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/lit/ - Literature

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3822111 No.3822111 [Reply] [Original]

One book that you've read that's changed your life and why.

>> No.3822116

The Brothers Kamarazov.

Wasnt sure whether I was deist, Christian, atheist, or what. Sided with Christianity and have remained ever since.

>> No.3822127

>>3822116
You've been brainwashed by a dead man, pal.

>> No.3822130

>The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
> the way Wilde writes about the hypocrisy of morality and evolution of the horror that we feel when we truly see our sins.

>> No.3822135
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3822135

>>3822127
Oooh... edgy as fuck!

>> No.3822141

>>3822127
Not brainwashed. I had always questioned, eventually choosing Christianity. Had I read a different book and sided with Atheism, I'm sure you would have applauded and there would have been no mention of brainwashing.

>> No.3822165

>>3822135
Just a casual observation. No edge involved.

>>3822141
Not true. If you'd been convinced of either extreme, atheism or theism, I would have made the same comment.

And honestly... of all the things to be convinced by -- a piece of fiction? It may sound romantic to you, but it's pretty silly from my perspective. Just seems like you're reducing an important ontological question to something that can be resolved by a pretty story and some compelling characters.

>> No.3822170

The Alchemist, my dreams man my dreams, I mean following my dream, no matter what.

>> No.3822178

The Great Gatsby.

It made me realise that books aren't shit. I was 16 at that time.

Other than that, no book has had any major effect on me. No piece of art has, really. I'm 23, but I might as well be 16 because I feel like the exact same person, save for a few traumatic experiences.

>> No.3822181
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3822181

>>3822170
Yuck.

>> No.3822186

>>3822181
yuck to you

>> No.3822188

>>3822165
Interesting. I don't believe that it was the story and the lives of the characters that influenced my decision, but rather my own ponderings of the subject which were brought about through the reading of The Brothers Kamarazov.

>> No.3822191

>>3822141
Can you expand on that process? Why choose Christianity over atheism or agnosticism? Without spoiling the Brothers K, please. I haven't read it yet.

>> No.3822195

>>3822191
Seconding this request.
I'd also like to hear an explanation.

>> No.3822196

>>3822191
don't get this started please

>> No.3822203

>>3822165

If atheism and theism are both extremes just by nature of being choices, as your posts seem to say, what isn't an extreme? Just being a lukewarm agnostic who really doesn't care about anything at all?

>> No.3822225

>>3822203
Well, I think we both know your use of the word "lukewarm" is disingenuous. Unfair, even.

I care very much about the question itself, actually. Which is why I don't really understand people who claim to have an answer when it comes to God. I find their certitude vaguely disconcerting, hence the leap to strong words like "brainwashing."
In this sense my agnosticism is not lukewarm at all... you might even call it extreme.

>> No.3822228

>>3822196
Why not? It's fascinating. And it's very much on topic.

>> No.3822230

>>3822203
Agnosticism is just another form of apathy.

>> No.3822231

>>3822195
>>3822191

I had struggled with my religious affiliations for years and went through periods of extreme atheism to deism to indifferent. The Brothers Kamarazov have me a perspective I had not yet encountered. My peers were predominately atheist and most considered Christianity to synonymous with retardation. I agreed.

Upon reading TBK, I allowed myself to consider the possibility of A god existing and read the novel with this mindset. Throughout, there are multiple instances in which morality is questioned and the book delves into deep philosophical thought. It wasnt the plot or the authors opinions that influenced my decision to become Christian, but rather the moments in which I questioned myself after finishing such passages.

It may not work the same for you and I certainly read it during a pivotal time. It did change my life though.

The argument that fiction should have no influence on your religion is moronic. Anything can influence you to ponder your religion. Nature, art, fiction, etc.

>> No.3822234

>>3822225
Extreme agnosticism. Holy shit that's hilarious.

>> No.3822245

>>3822231
This should, of course, say gave instead of have. Bound to have some mistake when submitting mobile

>> No.3822249

Siddhartha.

>> No.3822256

>>3822116
Sames almost, was an atheist and really left-wing edgy 16 year old, read war and peace and pretty much did a 360. War and Peace taught me alot, and now at 19 I still think of it daily, and thinking about petya dieing still makes me tongue-tied and watery-eyed. after reading a brothers karamazov also came at a life.related time in my life, and also affected my views on intuition, grace and wisdom etc.

>> No.3822257

>>3822230
Not true.
Not necessarily.
Would you consider a political moderate to be apathetic? Being undecided or grounded between two extremes is not always a sign of apathy.

>> No.3822258

Fight Club.

>inb4 edgy

>> No.3822259

>>3822130
This

>> No.3822266

>>3822234
I was being facetious. Sardonic even.
Your question was silly to begin with.

>> No.3822273

brothers karamazov thred

>> No.3822282

>>3822258
I don't understand why everyone is so petrified of being perceived as edgy. When did the word "edgy" garner so much negative association?

edgy [ˈɛdʒJ]
adj
1. (usually postpositive) nervous, irritable, tense, or anxious
2. (Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Art Terms) (of paintings, drawings, etc.) excessively defined
3. Daring, provocative, or trend-setting. Innovative, or at the cutting edge, with the concomitant qualities of intensity and excitement

>> No.3822291

>>3822231
>The argument that fiction should have no influence on your religion is moronic.
I agree. I take that back.
But it seems like you were looking to be converted. If you'd gone into the book blind, your Christian rebirth would have been much more impressive.

>> No.3822295

>>3822282
was just thinking about this earlier... i think it has to do with not wanting to feel like a stupid teenager. like when people go "grow up, kid" it hits them somewhere deep. some psychological weak spot or something.

>> No.3822296

The Drifters

I was maybe 16 or 17 when I read it, and I cried when I finished it because I realized that my life was already over.

>> No.3822306

>>3822116
I'm just wondering -- how did that book make you a christian? I read it and felt that even though his views were christian, the book seemed very against organized Christianity and the only view i felt against atheism was that Ivan had a conscious.

The only good Christians were the people that were good before they believed in god, and he explained their stories. (Alyoshka, Zosima they were both inherently good people, despite some flaws). He writes all the Christians similar -- that they arent religious until they need something (but they ignore questions like why is my child crippled in the first place). They also show how awful the church is and symbolically showing corruption(the stench of Zosima.)

He then writes all atheists the same. That may have been the point(that Ivan was a carbon copy of Fyodor), but its very one sided argument.

>> No.3822308

>>3822282
which is obvious but i think that's all it is

>> No.3822314

>>3822295
Yes, but isn't it somewhat disturbing that we've come to associate daring/provocative/innovative thinking with an adolescent mindset and nothing else.

>> No.3822311

>>3822291
Possibly. Though I'm not sure I was necessarily looking to be converted, rather trying to get a new perspective. I'd had a fair share of atheism.

Though you're right, my rebirth could have been more impressive had I gone into the novel a raging atheist.

>> No.3822317

>>3822306
Read the thread, idiot.

>> No.3822320

>>3822306
Guys, please don't spoil the details of the book. I'm yet to read it.

>> No.3822330

>>3822306
Also, not anyone else in the thread, but I think it's rather well known that Dostoevsky was pro-Christianity

>> No.3822336

>>3822330
>>3822330
I know -- thats why I said "even those his views were christian"

>> No.3822337

Every book I've read has changed my life. But then my life is pretty shitty. I don't really leave my room so I have very few outside influences. Books are my link to the outside.

>> No.3822339

>>3822320
>>3822320
that doesnt spoil anything.

>> No.3822359

>>3822314
only to a stupid kid like you

>> No.3822405

>>3822359
>>3822359
back to /pol/ with you!

>> No.3822410

Brothers K and Dostoevsky in general made me realize atheists are cancer upon the world.

>> No.3822417

>>3822410
>>3822410
jeez really? Why?

>> No.3822423

Lithuanian girl are you in here?

>> No.3822433

>>3822417

i'm agnostic, but I already despised atheists before I read Brothers K. I really like how religion can bring people closer and I agree with Dosto how atheism will bring about humanities destruction. It helps every atheist i've met is a full on retard.

>> No.3822438

>>3822234
http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s15e14-the-poor-kid

>> No.3822446

The Iliad

Kind of made me realise that there's stuff beyond standard fantasy/sci-fi shit

>> No.3822449

>>3822314
they skurred

>> No.3822553

>>3822433
>>3822433
Thats a really intolerant think to say.
Also saying atheists are cancer and then admitting you're an agnostic is kind of ridiculous. Agnostics are atheists that dont want people to hate them.

>> No.3822562

>>3822553
Maybe he's an agnostic theist. You don't know if there is a god, but you believe.

Seems the most realist in my opinion.

>> No.3822579

Since OP didn't say fiction...

In Buddha's Words. Seriously, Siddharta Gautama was a hell of a thinker and 'speaker', his words have changed me deeply.

I don't consider myself a buddhist now but has changed my perspective of the world

>> No.3822591

>>3822282
Its just a colloquial term online for trying really hard to look badass or tough by exaggerating how badass and tough you are. Or purposely going against the grain in order to be a special snowflake. Usually combine with arrogance

>> No.3822618

I read The Stranger when I was about 12 years old. It was the first novel I ever read that really made me think afterwards. That final line still stays with me.

I haven't really embraced the philosophy that Camus endorsed but it opened a door for me.

>> No.3822625

>>3822191
good books can't be spoiled

>> No.3822629

Poetry, Language, Thought by Martin Heidegger. It opened up a new way of both seeing and talking about art and the world for me and also led to better intuition for some of the contemporary OOO stuff.

>> No.3822643

>>3822625
This. I've read plenty of books where I knew what was going to happen but the writing just made me keep going.

>> No.3822672

The bible. Not because I'm a christian but because it was forced on me growing up as a kid.

>> No.3822695
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3822695

This one. I've read plenty of classics, but this one particular sci-fi had an actual impact on me in my adolescence.

>> No.3822711

I don't want to say it, but it'll be the Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
Yeah yeah I know. Here's the thing, as a kid I hated reading books and thought they are boring. And then I got this easy to chew pseudo philosophy that was just perfect for a pre-teen me. So I read it, and thus started reading other books.
So, as pathetic as it may seem, Alchemist changed my attitude to reading.
I think I should go hang myself...

>> No.3822714

>>3822695
Never read it, but I love the Horus Heresy series so far, read one of them every month, between other books

>> No.3822730

>>3822711
Good story. I was pretty much the same, but with "Sophie's World".

>> No.3822738

Lolita.

It made me a pedophile.

>> No.3822748

>>3822738

Well congratulations. Nabokov's work is done.

>> No.3822752

>>3822748
Am I a bad person if I thought that Lolita was an awesome book?

>> No.3822755

>>3822738
I wondered if this had actually happened to people. I read it when I was 17 and I found it arousing. It didn't transform into paedophilia though

>> No.3822757

>>3822752

Not for that reason, but let's be honest. We're all bad people here.

>> No.3822763

>>3822755
That's the thing with the book. It manages to really convey why Humbert finds Lolita so arousing but, at the same time, it is really evident how much of a sick fuck this guy really is.

>> No.3822775

>>3822755
I didn't find it arousing at all, actually. I don't really find much of anything too sexually arousing, though.

I read it when I was 14, and after reading it I didn't find anyone over that age attractive anymore. I assumed that would change when I grew up, but it didn't.

>> No.3822790

de ira by seneca
made me reflect on my impulses and helped coping with them

>> No.3822936

>>3822562
>>3822433
I don't think that's right.
Brothers K was a masterpiece, but I think the sort of idea that gets drawn from it is kind of overly cynical. The idea that "I don't believe but I think we need religion for morality" Is kind of solipsistic and self-deluding when you really get down to it. It's basically saying "Well, I don't believe, but we have to have other people believe, because they can't be trusted without a system of morality derived from religion, like I can." While it's true that religion is a factor in morality, I think the truth of it is that we really get our moral systems from family, society and socializing agents, everything from playground interactions and fights with siblings, to media, (and a lot of media) And then when we are adult enough to be self conscious of our way of thinking, usually starting at teenage years, we start to look for answers to "Why" we think some things are wrong and some are right,
I don't think Christianity or any other religion is the source for morality, instead I think it is an answer that we use when we try to explain why we have morality. I think if it was taken away (which is a dumb hypothetical, because it's so much ingrained in the culture, and because taking it away would be a fruitless violation of people's liberties. but still) if it were somehow magically removed, I think that people would still have morality, they would just explain it away differently.
"TLDR" It's stupid for a kid to think "Well, I don't believe in Santa Claus, but everyone else should believe in Santa Claus because the fear of getting coal is all that is keeping them moral"

>> No.3822948

I wasn't going to say it, cause I didn't want to risk starting the flamewar. But the Flamewar is already partially here. So I'll just say it, and add that I'm not trying to provoke anyone or incite anything.

The God Delusion made me an Atheist.

>> No.3822955

>>3822135
>States something true
>Edgy

pick one please

>> No.3822966

>>3822948
It's happened to multiple people

>>3822955
I think edgy was in response to the word "brainwashed"

>> No.3822967

>>3822948
>scared to announce that you were convinced by a book telling you the truth.
What's wrong with people?

>> No.3822976

>>3822967

>doesn't realize The God Delusion is frowned upon on lit
>probably illiterate
>listens to The God Delusion in audiotape and thinks its great
>wants to know what's wrong with people

>> No.3822979

Marcus Aurelius' Meditations really got me out of a depression that had lasted years.

Can't thank that book enough, it was the "man up" advice I was needing at the moment.

>> No.3822980

>>3822967
>The truth
The God Delusion is far from the actual truth. Richard Dawkins is a great man when it comes to science, but it comes to philosophy and the critique of world Religion, he is very ignorant.

>> No.3822981

Atlus Shrugged.

I wasn't convinced of Objectivism but it did make me think about why I reject it.
Although a chore to read (That 70+ page monologue which just states all the things already discussed in the book needlessly.) it did make me consider my moral philosophy.

>> No.3822990

>>3822976
I don't think it's great.
>>3822980
Richard Dawkins is not a great philosopher and he certainly did not convince me of anything (mainly because I wasn't brainwashed as a child to believe in fairytales). What he says in TGD, however, is true regardless and it is a good thing when people discover the truth.

>> No.3823004

>>3822976
>frowned upon
lel
The God Delusion and The Bible, specifically the King James Version are both good /lit reads.
The only people who don't think so are ones who like arguing "The Great Theological Flamewar"
r/atheists who say "the bible is shit"
agnostics and theists who say "the god delusion is shit"
And it's all based on what they think of the people who "follow" one book or the other.

When you're objective. you don't have a bug up your ass about one or the other.

Inb4 edgy agnostics start in with "It's not a good book because it's not the best advocate of atheism. There are books that do it better."
Yeah, no shit. That doesn't mean the book is useless.

>> No.3823010

>>3822990
The smugness of atheists never ceases to amaze. Had someone called Christianity "the truth", they would be instantaneously flamed. If an atheist claims atheism as "the truth" and Christianity as "fairy tales", they make it out to be a fact and any opposition is instantly considered to be delusional.

You're still a child, don't fool yourself.

I'm an atheist myself, I just hate to see people giving atheists a bad name.

>> No.3823015

>>3823004
No. The God Delusion is considered shit by most literate humans, atheists and theists alike. I'm sorry you wasted your time.

>> No.3823017

>>3823010
That's because one happens to be right and the other is not.

>> No.3823024
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3823024

>>3823017

>> No.3823025

Steppenwolf was a revelation

I didn't really read as a habit before that book... Hesse laid my soul bare. That was the first time that it hit me that a man who lived 50 years before I was born could understand me more wholly than anyone I had ever met

>> No.3823026

The Fountainhead

>> No.3823040

>>3823015
No the God delusion is "Baby's first atheism" but it's not wrong.

and those who don't like it are always those atheists and theists who get off on the debate.
When you don't like the flamewar you can see that it is perfectly fine for the what it was reaching for, and far less polemic than what it's portrayed as.
>mfw people rage over The God Delusion, and don't rage about Hitchens "God is not Great"
There's a book that was smug and condescending and polemic.

Look I know a lot of "militant atheists" love the book, but that's no more a reflection on the books quality than the westboro baptists behavior is a reflection on the bible's quality.

Don't come to /lit and complain because some of the books fans are pricks.

>> No.3823049
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3823049

The Ego and Its Own taught me that I'm beautiful and unique and that I deserve anything I want in life as long as I can take it and don't get caught up in spooks.

>> No.3823070

Fire few Wheel Of Time books. inb4 casul

I was young and it just made me realize how everyone is out for themselves. And people will lie and use you for their own ends. That people are often not what they appear to be.

>> No.3823077

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
None of us would be in this game if we didn't have some book or books that got us hooked on reading.

>> No.3823115

>>3822296
Fuck that sounds depressing. But I can relate to feeling your life is over when it is actually just beginning.
>>3822314
It is particular of 4chan mindset. Really a pain, though, as it prevents from looking at things with an open mind. You could call this "misedgism", it is a bias as any other. Anything dark or provocative will could then be dismissed as edgy.

Reminds me of that 1 star Goodreads reviews of Flowers of Evil that says more or less "It sure feels school to be a student in literature and evil class in Boston and wear leather jacket". The reader mistook Baudelaire for an immature "edgy" teen (remember Baudelaire was a professional painstakingly editing his verses and that he was thirty-five when the book first came out) and thus he did get nothing out of Flowers of Evil. He wasted his own reading experience, basically.

Also, even if many books have influenced me in a way or another, I'd pick Pascal's Thought as a game-changer for me. He truly made me realise the importance of not clinging to your preconceptions about the world, but also to know that you will always have some form of self-delusion.

>> No.3823134

>>3822711
Actually that is sensible. You went from non-reader to reader thanks to Coelho, that's not a neglectible accomplishment. As a guy who was fed books since childhood and could never imagine a life without reading, I respect your ability to change your own mind.

>> No.3823139

>>3822178
I haven't read that one. I'm from Chile, and have always thought that is too... "gringo". Is it so? I've no intentions of watching the movie, so there's no rush.

>> No.3823141

>>3822990
>fairytales
>blindly saying a book is true just because it shits on religion
I really happy evangelical atheism is just a passing phase in many young teenagers.

>> No.3823188

1984.

Granted I haven't read that much yet, but this book made me spiral into paranoia and depression, and I lost my faith. No kidding.

>> No.3823236

Wind-up Bird Chronicle.

Read After the Quake young. Ended up reading Kafka on the Shore and Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World at strange points in my life; I loved it and hated it at the same time.

I made the biggest change in my life ever by moving. New city, new trends, new culture, new climate, new lifestyle, new everything. I picked up Wind-up on a whim, and feeling totally removed from my environment as if I'd been plopped down into a strange land just resonated with the book for me. It really solidified...something in my head, not sure what. I guess it was easier to be accepting of the strangeness in the book when I compared it to what was going on in my life at the time.

Anyways, I believe it helped me get through the "adapting to a new life" phase, and it has remained extremely memorable since.

>> No.3823245

>>3822249
Fuck yeah buddy.

>> No.3823275

>>3822948
The problem with the God Delusion is the typically negative view it places on Christians after converting atheists. It doesn't even happen directly. Some of it is subconscious; even the title implies that believers have some sort of mental issue.

>> No.3823289
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3823289

For Whom the Bell Tolls

made me realize that life is but a short dream that you try to make the best out of but ends too soon, where those that you are with should be as close as brothers and sisters but in the end you just pushing them away as if you are the only one who truly understands yourself unless you allow them in

>> No.3823287

>>3822948
Interesting to hear this book changed you in such a way. I found it not as compelling as I thought it would be, but then again, I was already familiar with the perspective. I already knew most of what that book discusses and had already been a skeptic.

>> No.3823338

>>3823275
That's not a result of the book. That's a result of conversion. The book is actually pretty tame considering it's subject matter. Honestly, I read it and didn't understand why people were so pissed off about it and said things like "it shits on religion" and then I saw dawkins speaking on Youtube, and I get it. He's aggressive against religion in real life Polemic, you can even call him arrogant or a "militant atheist" which is a bad description but it helps put you in the mind of the problem.

But that's not what's in the book. And it just frustrates me when people put the book down, and bash people who read and liked the book just based on that stuff. I think it's just as intellectually dishonest to do that as it would be to misrepresent the bible and its "fans" based on the actions and attitudes of its worst readers.

As for the title, objectively it's pretty harmless. No, it doesn't treat religion with respect but that's not what the book is about. The book discusses the arguments against believing in God. True there could be less dismissive titles, but in the end, even if the title was completely neutral it would still get bashed because of the contents. There's no nice way of "debunking" theism, There's just a spectrum going from nicer to ruder. But no matter how nicely the subject matter is presented, at the end of the day you are insulting people's core beliefs, just by questioning them.

But oddly enough, I do think The God Delusion tries to be nice. It doesn't try to piss people off, or to insult people who believe in God. I'd argue that the title "The God Delusion" isn't making fun of people who believe in God, it's making fun of God.

I continue to assert that both the Bible and The God Delusion are important books, and should be read. Even though The God Delusion isn't really the most thorough or intelligent book debunking theology, it is a really good starting point.

>> No.3823344

>>3823338
Is that so? I'm sorry, I had no idea. The notion of TGD being subconsciously influential came from the views on it by some other people. I do agree with your opinion on Dawkins; that's what made me fully believe in what was said about the God Delusion to me.

>> No.3823359

>>3823289
Mah niggah!

My reasons for enjoying the Book are completely different for reasons i don't really feel like expanding, the level of characters etc... But what a book!

>> No.3823383

>>3823359
>>3823289
spanish civil war

>> No.3823386
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3823386

It seems a bit absurd but as a lazy thirteen year old believer in some vague notion of a Judeo-Christian god, it opened my mind to the possibility of vast realms and other possibilities that were equally as valid in the face of a total lack of "evidence" so to speak.

Then Spinoza's "The Ethics" totally opened my mind to an infinite set of infinite possible propositions about the "true"/"real" nature of the world and obliterated any innocent sentiments for standard religions.

>Captcha: Edgy axioms

>> No.3823424

>>3822256
Bro, if you do a 360, you'll end up on the same spot.

>> No.3823434

>>3823275

The real delusion (haven't read the book) is not the explicit question of a God's "existence" but the notion that we can ever evaluate the thrust of a godly psychology!

Of course most people in this world are complete fucking suckers for sociopaths and social systems of all sorts and usually have a half-assed backwards notion of possible psychologies and motivations and thus think that a being with mental and physical powers of many many (up to infinity) magnitudes greater than they would still contain the same straightforward psychology that the human ape does and represents in their actions.

Of course even human apes don't have straightforward psychologies and this is only compounded greatly by the resources available to beings analogous to Gods!

TLDR: Even if God existed in all of its phenomenal manifestations, I still wouldn't "believe" a fucking word it said.

>> No.3823452

>>3823434
Yeah, good point, It's not the point made in the book, but it's an interesting argument.

>> No.3823462

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
I won Medusa mythology exam medals because of that book, which in turn gave me a scholarship to university. I've been fascinated with mythlogy of all cultures since then

>> No.3823464
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3823464

'The Conference of the Birds'

I have never seen the world the same way after reading it

>> No.3823469

Dante's Inferno

>> No.3823538

>>3822231
There's a famous writer in my country who decided to become a catholic christian after this book... I suppose many have taken this leap based on this book

>> No.3823560

Paterson by William Carlos Williams

It's a book length poem about a man trying to reconcile himself in nature in an industrial world.

It's cliche Romantic/Modernist stuff, I know, but Williams' poetry is so beautiful that it's a notch above, in my opinion.

>> No.3823592
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3823592

The Screwtape Letters. I had always been earnestly Christian but it made me realise how my every action mattered and counted toward my spiritual growth. It felt like being a Christian was so much more "imminent", more immediately affecting and changing than I had previously imagined.

>> No.3823601

>>3823592
great book

>> No.3823604

>>3823592
Absolutely. I love that passage about how it is dangerous to view the devil as an unreal entity, as a silly-looking bogeyman with red horns and a plastic trident, how if we don't believe that a devil exists then we are letting him win.

>> No.3823616

>>3823141
You didn't read what I wrote, did you?

>> No.3823621

>>3823592
I think one "problem" for me was that I took it too seriously? The fact that it was comedic completely passed me by. I didn't even crack a smile when Screwtape transformed into a centipede (if memory serves). I was just like "Yes, yes! Do go on!" Nevertheless, I still love it. It's the sort of book I can open up to at any page and find something meaningful inside.

>> No.3823822

>>3823604

>My lack of a face when the Screwtape Letters are a propaganda piece inspired by a malicious demiurgic entity attempting to put blame on its opponents that it labels "devil" and slanders with characteristics it itself shares

The infinite gullibility of Christians (and all straight-laced believers in anthropomorphic deities) never ceases to amaze me! Not merely gullibility but the complete lack of actual imagination regarding the infinite possible propositions about the "set of facts" about our world!

No wonder why the species of internet atheist has such poison reflexes. When fed with such intellectual abuse, it's only natural upon escape to hiss at one's former captors!

>> No.3823838

>>3823822
>muh fedora

>> No.3823848

>>3822295
Don't look too deep into it, it's just the new buzzwords everyone spews everywhere, why do you think they use it so much on /v/?

People here used to say "hipster" by the way.

>> No.3823865

>>3823838

lol I'm in the military what are you talking about "fedora"? If anything you should be saying
>muh gay berets

It just irritates me when the blatant transparency of projection of human wants and needs onto beings that are "transcendental and eternal" are taken as a form of enlightened wisdom as if it described an actual proposition about the world!

>> No.3823869

>>3822178
Might as well be 16, ya fuckin dumb ass. That book is terrible. You're terrible. I hope your children are born retarded. Sincerely.

>> No.3823870

>>3823865
hella fedoras in the military, bro

>> No.3823872
File: 31 KB, 512x361, manning.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3823872

>>3823865
Just because you're in the military doesn't mean you're not a fedora. Pic very much related.

>> No.3823907

>>3823872

Okay he was a dumbass. Like it's laughable how easy he could have gotten away with what he did with the lax protocols in place and yet still got caught. And I'm the same guy as
>>3823386
and
>>3823434

I don't think that's "fedora", that's just using my fucking brain and realizing the utter foolishness of settling for any account of a "God" when presented with the problem of psychology, the possible set of propositions about the world, and the awareness of neurology.

I suppose I must be honest and say those are far more powerful thoughts to my own brain than the intellectual (and trust me, I really despise using that word in light of its debased currency) equivalent to geeky digressions on the power levels of DBZ characters. They're fictional quantities, you can make up literally an infinite number of plausible consistent propositions about them without having anything that resembles a usable tool.

Once you read The Ethics and understand the power of the tools it gives one, naive belief in any one account of God(s) becomes impossible beyond literal mindrape by an actually existing entity.

>> No.3823933
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3823933

There's a very real morbid hilarity in the fact that there are people who profess to be theists as a counter-counter-culture. Who then of course go around calling others edgy fedoras or whatever. I lack the descriptive powers to express just how detestable this need to be different really is, so I'll just leave it with a lol@thisthread.

As for me, the Lord of the Rings. It's been a great influence and a source of joy and comfort for me ever since I read it in high school.

>> No.3823941
File: 111 KB, 558x744, dude.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3823941

>>3823907

>> No.3823944

>>3823933
>getting trolled on /lit/

On /v/, /a/, /sp/ and the like that's just part and parcel. You save your dignity and move on. But you submitted yourself before the pane, beaming with pride,l and were deemed unworthy. Just give up and go home, man.

>> No.3823951

>>3823941
Non him, but the insult of "edgy" and "hipster" and the implied tryhardedness is a boring distinction.
It's more appropriate for things like fashion, and music, things that are better used as indicators of status,
I know there are parallels in "patrician" and "plebian" literature, don't get me wrong, there is elitism and snobbery. We've got pretentiousness in /lit, but it operates on a different system.
Which is just a long way of saying. There are atheists who are bros and atheists who are pricks, and there are theists who are bros and theists who are pricks. but adherence to one group or another doesn't make you a hipster elitist poser or whatever other synonym for artificial you want to use.
Philosophies can trend, but that doesn't make them ephemeral like "favorite bands' or the meme of wearing a fedora ironically

>> No.3823956

>>3823941
>Cubano
>>3823951
Weighed
Measured
Found wanting

>> No.3823958

>>3823933
>counter-counter culture

It's so funny how we're back where we started just by trying to be different.

>> No.3823961
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3823961

>>3823865
>lol I'm in the military what are you talking about "fedora"? If anything you should be saying

>> No.3823963

>>3823958
Funny is certainly one word for it.

>> No.3823966

>>3823961

FUCK.

>> No.3824056
File: 111 KB, 300x495, GodEmperorofDune.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3824056

God Emperor of Dune.

Something about the writing and the conversations, especially those between Idaho and Leto. I remember many times reading in the library and putting the book down for a moment, thinking on what I had just read. Not that I didn't understand it as such, more to really grasp it somehow.

A great feeling nontheless.

>> No.3824077

Starship Troopers. I read it in my teens and at the time it was rather HOLY SHIT; it might sound unimpressive, but it was the first book I'd read that made me question the political beliefs and morals that my father had taught me as soon as I could read. Nowadays I wouldn't say I agree with any of the things I thought about that book at the time. They were terribly juvenile and simplistic things. But it was that book that got me into starting to try and not think terribly juvenile and simplistic things, or to parrot my father's beliefs.

>> No.3824096

>>3823961
This is a very nice looking butch lesbian.

>> No.3824105

>>3824056
i loved this book. did just the same thing. leto II is a brilliant character. cheers, anon.

>> No.3824173

>>3823338
>He's aggressive against religion in real life Polemic
I disagree with this. He only seems to care if religion interferes with science or politics. If you keep it to yourself he doesn't care what you do.