/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.5114863]

I want to achieve enlightenment.

I have no idea what it is.

[Anonymous No.5114881]

>>5114863
I guess admitting that is a good first step?

[Anonymous No.5114897]

>>5114881
You know when you look 500 years in the past on history books and everyone is doing and believing dumb shit? I just don't want to be that guy.

[Anonymous No.5114903]

Lots of people recommend Buddhism but I find Yogic descriptions of meditation to make more sense. In any case, most meditative traditions are similar. Zen = Chan = Jhana = Dhyana. Lots of people stress the process as achieving emptiness but it's also a kind of fullness and concentration and absorption and many contradictory words. It is enlightenment and it is quite hard to describe.

I recommend the following texts on the subject:

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjal
Kinda dense but outlines some pretty essential Eastern psychology that will do wonders for your understanding of all Eastern religions.
The Dhamapada
The quintessential collection of the sayings of the Buddha.
Laozi's Daodejing
Cliche through kung fu movies at this point but pleasant spiritual reading to visit and revisit.
Heraclitus and Parmenides - On Nature (I think that's the name of both their poems)
Among the most ancient and legit of Ancient Greek philosophy. From back when philosophers were mystics instead of Socratic sophists.

From there I would read the Heart and Diamond Sutras cause I like Mahayana and then check out some serious meditational texts to encourage you to practice and sit, shut up and get out (of illusion).

There is a wealth of other paths to get to such a state. Some recommend drugs. Some advocate western approaches to psychological integration. But this is what I would recommend myself to read first if I could go back and recommend stuff when I started my own path.

[Anonymous No.5114927]

>>5114897
then don't be remembered

[Anonymous No.5114958]

>>5114863
There is no such thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U._G._Krishnamurti

[Anonymous No.5114970]

>>5114863
Read the essay "What is Enlightenment" by Kant.

[Anonymous No.5114974]

>>5114958

What is 'subjective definition?'

[Anonymous No.5115440]

bump

[Anonymous No.5115464]

⇒What is enlightenment?

Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is the incapacity to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another. Such tutelage is self-imposed if its cause is not lack of intelligence, but rather a lack of determination and courage to use one's intelligence without being guided by another.

[Anonymous No.5115799]

>>5115464
oh that's cool

[Anonymous No.5115801]

>>5114897
A solution is accurately foresseing how people will think, value and judge others in 500 years, then behave according to those values.
Another solution is to die quickly.

[Anonymous No.5115805]

lol what would you even do with it if you had it?

[Anonymous No.5115807]

>>5115464
According to your definition I'm enlightened. I'm afraid that's not possible.

[Anonymous No.5115844]

>>5115805
Fight all over the internet knowing I'm right

[Anonymous No.5115877]

>>5115805
I'd have to know what it was first to be able to figure that out...

[Anonymous No.5115883]

>I want to 'x'

You're a long way from enlightenment already.

[Anonymous No.5116420]

Try this. Just know when to pick the good from the bullshit and you'll be alright. Turned my life around.

[Anonymous No.5116532]

>>5114863
unveil and understand your nature then pursue it to its fullest extent.

[Anonymous No.5116536]

>>5116420

[Anonymous No.5116541]

>>5114863
Realizing that war is insepperable from life, but armed conflict is not.

[Anonymous No.5116579]

>>5116536
I said to separate the bullshit

[Anonymous No.5116610]

>>5114863

Fuck I love this picture so much, but there are absolutely 0 prints available for it.

What if I just printed it on canvas myself? It's like ~$40 for a 12x18 with enhanced color but I don't want to end up with a blurry piece of shit. I don't know man...

http://www.easycanvasprints.com/addcanvas?T=2F6F766E6565676137772F67784D4C6B5A67637A70773D3D

[Anonymous No.5116638]

>>5114863
>I have no idea what it is.

Enlightenment is an end to suffering:
"This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Nibbana."

It is hard to discern and very subtle.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca3/nibbana.html

[Anonymous No.5116649]

>>5116579
And how do you do that?

[Anonymous No.5116651]

>>5114863
Here's a hint:
It doesn't exist.

[Anonymous No.5116683]

>>5116651

[Anonymous No.5116688]

>>5116649
Do believe the part about living in the present, not fearing the future or the unknown, and knowing your heart so well it cannot betray you.
Do not believe all the /x/ tier mystical garbage about everyone having their own destiny that the universe will gladly assist you with, that stuff will probably kill you.

[Anonymous No.5116729]

Read Zorba the Greek. The contrast in personality of the two main characters as well as the novel's message was enlightening.

[Anonymous No.5116753]

>>5114863
Read Plato.

[Anonymous No.5116782]

>>5114863
You already are.

[Anonymous No.5116815]

>>5115883

[Anonymous No.5116897]

>>5114863
Just read until your eyeballs fall out OP. Start with the western canon obviously and then move on to the languages before the reread.

[Anonymous No.5118809]

>>5114903
That's pretty interesting. Thanks for the guide.

[Anonymous No.5118867]

>>5114897
I can empathise with that; it's pretty clear that paedophilia will be more accepted within a few decades, so I've adjusted my beliefs accordingly.

[Anonymous No.5118871]

>>5114881
PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HIPS

[Anonymous No.5118885]

>>5116897
>enlightenment
>western canon
>not the eastern canon

omg self-immolate plen

[Anonymous No.5118911]

>>5118885

>enlightnment
>eastern canon
>not both the western and eastern canons

oyg wake up already

[Anonymous No.5118935]

Its a word.

[Anonymous No.5118971]

For one human being to seek enlightenment from another is like a grain of sand on the beach seeking enlightenment from another.

[Anonymous No.5118989]

>>5118867
Hey, weren't those who opposted monarchy once thrown in jail? You may prove us all wrong in the end. Probably not tho.

[Anonymous No.5119024]

>>5114897
my god

[Anonymous No.5119040]

>>5119024
what does that mean? should i read zizek?

[Anonymous No.5119063]

>>5119040
It means your post was cringeworthy.

[Anonymous No.5120963]

>>5114863
there's a lot of personal theories and regurgitated statements that are flying (or will soon be) on this thread, so i'll just add my two cents:

for me, the feeling of "enlightenment" (which is very temporary, lasts maybe a day) comes whenever i recognize the inherent simplicity of life. i realize that humans are just complex animals—but animals nonetheless! speaking honestly has a way of following this, and deconstructing issues (both personal and worldwide) into smaller, manageable components comes easily as a result.

perhaps the biggest and most freeing epiphany is that i, as a human, have a very limited perspective and therefore know very little. however we live in an age of freely-available information, and i believe it's our responsibility to absorb as much of it (rather, only the most beneficial) as we can. reading is always a good start.

we know a lot more than our forefathers, but since we accept this as a given, our (on the whole) capacity for critical thought has diminished. one of the most important changes in humanity came from the two world wars, and i would argue that literature changed radically because of it [from the post-war philosophers like camus and sartre to the post-modern novelists such as pynchon].

if you want instructions for your own journey to "enlightenment", you'll have to find them from yourself. read often, every day, if you can; modern physicists (michio kaku), poets, philosophers from both the east and west. try to create your own theories about what it means to be a human, what our responsibilities (if any) to each other and to our environment are, and what problems we face as a society. DO NOT be surprised if your beliefs change over time—people have their whole life to figure it out.

lastly, as a start. i'd recommend lao tsu's "tao te ching". try not to dismiss it an 'ancient chinese secret'—i find that the philosophy it contains is very straightforward and easy to live by. plus, it's only 80 verses or so.
>ps i am 12

[Anonymous No.5120994]

>>5120963
>shameless double post

also, if you'd like perspective on the evolution of human thought over time, i'd highly suggest reading peter watson's "ideas"; comprehensive, but not shallow.

some of the most entertaining literary works that manage to cut right to the root of the question of humanity is (believe it or not) science-fiction. a personal favorite is phillip k. dick, others can probably recommend better authors.

"2001: a space odyssey" (both book and movie) contain introductory allegories of evolution and of humanity's place in the universe at a very college-level pace.

good luck, OP!

[Anonymous No.5120995]

>not having an enlightment switch
how do you wake up at night to pee without bumping into everything?