/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19715154]

How the fuck do I attain consistent self control. I can be a monk one day and then drink 2 liters of ice tea and coom every hour the next. Any book recommendations that aren't Reddit tier self help
>Inb4 you indulge in these things because you're unhappy and unsatisfied (I know)

[Anonymous No.19715164]

Pray for help.
Throw away your computer.
Go outside and talk to real women instead of living in your imagination.
Read the Enchiridion, read Meditations, read JP2's Theology of the Body.
Read the Bible. Onanists get the rope.

[Anonymous No.19715173]

>>19715164
Not real answers

[Anonymous No.19715180]

>>19715173
Go fuck yourself then OP. Faggot ass refuses to read and refuses to actually address his own problem. I've spent enough time in my life on losers like you. Sink or swim buddy. Stop running away from knowledge and start reading how to fix yourself. I gave you the answers.

/thread

[Anonymous No.19715181]

Build habits and set actionable goals (“I am going to run one mile five days a week”). It is much easier to resolve to do something than not to do something, and if you are in a rhythm of doing the positive things like exercise, healthy eating you will find it easier to abstain from the things you want to cut down on

[Anonymous No.19715212]

>>19715180
Just having a laugh mate

[Anonymous No.19715277]

>>19715154
Don't listen to retard tradcath reactionaries on /lit/ -- you have that one down at least
Don't focus on happiness and satisfaction -- no one actually lives for either, most people live for concrete things, don't abstract away what you actually want into vagaries like "happiness". Or "god".
There isn't anything intrinsically wrong with "indulgence" -- Drinking/Eating/Cooming that much is an effect, not a cause, of "unhappiness". NoFap is a meme, "Christian" sexual ethics are a meme. That being said doing NoFap or similar things may be useful just as an exercise in self-control, but don't burn yourself out, and don't delude yourself into thinking it's an ethical issue, that will just bring more psychological harm. Willpower is a resource that depletes and regenerates.
Meditate -- consistency matters more than length, if you can meditate 2 minutes every day that's better than meditating for 2 hours just once. Keep in mind meditating is not necessarily calming or comforting: it can bring trauma to the surface of your mind. It can make you angry. But it is in the long run worth it.
See a shrink if need be -- the mind is the brain is the mind
Ultimately no one can find your Way, every spirit is different and what works for one may not work for another

Book recs:
Zhuangzi - an anxiolytic in text form
Nietzsche - the best parts of stoicism without the toxic indifference, also rightly critical of happiness as a value. start with the gay science.

What you gain from reading depends on *how* you read. Don't read if you can't actually focus and interpret the text.

[Anonymous No.19715324]

>>19715154
You don't indulge in these things because you're unhappy or unsatisfied. You're probably just as unhappy and unsatisfied on the days where you restrict yourself. You indulge in these things because you're human and it's tasty and it feels good. You can't stop yourself from "indulging" by punishing yourself after, the guilt will hurt you and compound your need to seek comfort in those same things that bring you shame, and the cycle will continue. None of this is a personal failure, it's just the way human brains work.

What you really need to do is start letting yourself enjoy things like a normal person and stop equating self punishment and deprivation with moral purity. I'd start with strengthening your social circles, finding people you enjoy spending time with who you can hang out with on a regular basis. When you're in a group of people all enjoying a big meal together and having a good time, you'll realize it doesn't matter whether you're eating the "right" amount of food.

[Anonymous No.19715332]

>>19715277
Very well said anon. Rare to see such quality here.

[Anonymous No.19715346]

>>19715324
I agree with the social point but I am noticably happier on the day I eat well/don't coom. I guess I should let go of any guilt or regret and simply pursue other, more fulfilling pleasures.

[Anonymous No.19715393]

>>19715154
Firstly realise that indulgence can be part of life, but that you don't actually have a self control over your own experience. You're not a monk yet if you don't have the upper rational cerebrum in complete control, which you may renounce but at least you DID have. Just for a day or week is nothing.

[Anonymous No.19715405]

>>19715154
You see, it's a problem with desire. Obviously but I don't think many people really that desire (especially under the malaise of postmodernity) seeks out experience neutrally rather than specifically prioritizing good or bad. Emotions are food. Because we desire to feel strongly and sadness is so easy to indulge in, to trigger, you find many people doing so to "fill a void" so to speak. Of course this doesn't solve anything beyond ridding momentary stasis and banality but considering stasis and banality are the default for the modern man this behaviour is bound to follow. Masturbation in particular feeds this experience lust because the action in itself is one of great physical experience, substitution of emotional experience (simulacrum of sex) followed by one of great regret/sadness/melancholy. It's a short cut to feeling strongly that can be done nearly anytime anywhere, and be aware of unearned/forced experience.

[Anonymous No.19715465]

>>19715405
Wild animals masturbate. What you're describing--if even an accurate narrative, which is a big if--is just a transhistorical fact of life, not something unique to the nothings of "modernity"/"postmodernity".

[Anonymous No.19715487]

>>19715465
Yes, but my point was more specifically that the postmodern condition leads to stasis and alienation therefore a experiential/emotional lack therefore chronic indulgence in easy experiences/emotions. Postmodern condition is really just and acceleration of already extant phenomenon by the breakdown of meta-narratives and the proliferation of worldwide communication.

[Anonymous No.19715506]

>>19715487
Fuck, awful grammar. That's what I get for 4:30 am /lit/ musings.

[Anonymous No.19715524]

>>19715487
im just skeptical of any narratives about epochal shifts in the zeitgeist like this. meta-narratives are alive and well, "stasis and alienation" are vague and have plenty of historical antecedents, proliferation of worldwide communication has had vast good and bad effects, many of which involved reinvigorating community, etc. i just dont buy the story. im not even sure i buy the more common story that we're any more "alienated" than we were in the past.

[Anonymous No.19715536]

>>19715524
To some extent I agree, the Spirit of the Times is always reflected in the past

[Anonymous No.19715539]

the whole point of catholicism is appreciating and being thankful for the fact that the only thing sweeter than sinning is the experience of repentance and the joy in knowing that Jesus forgives you... "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance"

[Anonymous No.19715569]

>>19715154
There really isn't such thing as "addiction". As in, there's no substance with magical powers that sucks you into its sphere and forces you to use it. Addictive substances are those that feel really GOOD. So why do you continue to use them?

The source of addiction isn't the mind, it isn't caused by "weakness" or "low self-control", and believing so is making things unnecessarily hard on yourself. All addictive pangs are your body seeking relief. Addiction is how your brain deals with chronically elevated stress hormones, by seeking a quick hit of pleasure. This is primarily a fault of the modern environment, which is quite literally toxic to human health. Shitty, meaningless lifestyles (like being a wagecuck), awful food supply and poor health all create a level of continuous stress that people rarely dealt with before modern life.

You treat your addiction by realizing that the addiction is a symptom and not the disease. Start looking for actual sickness and the symptoms will disappear. Consider reading Dr. Ray Peat, he completely changed my view on addiction and helped me understand the actual source of my problems.

>>19715164
moralistic retards like yourself have never helped anyone overcome anything, and are usually the worst coomers of them all.

[Anonymous No.19715575]

>>19715569
This is probably the ideal way to go about things, difficult but worthwhile

[Anonymous No.19715587]

>>19715164
You're not being helpful, even as a Catholic. You need to explain better on how it can help.

[Anonymous No.19715627]

>>19715277
Idk what stoicism you read that contains indifference. That is literally the opposite of stoicism.

[Anonymous No.19715630]

Im going to be spending 600 dollars to travel to this girl's place just to fuck her. You're better off than me anon

[Anonymous No.19715660]

>>19715569
This post amounts to saying that there is no magical substance which harms you (and you then go on to say that it's "actually all society's fault), and then also claims that it's not your mind's fault, or weakness.

The answer is, yes: You are weak. Most people are acutely aware of how devoid of meaning their life is and how shitty the modern world is. They are too weak to change that because they lack willpower or self respect. Blaming society is just as much of a copout as blaming the addictions themselves.

[Anonymous No.19715679]

>>19715277
Nieztche is hard place to start if OP hasn’t had much philosophical reading under their belt, but you’re suggestions are pretty spot on other wise.

OP, listen to this shit and also read Atomic Habits if you haven’t, it’s a little preachy and bullshitty but if you’re willing to look past that it’s got some great blueprints on the methods of change.

[Anonymous No.19715684]

>cringe son fails to achieve the totality of messianic prophecy
>original followers claim he will do it in their lifetime when he returns from death
>second generation of followed claim it was metaphorical but that the fail son is still coming back soon so be ready
>okay maybe not "soon" soon, but soon you know
>ride that grift for near two millennium
>cringe boy is still noticeably absent

[Anonymous No.19715695]

>>19715660
I did not blame "society" you absolute dipshit, you read what you wanted to out of my post. You also have it completely backwards. People cannot grow to be strong if their PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT is degrading them from birth. You think you're tough by saying this but you're really just a masochistic moron who likes to make life harder than it needs to be.

[Anonymous No.19715773]

>>19715695
You one post ago:
>This is primarily a fault of the modern environment, which is quite literally toxic to human health. Shitty, meaningless lifestyles (like being a wagecuck),
>People cannot grow to be strong if their PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT is degrading them from birth.
Yes, they can, I am living proof of that. They cannot if you teach them that they cannot. Life will always be hard, the only thing you have is your own mind, will and responsibility for yourself. These three things are all that matters, if you can look back on your life and be happy that you did your best, even against the odds, then that is a life well lived. Strength is additionally something that you can only prove to yourself. Being born in a degrading physical environment does not excuse your addictions and dependencies, you still have control over these weaknesses. Don't let anyone, like this loser, tell you otherwise. The satisfaction you will get from mastering yourself, knowing your limits, pushing yourself to the best state you can be in, infinitely outweighs a life of self-indulgent whining about how you were unfairly set up from birth, indulging in aimless and unsatisfying pleasures to negate the pain you think you have to experience.

[Anonymous No.19715780]

>>19715569
>There really isn't such thing as "addiction".

[Anonymous No.19715819]

>>19715773
do you think your hunter-gatherer ancestors struggled with crack addictions or porn? Its like you genuinely don't care to understand the cause of addiction at all. You are a masochist and like suffering unnecessarily. If addiction ireally s just "lack of self control", why do soldiers and doctors smoke?

[Anonymous No.19715838]

>>19715819
>f addiction ireally s just "lack of self control", why do soldiers and doctors smoke?
Lack of self control. You think soldiers and doctors are virtuous mendicants? Most soldiers join the army due to a lack of self-control and the need for externally imposed discipline. As for doctors, they can also lack self control in their own way (they become addicted to high pressure environments and the need for constant intellectual and career-stimulation).
>do you think your hunter-gatherer ancestors struggled with crack addictions or porn?
I'm sure they had their own problems we are not aware of, some of them at least.

[Anonymous No.19715869]

>>19715838
>I'm sure they had their own problems we are not aware of, some of them at least.
You're assuming what is normal for you was normal for your ancestors.
Before modernity, stress was acute. In modern environments, it is chronic and it physically wears the human body down. You live like a caged animal and are conditioned to believe nothing else is possible

[Anonymous No.19715882]

>>19715869
Speak for yourself, please.

[Anonymous No.19715896]

>>19715882
yeah okay. your worthless moralizing contributes nothing to this discussion, keep LARPing though

[Anonymous No.19716725]

>>19715154
>drink 2 liters of ice tea
Why is this a problem? I thought you were gonna say booze.