there is a higher orchestrating the world

>> No.19386962

>>19383583
Christcuck cosplaying because he thinks it'll convince a materialist
Your cope is weak and lazy

>> No.19386980

>>19383583
>Materialism has brought me nothing but despair
How so?

>> No.19387073

>>19383627
If materialism does that to you it means you are weak.

>> No.19387093
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19387093

>>19383583
>What should I read if I'm dissatisfied with a materialistic worldview and want to strive for something more?
Guenon

>> No.19387114

Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that there’s some sort of local religious tradition, which might be unpopular, but nonetheless is what you’ve inherited. That would seem to me an obvious starting point.

>> No.19387355

>>19387114
>Find any local misery and death coping group and unquestionably believe everything they tell you.
Not the best advise in my experience

>> No.19387854

>>19384537
Literally anything other than Christianity, or even Abrahamism in general for that matter. There's a whole world out there of reflections to enjoy, and you have no excuse to go with babbys first words of wisdom

>> No.19387917

>>19387355
You're right, you should go with the international version instead. After all, Monster Energy is much more tasteful than your local wine

>> No.19387920

>>19384556
how can the east enjoy such non-exclusivity in their faiths, they arent even really 'organized' in many parts

>> No.19387927

>>19387920
Their priorities are with actual wisdom, while Abrahamic shit faiths are solely interested in power

>> No.19387929

>>19387917
This is a great analogy, because my local (too far north) wine is so shitty that I would literally rather drink Monster Energy.

But my point was rather that all those coping groups are not good for the brain.

>> No.19387935

>>19387929
In that case, it either won't last very long, or your taste has degenerated so much that you're doomed to drink nothing but pure liquid shit.

Either way, it's win-win

>> No.19387998

>>19387929
atheism is a cope

>> No.19388009

>>19387998
Wrong

Religion is the oldest cope in the book

>> No.19388014

>>19387998
Persuade me, anon?

>> No.19388021

>>19387998
I share a board with this person

>> No.19388053
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19388053

>>19387998
>atheism is a cope

>> No.19388073

>>19387998
Even if God were real and everything in the Bible was a fact, it would still be objectively true that religion is a cope.

>> No.19388079

>>19383583
First, give me all of your things.

>> No.19388080

>>19388073
This doesn't make sense

>> No.19388086

>>19388079
Wait outside, Jew

>> No.19388093

>>19388080
It does when you read Job

>> No.19388096

>>19387998
You're 18 and the LARP will end sooner than later

>> No.19388102

>>19388080
See >>19388093

The Bible in large part literally teaches how to cope with death and misery in this life

>> No.19388143

>>19388009
>>19388014
>>19388021
>>19388053
>>19388073
struck a nerve apparently
>y-you just fear death
you fear judgement and damnation
a very human feeling
by denying your father you assuage yourself of guilt
you deny hell's existence because the alternative is too much to bear
this is silly, of course, because God in his eternal mercy forgives you anyways

If I was wrong, you would simply convert to polytheism or a dharmic faith
Instead you retreat to secular humanism along with all the godless elites desperately funding immortality medicine

>> No.19388152

Jung

>> No.19388154

>>19388143
Is it really that difficult to believe that some people do not live in constant fear?

>> No.19388163
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19388163

>>19388154
no
atheists apparently struggle with this though and view faithful as 'living in fear of death'

>> No.19388170

>>19388163
You just accused all atheists of exactly the same.

>> No.19388175

>>19388143
>you fear judgement and damnation
Yes, right here right now, and because not taking responsibility demonstrably harms people, not because I was a pat on the back from skydaddy.

The fact that you need a book for this tells me all I need to know about your moral foundations. By the way, people like you also tend to not follow the very morality you push onto others, and you can prive me wrong by telling us about all the times when you gave away all your possessions and trusted on Jesus alone

>> No.19388178

>>19388163
I want to believe in God because death and life being meaningless is scary, yes.

>> No.19388239

>>19388178
>>19388154
yes you view 90%+ of the world pop. as 'living in constant fear' for millenia
the alternative but more compelling proposition is that a handful of modern materialists are actually the fearful
the point is to illustrate your fear rhetoric is full of shit that can be tailored to anything
>>19388175
>demonstrable harm
wow, you solved ethics utilitarian retard
>you need a book for this
>/lit/
>criticizes books

>> No.19388264

>>19388239
>the alternative but more compelling proposition is that a handful of modern materialists are actually the fearful

Another alternative is that both groups live regular lives, without fear, and their beliefs are largely inconsequential in practice, except for annoying each other on imageboards.

>> No.19388287

>>19388264
please inform the entire new atheist movement who brings this up incessantly in mainstream articles
they should just find a better religion than whatever protestant sect they pop out of
I heard Soka Gakkai will get you a cute japanese wife

>> No.19388300

>>19388287
Every group has annoying people making money by being outspoken aggressive assholes in the media. This is true for the atheists, but certainly true for all religions as well. You shouldn't judge entire groups based on their behavior.

>> No.19388301

>>19388287
>don't be materialist
>instead, practice religion for its material benefits
Lol

>> No.19388328

>>19388300
indeed
>>19388301
just speaking your language

>> No.19388337

>>19383583
The Bible

>> No.19388839

>>19388239
>>19388264
Fear of death is the #1 motivation in life.

This is an objective TRUTH.

>> No.19388852

>>19388301
>practice religion for its material benefits
literally every religious larper on here is doing this, no one actually believes in the core dogma

>> No.19388886

>>19388852
There are very young people and small percent of literal crazies who actually believe and this can be truly terrifying. I honestly prefer LARPers.

>> No.19389161

>>19388886
what's wrong in believing if it makes them live a more serene life?

>> No.19389333

Bump

>> No.19389620

>>19389161
I'm not saying it's wrong (whatever that would mean), it just makes you very uncomfortable if you're not a believer. Kinda like if an obviously crazy person sits next to you on a bus. They're not bad for being crazy, you don't necessarily have any reason to believe they would hurt you, but their motivation and reasoning is so alien that you don't know what to expect and it can be scary.

>> No.19389698
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19389698

I wouldn't suggest you read anything.

I would rather you sit alone, in the quiet, as a material thing, and ponder deeply why material things are here and aware in the first place.

What does "cosmic accident" truly mean? What is outside the senses? What does time mean? If I'm fear and orgasm chemicals just fighting it out, what the hell is that about?

The material world is its own strange animal when you stop to think about it.