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6313500 No.6313500 [Reply] [Original]

I'm beginning to accept theology and spirituality in some abstract form after being an edgy atheist.
I'm still trying to find out what I believe in.
What are some books to help me with this feel?

>> No.6313520

Spirituality doesn't consists in beliefs
The less beliefs the better
Read the Tao Te Ching

>> No.6313527

>>6313500
Enneads
Theology of Plato, by Proclus
Elements of Theology, by Proclus
Metaphysics of Aristotle
De Anima of Aristotle
Confessions of Augustine
Desert Fathers and Church Fathers

Check out the classics of western spirituality series by Paulist Press.

>> No.6313532

>>6313520
> less beliefs

Disgusting.

>> No.6313561

>>6313500
Do you feel your beliefs are you pursuing an novelty or you pursuing truth?
Are you looking for beliefs for your personal lifestyle or beliefs you could actually live and recommend to others?

>> No.6313573

>>6313532
I don't mean in a skepticism way, I mean in an open way

>> No.6313595

>>6313500
I'm in the same boat. I find Kierkegaard to be very interesting and, in fact, convincing. I'd recommend checking him out.

>> No.6313597

Juluis Evola

>> No.6313598

>>6313561
I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking for
Ideally, I want to search for the truth, but lately I've been coming to the conclusion that there is no such thing as truth

>> No.6313619

>>6313595
>convincing
In what areas?

>> No.6313677

sharing some of the stuff that got me interested in theology to provide some context:
A main catalyst for it was LSD (inb4: stupid druggie)
During my last trip, I closed my eyes and saw a giant pyramidal spaceship facing me with wolf's head staring me in the face. I semi-fecitiously asked it "are you God?", and in that moment, I realized that no matter what one accepts as their higher power, the outcome is often similar. Whether you believe in a spacewolf or Jesus, a similair life-affirming happiness can be achieved.
After my trip, the sun rose and I greeted it and prayed for the first time. I know that spacewolf does not truly exist, but it is more of a symbol than a concrete thing. A symbol for the absurdity of the universe.
There is no absolute truth in the universe, yet anything can be the truth if you believe it to be.

>> No.6313686

Check out The Experience of God by David Bentley Hart.

Also, what this guy posted:
>>6313527

>> No.6313688

>>6313677
>There is no absolute truth in the universe, yet anything can be the truth if you believe it to be.

>> No.6313694

Read the Vedas and the Upanishads. You've already experienced Judeo-Christian religion. Try the other side. The kool-aid tastes much better.

>> No.6313703

Read The Principia Discordia and Thundersqueak.

>> No.6313704

>>6313688
To back up my statement, look at almost any postmodern novel.
For example, in Gravity's Rainbow, sexuality is presented in many conflicting ways, none of which is put forth as definitive, but none of which are dismissed either.
Meaning is left up for the reader to determine.

>> No.6313813

How can you just make yourself believe something to be true when there's no evidence. It's one thing to pass on the religion of your family but just picking up a religion for the sake of it? How can you convince yourself it's truth? If you don't think there is absolute truth, why do you want to believe in anything?

>> No.6313821

>>6313813
Because 'picking' a religion isn't just about rationality.

>> No.6313835

>>6313821
>I "felt" something deep within me
>Organized religion is surely the ideal way to pursue it!

Ughhhhhh

hhhhhnnnnnngggg

>> No.6313934

>>6313835
Something like that.

>> No.6314234

Theology: using expensive words to justify pleb comforting fantasies

Pls stop

>> No.6314278

Try some thinking for a change, and put feelings aside.

>> No.6314372

>>6313835
I'm not after organized religion
That mainstream shit is not for me
What I want is the raw connection to God through the vehicle of art

>> No.6314377

>>6313500
Spirituality...WTF are you talking about?
What is spirituality?
First define this word to yourself without using completely bogus terms.
Clear your brain of garbage son.

>> No.6314400

>>6313677
Oh my lord...
How did the fact you played with your brain chemistry for a while suddenly mean that the idea of god makes any sense( I took lsd as well)? Are you still under the influence of drugs perhaps?

If not then here are a few questions you should ask yourself before trying to follow some new or old age religions.

1) What does the word spirituality mean? Can you come up with a coherent definition?
Is your life standing still ATM? You are not engaged in any pursuit of any goal?
If that i the case then that is your problem.

Understanding for yourself what you mean by the term spirituality, god, soul, essence etc..
Can you really clearly understand what you mean when you explain these words to yourself or is it vague and very general?

I have been in your place and let me tell you what result I came to.
None of those words are coherent or really mean anything specific.
People use them as magical words to express different emotion at different times or some internal need for meaning in their lives.

Now, how do you achieve a meaningful life?
By engaging with the world.
The more you engage with the world and people(i.e. create your life's meaning) the less you will need "spirituality" since that word (that would be my guess about your situation) is the expression of this exact desire, to engage with the world, to create meaning for your life.

We might feel this when we lose our "anchors", when we are transitioning from one phase in life to another, finishing highschool, uni, breaking up with someone, moving to live in different area, losing someone we care about etc..

>> No.6314417

>>6314400
When we suddenly feel we dont know what we want to do. We lost what gave our lives meaning but haven't yet found something new to occupy ourselves with.
hobbies, new friends and experiences, a goal in life..

How did I find it? I realized a simple pragmatic truth that cant be disputed in practice.
We all have basic biological needs that we must satisfy and we are all hardwired to want to live, for that we need to work. On top of those we have cultural needs, we want to satisfy our curiosity, we want to be entertained we want to enjoy what we are doing etc..
So I realized I had to decide how I want to spend my time while im alive.
If i have to do something what would i choose after considering my life's experience and what I always enjoyed doing...
Have to be true with yourself if you lost your way. Have to refocus and decide what is truly interesting and important to you and dedicate yourself to it cause you gotta do something with your life...might as well do something you enjoy and feel at ease with.

>> No.6314445

What gives me the motivation to pursue a goal is not the understanding that this endevour is somehow rationally superior to everything else(why do anything everything is pointless, nothing is better or worse) but the idea that i gotta do something and I must keep living cause i dont have the ability to force myself to kill myself. I chose something and i chose to pursue it because its best for me only, it makes me happy, makes me enjoy the passing of time..
Find that and you dont any religion since religion is just a fake justification to make decisions in life i.e. "god said this is best so now i have the a reason to do it".
No, realize the best reason is cause it makes YOU happy, cause its interesting to you obviously because of some subconscious reasons and the way your life turned out and the random experience you acquired throughout it.

>> No.6314451

>>6314372
I see you went from being an edgy atheist to being a hippie or something. Well done.

>> No.6314480

>>6313500
principia discordia.

>> No.6314485

>>6313598
you got that right. Things like truth can only have subjective meanings. Someone should post that existentialist flowchart

>> No.6314514

>>6313813
>>6313835
Because there isn't something such as absolute truth, even this statement i.e "I don't think there is absolute truth" is self defeating. Reality is a construction of a lot of things, everyone experiences these things in their own way, you and I have no authority as to what is true and what isn't, therefore my choice of "picking" a religion is as much valid as remaining an atheist even if that's a belief itself

>> No.6314533

>>6314445
LIKE!

>> No.6314592

>>6314480
+

>> No.6314632

>>6314533
I hope you dont think its a reply. I wrote all three of those messages as a reply to OP and since I was not at home i was writing them while being rushed and couldnt be as concise as I might have wanted to.

>> No.6314671

>>6313500
The Bible, heretic

>> No.6314682

>>6313561
If he was pursuing truth he would be reading scientific journals not the fucking bible or whatever other religious gibberish.

>> No.6314714

>>6314682
lmao great post my man

>> No.6314734

>>6313500
The Qur'an with an interpretation. The English translation can be too abstract so with an interpretation, you get a better idea of the refined, beautiful religion of love that is Islam.

>> No.6314825
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6314825

Lots of great stuff to read out there. I worked as an English-speaking librarian for a Faculty of Theology at German university while working on my PhD. Reading the New Testament in and of itself is very helpful to understanding the backgrounds of modern Christianity, but I would also recommending picking up something that will help you identify the intended audience and purposes of whichever book you are reading. 66 books in the Bible, 44 different personalities coming out. You can pick up "An Introduction to the New Testament" by Carson, Moo, and Morris for under $8. Love or hate them or their perspectives, they explain all of the different views and let you make your choice. Highly recommended. Old Testament is a thousand times more complex; not really my forte.

Augustine's Confessions are excellent, as is The Confession of St. Patrick
>http://www.ccel.org/ccel/patrick/confession.html

Patron Saint of Ireland; you can never go wrong with knowing a bit about his story by reading his autobiography. Good reading if you like to know a little bit of the stories behind figures that have come down through history to us.

>> No.6314996
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6314996

>>6313500
Never thought I'd post this sincerely

>> No.6315000

>>6313500
If you don't find the spritiuality independently, then it's false, you hack cunt.

>> No.6316196

Does anyone else have some novels about religion?
Maybe not about the superficial traditions of religious practice, but something that gets at the true religious experience.
for instance: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

>> No.6316369

>>6313500
Atheism in our time
Ignace Lepp

>> No.6316404

>>6313500
stephen mehler is a great way to start

>> No.6316423

>>6313500

Genealogy of the morals

Brothers Karamazov

>> No.6316482

>>6313500
Sounds like you'll just end up adopting whatever you read.

Maybe you shouldn't read anything about theology, stop thinking so much about it, and let your beliefs form within you over time. From your other responses in this thread it looks like you're trying to just feel God or the universe or whatever. So just feel it, bro.

Or just worry about stuff that matters. Or worry about nothing. I don't know, but I do know I don't like you.

>> No.6316486

>>6314372

And what makes you think there is a God? You should realize that there are very well-known neurological phenomena that can cause "spiritual" experiences. We can induce intense religious experiences reliably with drugs. As you said you took LSD, I would be EXTREMELY cautious about taking anything you felt or "realized" while on it seriously.

>There is no absolute truth in the universe, yet anything can be the truth if you believe it to be.
The fuck does that mean? Of course there's absolute truth. I can't really argue against your claim because it's so vague as to be almost meaningless.

You need to study epistemology, not theology or spirituality.

>> No.6317170

>>6316486
Not him but you would be extremely cautious with it, wouldn't you.

Just do a few hits and get back to us, mkay.

>> No.6317212

>>6313500
And so the cycle continues. The hipsters, once hip in their rejection of God, must now retreat from the mainstream plebs once more.

And this time it is into the desert, so that they might experience and be transformed by their once reviled creator.

And thus they are renewed in their faith.

And lo, a few years hence, I tell you there shall be yet another turning. Another fracturing. And our new desert fathers, clad in taste flannel, will beget a new generation of atheists, who will in kind turn back spit upon their parentage.

How could they delude themselves so? And on they will find camaraderie on freddit prime, a 4D Memeweb experience brought to you by SpaceX.

And there they will multiply, writhing in certitude.

And lo, a few years hence, I tell you there shall be yet another turning. Another fracturing. And the enlightened will flee Alexandria once again. Out, out! Into the desert, to seek austerity, find the soul, and grovel at the feet of their creator.

And thus they will be renewed in their faith.

And lo, a few years hence, I tell you there shall be yet another turning. Another fracturing.

---

Keep choking on the dust of this planet. It will never quench that thirst. It never could.

>> No.6319447

>>6313813
As a giant faggot who listens to Alan Watts lectures, I've come to see spirituality as less of a guide for what's "true" or real, and more like a psychotherapy tool for how to get through day to day life and dealing with stress

>> No.6319455

>>6314682
Too hard. Christian's truth is God, it takes only 5 seconds to achieve this truth.

>> No.6319466

>>6315000
He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

>> No.6320205

>>6317212
Cool story bro but there is no turning back now, unless society's education level will drop as a result of some regression or catastrophe.

The internet and instant communication will truly kill the pleb ideas of god.
All that will be left is some incoherent idea that people only talk about as a joke, like solipsism.

>> No.6320214

Buddhism's the last hope people have when they see how bullshit Abrahamic theology is
t. Hitchens

>> No.6321088

>>6320214
>people assume Christianity is a death cult
>last hope is Buddhism, a literal death cult

>> No.6321104
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6321104

>>6314682
>looking for spiritual/metaphysical truth
>in a scientific journal
What the fuck are you on?

>> No.6321163

>>6313835
*let hat face man dot Jay peg

>> No.6321587
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6321587

history of religious ideas by mircea eliade
or his patterns in comparative religion

>> No.6321594

>>6321587
Or Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy

>> No.6321604

>>6321594
probably a bit too specific for OP

>> No.6321637

>>6313500
Probably Schopenhauer so that you can kill yourself

>> No.6321666

>>6313520
>not using pinyin spelling

You may as well just wear a shirt that says retard