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/lit/ - Literature

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8875781 No.8875781[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Can anything pull me out of an existential crisis?

I haven't finished any books lately. I could make excuses about lack of time but really it's lack of motivation. I'm feeling like there's no point in enriching my intellectual life. What could it contribute to? When a majority of people around me and, even at large, seem only to digest lowbrow bits of information and entertainment (all too often just to support their one-sided, illogical opinions).

And then, I wonder, if that's always been the case, I'm even more pessimistic about the future. About people. I used to be a humanist and idealist. Not lately. In person, sure, I'd say I'm decent. But alone with my thoughts, I have trouble seeing any point to fighting the tide of, well, extinction you could say (at the risk of getting political).

Is hedonism my only answer? That's what I've been turning to lately.

I think what I could use right now is poetry. Something poignant and easy to digest. Anything to ail this borderline depressive (not clinical - I'm functional) pessimism and emptiness.

Any recommendations? Thoughts? How do you cope, if any of this sounds familiar?

>> No.8875790
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8875790

welcome to /lit/ newfriend

have a look at the menu

>> No.8875791

Hit the gym and read "Beyond Good and Evil"

>> No.8875817

>>8875790
Appreciate the comment, but I'm not new to /lit/ or the chan. Have read many of those in the image and been through this before.

I suppose I'm looking for, like I said, some poetry for this moment. Even spontaneous conversational poetry, hence me reaching out to you real people outside of myself. I'm not looking to take up a new literary work.

>>8875791
Exercise would be nice, I've been sick for days which may have something to do with this. And like I said above, I'm not exactly looking for a new literary work to pick up.

>> No.8875835

Stop watching anime like a degenerate and dedicate yourself to learning. Reading challenging books is like exercise for your mind, the more of a regular schedule you can work yourself into, the more you'll like it and the healthier your mind would be. If you let it fester by consuming the entertainment equivalent of pixie sticks, you're obviously going to feel shitty about yourself and become an apathetic blob

>> No.8875863

>>8875817
>spontaneous conversational poetry
>hedonism
My cock is large,
And visible from afar.
Take it in your holes OP,
Like the faggot that you are.

>> No.8875868
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8875868

>>8875781
Read The Grapes of Wrath or Road to Wigan Pier.

>> No.8875877

>>8875868
fuck man she was the original hipster girlpseud, I love her so muuuuuuuuuuuuch

>> No.8875880

you were born with pathetic faggot genes, just accept it and kill yourself OP there's no hope for you.

>> No.8875881

Read The Myth of Sisyphus and enjoy your crisis while it lasts.

>> No.8875884

>>8875835

Your advice is good advice, albeit filled with assumptions. I am actually learning constantly, just not reading (lately). I'm an active musician.

Maybe I worded my original post too strongly, giving the impression I'm looking for a yahoo answers type quick answer. An "oh! of course. how simple" solution.

I honestly don't know or truly believe there IS solution. Isn't that existentialism in a nutshell?
We're more capable of killing ourselves than ever before. Mainstream culture is just as anti-intellectual, hedonistic, and violent as ever. And what exactly is having a healthy mind going to do about it? That's what I'm hoping to discuss.

Sure, we could get into the merits of activism and social good and whatnot, but I'm pretty content with my output on that in my life.

But when the day is done, the people, gone, you and your thoughts alone - what then? For me, I fall into this existential .. well, emptiness. Maybe I shouldn't call it a crisis. That seems to be begging for all these "solution" responses.

If not poetry, then I'm interested in hearing about you. Maybe the emptiness is just loneliness, after all.

>> No.8875885
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8875885

>>8875877
here you go
weirdo
>>8875781
Also, read Genesis.

>> No.8875892

>>8875885
FUCK I wonder what obscure dialectical reasoning is going through her head in that picture

>> No.8875893
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8875893

>>8875781
Well I can accompany you whenever you feel lonely. I am a lonely wizard in training so if you can't identify with me at all it would never work.

If the low effort cancer image in >>8875790
doesn't trigger you to all hell I guess we aren't compatible.

We can do a read together maybe even invite some other /lit/ members

>> No.8875898
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8875898

>>8875892
Probably nothing. Nothing at all...

>> No.8875914

>>8875884
I gave you the reason dummy. Getting into the habit of regular mental stimulation will make you feel better, similar to exercise but in less of an endocrine way (endorphins/dopamine) and in more of a reflexive, habitually enforcing way that de-fogs your brain. I'm not assuming here, as you said

> Anything to ail this borderline depressive (not clinical - I'm functional) pessimism and emptiness.

Also I assumed you were an anime guy because you posted that guy from Spirited Away and also said you're no stranger to 'the chan' (gay). If you don't watch anime then disregard what I said about watching too much

>> No.8875928
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8875928

>>8875892
>"It seems interesting that a black hole could not possibly be "infinite". Indeed, we know by the Second Law of Thermodynamics that as work is done within a closed system the entropy of that system must increase. As the matter enters into the event horizon of that stellar object int condenses and radiation must be emitted to compensate for the increased density! This means that the event horizon of a black hole must be expanding at all times.

>>8875781
You could also read some non-fiction. The Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant are pretty good, Grant was an excellent writer and was one of the most important men of his time despite accomplishing little until middle age.

>> No.8875935
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8875935

>>8875817
>I'm not looking to take up a new literary work.
This is the point of your crisis. As most people already stated, you need to focus your brain in something and that guide is actually useful for the kind of case you seem to expose trought your words, not just in the OP but in your general replies within this thread.

>> No.8875937

>>8875928
She is LITERALLY so stupid that she needs somebody to help her hold the book HNNNNGGGGGG

>> No.8875947
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8875947

>>8875937
She was married to the writer Arthur Miller and was smarter than the average person. People back then were more literate as well.

>> No.8875960

>>8875914
>>8875935

Thanks for the advice. I'm not here to argue. I am in the habit of regular mental stimulation already. Let me try again to explain the best I can where I'm at.

I would like to take up literary works long term. But what I'm thinking about tonight is, let's say I do. Let's say it's 10 years from now and I've read it all.

What will be important then?

Lets say we have 500 years of great scholars.

Then what? What will be important then? We're 500 years closer to extinction, just like we're all 1 hour closer to our deaths.

So here I am, coping how I know how. Searching out some social interaction and some poetry.


>If not poetry, then I'm interested in hearing about you. Maybe the emptiness is just loneliness, after all.

>> No.8875963

>>8875781

Drink two cups of coffee a day and read the magic mountain.

enter a spiritual hermitage and recollect yourself.

>> No.8875972

>>8875835
So you read to challenge yourself and to learn instead of for pleasure? This is how I imagine most people read. Basically doing it because books symbolize intelligence and reading them make you think you're intelligent which makes you feel good. Why are most people such phonies?

>> No.8875982

>>8875781
Is recommend professional therapy. You list of why you feel a certain way. Kind of seems like you're self diagnosing. Like you want a good seeming reason to explain why you feel bad. Maybe you're just depressed because you're a virgin still?

>> No.8876019

>>8875972
No, I read for both reasons. My advice was for someone who is out of the 'habit' of reading who was looking to imbue pursuit of knowledge with purpose. But nice projection!

>> No.8876023
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8876023

>> No.8876025

>>8875960
You've discovered babby's first existential crisis. Do it because you enjoy it/it helps you cope, or don't do it. Nobody really cares if you know a lot or a little

>> No.8876026

>>8875982
Maybe you're right. That's not a bad idea. I do tend to rationalize. Definitely not a virgin, however, am girlfriendless for over a year now.

>> No.8876029

>>8875928
maybe I'm a straight r'tard, but wouldn't the event horizon's expansion depend on whether or not objects were actually traveling into it? Presumably its gravitational pull does not influence all objects in infinite space enough to attract them

>> No.8876030

>>8875781

reading is for gays

>> No.8876032

>>8876026
>Definitely not a virgin, however, am girlfriendless for over a year now.

This is me too. Too cucked by lack of self-confidence to get back in the dating world too

>> No.8876034

>>8876025
>nobody really cares

You're right, that sums it up. And the people out there who do care, might even care too much. Murdering in religious fervor or some shit.

Next time I start a thread it's just gonna be a poetry thread without all the unnecessary baggage.Thanks anon.

>> No.8876040
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8876040

>>8875884

your a boring fuck. no-one cares about u and thsats why you dont care abiut anything

>> No.8876055

>>8876023

so deep

>> No.8876069

Stop thinking of actual critical thought as a crisis and understand others don't have them because they're vapid dolts. Keep it up but don't let it overwhelm you.

>> No.8876101

>>8876023
>>8876055
/r/im14andthisisdeep deep

more cute than anything tho

>> No.8876117

>>8875781
>Can anything pull me out of an existential crisis?

can anything substitute your existence in the place of yours? if the answer is no, then nothing can pull you out of the existential crisis except yourself. cheers.

>> No.8876781

>>8876029
>Presumably its gravitational pull does not influence all objects in infinite space enough to attract them
Space is not infinite and the black hole's gravitational field radius approaches infinity.

>> No.8877286

>>8875790
>Existential is a humanism

Someone correct that shit pls

>> No.8877301

>>8875928

Am I missing something obvious? Monroe died in the 60s, and A Brief History of Time was published in the 80s.

>> No.8878275

Read Heidegger's Letter on Humanism. It's comfy as fuck