/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.4667855]

I need a book/philosophy that'll help me get over what a piece of shit failure my life is. I'm NEET and a huge embarrassment to everyone I know, and I can't get over the shame.

[Anonymous No.4667870]

>>4667855
>I can't get over the shame.
Stirner / Nietzsche. Transvalue your values and live NEET with no shame.

[Anonymous No.4667894]

St. Thomas Aquinas.
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/

If you can't handle theology because of prejudice against religion, then Cicero.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cicero/de_Officiis/1A*.html

Or Seneca.
http://www.stoics.com/seneca_epistles_book_1.html

Or Plutarch.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23639/23639-h/23639-h.htm

Don't read anything from the last 200 years. Time is short, you can't spend it on that garbage.

[Anonymous No.4667897]

>>4667855
kill yourself and run away from home. Get a job and never talk to your mother again. Your going to be a slave anywhere you go, but you can escape embarrassment.

[Anonymous No.4667899]

Also, I don't care if you have prejudice against religion, just read this short essay of St. John Chrystotom immediately.
Read it now. I'll wait here for your first impressions upon having finished reading it.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1902.htm

[Anonymous No.4667906]

>>4667894
>Don't read anything from the last 200 years. Time is short, you can't spend it on that garbage.

What a ridiculous bias. What possible reason could you have for it?

[Anonymous No.4667917]

>>4667906
>What possible reason could you have for it?

Time is short, you can't spend it on that garbage.

[Anonymous No.4667920]

>>4667906
Modernity is a plague.

[Anonymous No.4667921]

>>4667855
You don't need a book or a philosophy, you need a job. OR education/training, I guess.

[Anonymous No.4667923]

>>4667894

Can you tell something about how you think it'll help? I'll be looking through everything ITT but I would appreciate more input.

>>4667899

Hang on though I'm kind of slow reader and ADD.

[Anonymous No.4667932]

>>4667894
>If you can't handle theology

As if it's so difficult or something. I have some selected writings here by Aquinas and one of his 'theological' writings is a 'proof' that ghosts are real. Entirely all of it is pathetic. This is why it's so funny when people say that people like Dawkins are "ignorant" of theology - what does this even mean?

Anyway OP, maybe it'd help you to read Marcus Aurelius's Meditations.

>>4667917
Repeating the stupid thing you said too. One can already tell that you're a pedantic ass, probably one who thinks he's an 'expert' on theology, and much smarter than all those dumb scientists who know nothing about it, for sure!

[Anonymous No.4667972]

>>4667917
>>4667920
And any reasons why books written between 1800-2000 are garbage? You realize some of the most important texts in science, philosophy and literature were created in this period, right?

[Anonymous No.4667974]

>>4667923

>Can you tell something about how you think it'll help?

Well, Aquinas would be my first choice but as to the other three you should simply select one of them to study.
It will help you by providing you a structure. Not just a few aphorisms or witty sayings, but a whole building in which to live, learn & grow. You'd be better off just picking one philosopher as your mentor and guide and spending 10 years following him than spending the same time idly browsing through all of histories thinkers and acquiring only scraps of learning without depth.

[Anonymous No.4667977]

>>4667972
Literature - no, the literature of the past 200 years is worthless.
Philosophy - no, the philosophy of the past 200 years is worthless.
Science is vain, it is not really worth studying except idly as a hobby

[Anonymous No.4667991]

>>4667977
Hegel was still around until 1831.

[Anonymous No.4667990]

>>4667974
If you can't become a Christian, which is by far the best thing, then a Stoic would be the next best thing.
Here is an early Stoic hymn that but for a couple of words is nearly Christian.
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/readings/cleanthes_hymn.html

Of the three I mentioned I would pick Cicero, who has a wide and solid corpus. If you were to pick Cicero as your mentor and teacher then be faithful to him; don't read anybody else. The liberals like to talk about being "well-rounded" and studying many subjects and authors, but they are clueless; wide study lacks depth, and leads to people thinking they are more learned than they are.

[Anonymous No.4667996]

Judging by what you write me, and by what I hear, I am forming a good opinion regarding your future. You do not run hither and thither and distract yourself by changing your abode; for such is the sign of a disordered spirit. The primary indication, to my thinking, of a well-ordered maid is a man's ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company. Be careful, however, lest this reading of many authors and books of every sort may tend to make you discursive and unsteady. You must linger among a limited number of masterthinkers, and digest their works, if you would derive ideas which shall win firm hold in your mind. Everywhere means nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends. And the same thing must hold true of men who seek intimate acquaintance with no single author, but visit them all in a hasty and hurried manner. Food does no good and is not assimilated into the body if it leaves the stomach as soon as it is eaten; nothing hinders a cure so much as frequent change of medicine; no wound will heal when one salve is tried after another; a plant which is often moved can never grow strong. There is nothing so efficacious that it can be helpful while it is being shifted about. And in reading of many books is distraction.
Accordingly, since you cannot read all the books which you may possess, it is enough to possess only as many books as you can read. "But," you reply, "I wish to dip first into one book and then into another." I tell you that it is the sign of an overnice appetite to toy with many dishes; for when
<Ep1-7>

EPISTLES II., III.
they are manifold and varied, they cloy but do not nourish. So you should always read standard authors; and when you crave a change, fall back upon those whom you read before. Each day acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes as well; and after you have run over many thoughts, select one to be thoroughly digested that day. This is my own custom; from the many things which I have read, I claim some one part for myself.
The thought for to-day is one which I discovered in Epicurus/a; for I am wont to cross over even into the enemy's camp, - not as a deserter, but as a scout. He says: "Contented poverty is an honourable estate." Indeed, if it be contented, it is not poverty at all. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. What does it matter how much a man has laid up in his safe, or in his warehouse, how large are his flocks and how fat his dividends, if he covets his neighbour's property, and reckons, not his past gains, but his hopes of gains to come? Do you ask what is the proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second, to have what is enough. Farewell.p

[Anonymous No.4667998]

>>4667977
Convincing argument there.

[Anonymous No.4668001]

>>4667991
Not only is Hegel worthless, he is positively harmful. It's better to read nothing at all than to study Hegel with attentiveness.

[Anonymous No.4668004]

>>4668001
Let me guess, you're a NEET.

[Anonymous No.4668005]

>>4667974
>>4667990

Thanks for the advice, should have asked for it here a long time ago.

[Anonymous No.4668009]

>>4667855
Is philosophy really the self-help literature many people on here seem to think it is? Honest question, I almost only read fiction. I get that it can change your outlook on life and existence, but can it in any way solve OP's laziness and lack of ambition?

[Anonymous No.4668016]

>>4668005
If you were to pick just one wise observation of Cicero's and reflect and act upon it, reforming yourself accordingly to the betterment of your virtue, you would accomplish infinitely more than all the pedants in the world who read for the sake of reading and being read, and do not learn any lessons or adjust themselves according to what they've learned.
Truth is not just in the intellect, it is in the will. Truth is not just understood, it is lived and practiced. Those who have the truth in their intellects but not in their wills are called hypocrites.

God bless you & increase your understanding.

[Anonymous No.4668020]

>>4668009
Yes it can. Philosophy is self-help, and there is nothing shameful in helping yourself.
Curiously, modern self-help literature is actually just ancient occult / hermetic / esoteric doctrine in a popular format.

[Anonymous No.4668034]

>>4668009
>can it in any way solve OP's laziness and lack of ambition?
Depending on the philosophy, it might be more likely to confirm it as a positive thing. But that might help too.

[Anonymous No.4668060]

>>4667855
Alice Miller?

[Anonymous No.4668075]

>>4667932
Dawkins is to philosophy what Deepak Chopra is to science.

[Anonymous No.4668109]

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. Cultivate good habits and the rest follows. Start flourishing.

[Anonymous No.4668122]

Stop watching the electric Jew.
Stop smoking the herbal Jew.
Stop imbibing the fermented Jew.

>>4668109
>Cultivate good habits

[Anonymous No.4668144]

>>4668009

Am I the only one who noticed how incredibly stupid this question is?

[Anonymous No.4668149]

>>4667894
Should I read Summa Contra Gentiles before Summa Theologica? I heard it's an earlier work and not strictly Catholic while still following similar stuff.

[Anonymous No.4668153]

>>4667870
This this

[Anonymous No.4668195]

>read only one medieval theologian and follow him only
>don't read anyone else, if you must read stoics
>disregard anything since the enlightenment and science because they're bad or useless

Most desperate bulwark against nihilism I have ever encountered.

[Anonymous No.4668200]

>>4668195
The Enlightenment was the biggest mistake Europe ever made. Look where it's lead us: cultural marxism and all its attendant horrors. And it's not like we should be surprised--this is the logical conclusion of Enlightenment bullshit!

[Anonymous No.4668203]

>>4668195

Then recommend something.

[Anonymous No.4668214]

Your Own Worst Enemy

[Anonymous No.4668230]

>>4668200
What's so bad about Cultural Marxism?

[Anonymous No.4668232]

>>4668230

[Anonymous No.4668233]

>>4668200
enlightenment logic doesn't have a conclusion

[Anonymous No.4668236]

>>4668203
Embrace the inevitable head on. Nihilism can't be staved off, so go with it, enter it, see if there's something at the end of the tunnel and build your home in the tunnel if there isn't. Trying to go back into time to the notions of a pre-nihilistic era is impossible to do truly, as exemplified by the necessity of self-censorship in your reading if you even want to attempt to maintain such a pre-nihilistic view.

Having recognised the crisis that awaits you if you let go of the old values, being aware of this, means you already know too much to be able to stick to your guns. You're already infected, so to speak, the rest is merely a matter of how in denial you will be.

>>4668200
Your sort of meta-philosophical analysis of the Enlightenment is itself a product of it. You have acquired a point of view that pertains a level of self-consciousness that makes it impossible to return to the 'innocence' of a healthy worldview. Nihilism has arrived already. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can deal with it.

[Anonymous No.4668237]

>>4668233
You're right, sorry, I should have said "path" or something.

[Anonymous No.4668246]

>>4668236
That is relevant to us, but it doesn't mean we can't do better by our children.

[Anonymous No.4668243]

>>4667855
buddhism makes me feel better
try this as an intro

[Anonymous No.4668251]

>what a piece of shit failure my life is.
>I'm NEET and a huge embarrassment to everyone I know
>I can't get over the shame.

Through all this, you want a book recommendation? Why don't you just get a fucking job?

[Anonymous No.4668262]

>>4668251
once you overcome a certain intelligence boundary, blindly conforming to society only makes you feel worse

[Anonymous No.4668265]

>>4668251
This.

[Anonymous No.4668273]

>>4668262
That's just a fable you tell yourself in order to remain in the position you're in.

[Anonymous No.4668272]

>>4668262
If that was true, all of the relatively intelligent people doing conventional jobs would be depressed all the time, but I don't see evidence that they are.

[Anonymous No.4668276]

>>4668246
You can't protect your children from nihilism any more than that you can keep them believing in Santa for their whole life. Society won't allow it, it erodes beliefs. Unless you're willing to go isolationist homesteading cult of course, but those things never last either.

I actually feel the most sorry for the kids who get raised strictly religious. They'll have their encounter with nihilism just like the rest of us, it's just that it will be infinitely harder to come to terms with it because their parents have set them up for a lifetime of extreme cognitive dissonance, which is more of a cruel punishment than actual nihilism is you ask me.

Nihilism is ultimately inevitable, so you might as well get on with it. Once you acclimatise to the void you may shape a agreeable existence within its boundaries as well. Nihilism is not the end of the world. It just takes some getting used to. The sooner you do, the sooner you can get on.

[Anonymous No.4668282]

>>4668232
Serious question, yo.

[Anonymous No.4668287]

>>4668272
Then they must like their jobs. If OP knew of a job that he was capable of doing and would like doing, then he would do it. Society's expectations are making him feel bad for doing what his abilities and situation and/or desires have naturally led him to do, while he should come to terms with who he is to feel better.
>>4668273
I doubt it. While it may be "euphoric", I find it upsetting and feel like a mindless sheep if I follow the plan that the cultural engineers have laid out. I don't have a job and I don't want one and I feel ok with it

[Anonymous No.4668290]

>>4668282

[Anonymous No.4668295]

>>4668262
What's so bad about adapting to your circumstance instead of demanding the world to change to you. If you try it and it is truly degrading, then protest. If you are mentally ill, you have to wait a little until the leftists find a way to meaningfully include you into society, so you can do your share, on your specific terms, until then remain on your autismbucks if this is the case.

[Anonymous No.4668300]

>>4668282
He meant that cultural marxism has made him the kind of person that responds with such reaction images. /pol/ likes to blame external sources for their emasculation.

[Anonymous No.4668307]

>>4668287
>I doubt it. While it may be "euphoric", I find it upsetting and feel like a mindless sheep if I follow the plan that the cultural engineers have laid out. I don't have a job and I don't want one and I feel ok with it

I probably felt like this back when the best job I could get was some customer service bullshit where I had 4 different bosses all telling me to follow different and conflicting protocol.

The job I have now (and my last three or so jobs, really) have all been cool as fuck and entertaining. I meet lots of different people, encounter lots of different situations, and don't even really feel like a "mindless sheep" following someone else's plan.

Entry-level jobs blow, without question, but they lead to much better jobs that, despite being cooler and requiring less work, pay far more. All you've really got to do is hang in there.

But, don't tell yourself some lie about how you're intellectually superior because your super-advanced 3.0 brain can't bear having a job. There are far, far more intelligent people than you who go to their jobs with alacrity.

[Anonymous No.4668312]

>>4668287
>cultural engineers

You're living in the best possible of worlds anon. It's not a conspiracy against you.

[Anonymous No.4668313]

>>4668300
Anyone for whom the evil of cultural marxism is not self-evident is someone too brainwashed for reason to serve any purpose--logic slides off like water.

[Anonymous No.4668320]

>>4668313
I'm not the one attempting cultural criticism by means of cutesy cartoon girls.

[Anonymous No.4668319]

>>4668313
You shouldn't use the word brainwashed. You are making me experience irony overload.

[Anonymous No.4668323]

>>4668287
>If OP knew of a job that he was capable of doing and would like doing, then he would do it.

From the general feel of the board that I get, most of the people here are unskilled and unknowledgable except for the fact that they like to read. Many here want to be professional writers or editors or run a bookstore or something of that nature, but if they really evaluated their skillsets and knowledge, they'd find out that they really don't know how to do any of this on a high-quality and consistent basis.

I'm not saying this obviously is OP's case, but if it is, he should just get over himself and live his life according to his specific skills and education levels.

[Anonymous No.4668329]

>>4668319
>>4668320

[Anonymous No.4668330]

Give DeBord a shot. You might find out that you're not a loser, but actually a revolutionary artist resisting spectacular society's images and delusions.

[Anonymous No.4668335]

>>4668307
>But, don't tell yourself some lie about how you're intellectually superior because your super-advanced 3.0 brain can't bear having a job. There are far, far more intelligent people than you who go to their jobs with alacrity.
Yeah I agree. I don't consider myself a genius. Key word in what I originally said was "blindly"; people who decide they really want to do a certain thing and they think it'll contribute to the world in a positive way are doing nothing stupid. I was thinking more of people who just do what is expected of them even when they arent convinced that it's what they want to do, like being NEET and unhappy and then taking on one of those menial jobs just to not have the NEET stigma when they have other options.

[Anonymous No.4668337]

>>4668329
I have a job and a gf.

You have nothing.

You are not even your own person.

Keep making excuses anon.

[Anonymous No.4668343]

>>4668337
>things_normies_say.jpg

[Anonymous No.4668365]

>>4668343
>using normie as a pejorative.
>has nothing going for himself.

Are you trying to say that your feelings of inadequacy and dependence makes you happy?

[Anonymous No.4668371]

>>4668365
Hi anon.

Do u know where u r?

Pls check.

Thank u.

[Anonymous No.4668379]

>>4668371
You want to not be called out for being the worthless loser you are? >>>/tumblr/

[Anonymous No.4668381]

>>4668379
m8, did u check?

[Anonymous No.4668382]

>>4668381
Oh I checked

It was www.4chan.org/lit/ and I'm currently enjoying it. Do you?

[Anonymous No.4668386]

>>4668382
m8, if u know where u r, y r u bringing ur normie shit here?

[Anonymous No.4668390]

>>4667870
Not OP but Start with The Ego and His Own?

[Anonymous No.4668393]

>>4668386
Because I'm not into roleplaying. Now get back to /r9k/ loser nerd.

[Anonymous No.4668396]

>>4668393
m8, u r the cancer

gb2 reddit

[Anonymous No.4668397]

>>4668287
>I doubt it. While it may be "euphoric", I find it upsetting and feel like a mindless sheep if I follow the plan that the cultural engineers have laid out. I don't have a job and I don't want one and I feel ok with it
>tfw NEETdom becomes a matter of principle

[Anonymous No.4668399]

>>4668390
yea

[Anonymous No.4668400]

>>4668396
Stop it you two.

[Anonymous No.4668427]

>>4668396
>cancer

Eat shit. Luckily people like you rarely make it past the 30's. So it might be bad taste to tell you to kill yourself.

[Anonymous No.4668432]

>>4668427

[Anonymous No.4668438]

>tfw free of the 4chan disinfo that makes early NEET retirement sound like a bad thing

[Anonymous No.4668439]

I woudln't get something too complicated. You'll just break your head over it and find it has no practical application.

I don't know how old you are, but an old friend of mine recommended The Seven Habbits of Succesful Teens by Sean Covey. NOT the one written by his father, which is paternalizing and elitist, but Sean Covey's interpretation of the book appeals to common psychological and emotional problems among teens and helps you break them.

I think it's easier to become inspired by something you can actually do or try than by some distant theory that is difficult to apply to your actual life. If you want to face some of the demons of your past, I think something like Sean Covey's book can help you break barriers much easier than Nietzsche, Sartre, Kierkegaard, etc.

Also, another rather simple self-help book is The Art of Happiness, which is a written conversation with the Dalai Lama. It simplifies happiness and the central message is that it is very doable to achieve happiness from an over-intellectualized position, even though most intellectual people are miserable. It helped me get off my high horse, maybe it'll help you too.

These aren't, of course, enormous works in literature, but if you're unhappy you don't need theoretical inspiration, you need practical inspiration, imo.

[Anonymous No.4668454]

Guys I'm looking for the word that is often used to describe a form of moral/societal/political apathy/indifference. I don't think it's lethargy...

I think it's a major theme in Brave New World, and generally most dystopian works like A Clockwork Orange, but I can't find the actual name of the word.

There is a distinct chance I am fooling myself and that I'm on a wild-goose-chase, but I'm breaking my head and I just want to know. Google and Wiki couldn't help, maybe you can...

[Anonymous No.4668465]

>>4668454
Anhedonia?

[Anonymous No.4668471]

>>4668465
I meant to make a new thread, but thanks for replying. Not the word I'm looking for, but I just learned a new one regardless. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.4668485]

>>4668438
>retirement
>a good thing

Enjoy wasting your life.

[Anonymous No.4668536]

>>4668485
I hope you truly enjoy giving your life to the 1% as a slave, because it's the only your life won't be a waste with an attitude like that.

[Anonymous No.4668540]

>>4668485
>I hope you truly enjoy giving your life to the 1% as a slave, because it's the only way your life won't be a waste with an attitude like that.

[Anonymous No.4668542]

>>4668471

Ataraxia? I don't know that it has been used in the context of dystopia but it seems to describe what you mean.

[Anonymous No.4668578]

>>4668454
Acedia, anomie, alienation.

>>4668542
Tranquility isn't indifference, ataraxia is too good a word for what he's looking for.