If we're so smart, why can't we figure out how to be happy?
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read the Greeks or Nietzsche
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>>7502978
Happiness is temporary, to understand why such glee is finite we would have to first look at why malice is infinite. Once we peer into the the void that is the inner human we no longer have a chance of happiness because the feeling of finite is ever so fleeting in a more common phrase. Those that are happy pay no attention to things that don't concern them. Ignorance is bliss.
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Butterfly is going to come back to wish us merry Christmas r-r-right?
Also what do you guys think about Apuleius's Metamorphoses, the only known Latin novel?
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>>7502911
the donkey is supposed to be Butterfly and the parade is us by the way. The guy with the sick hat is the OP and the roses are this thread.
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>tfw you just realize that Kafka's Metamorphosis is about a guy turning into a bug while Apuleis's is about a guy turning into a donkey
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>>7502922
You do know what metamorphosis means right?
Is Rachel the voice of our generation?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAjVXpidAGY
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sorry, that position is already taken
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>>7502925
Never.
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>>7502902
Hey I messaged her on Facebook because I thought she was my cousin and now we're friends
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Hey /lit/, I want to learn how to really understand a book, I mean like the ideas behind it and what the author is trying to communicate. Can anyone help me out with this? Any book recommendations or tips would be appreciated.
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>>7502773
start with the greeks
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>>7502773
How to Read Literature Like A Professor by Thomas C. Foster is supposed to be excellent for this sort of thiing.
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anyone else find the metamorphosis just absurdly funny on second read?
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I'm trying to create a character to troll the average Englishman or WASP American.
Basically he needs to be absolutely everything they hate, down to their bones.
I'm thinking of naming him Guy or Xavier.
He'll have a French surname, of course, but isn't necessarily from France. Could just be traitorous native like all those Harry Potter villains with French names (Lestrange, Malfoy, Voldemort.)
He turns his nose up at beer and drinks a small amount of wine daily. He never gets drunk and would be confused if you asked him why not.
Horses and dogs disgust him.
He is a gourmand, but thin. He believes that gyms are for fat people and that muscles are for road workers. He believes this in the same way that he believes the sky is blue.
He is an old fashioned Catholic, and also an old fashioned hypocrite who sins with a completely sunny, clear conscience. He won't eat meat on Friday, but might stop off at a whorehouse.
He was a trust fund kid and is now an idle rich.
He does not understate his abilities and when others do, he takes them at their word.
At the same time, he is completely matter of fact about his abilities, not "confident" in any wholesome, fist-pumping, All-American way. He is bored by his skills and sees them as little details.
He is a baronet with Norman blood, and speaks fluent French.
Any suggestions for more Anglo triggers, /lit/?
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as a Frenchman, I can assure you that you literally just described your average bourgeois French male
therefore, if this is a serious post, read up on french noblesse and you should be good, although to be completely honest with you I'm having trouble discerning whether or not this is bait
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>>7502393
>as a Frenchman, I can assure you that you literally just described your average bourgeois French male
Then OP's post makes me never want to know any of those people.
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>>7502423
>Then OP's post makes me never want to know any of those people.
ok. never go to europe?
Anonymous
Anyone have any good recommendations for Ki (the energy of the body)? 2015-12-25 03:32:20 Post No.7502251
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Anyone have any good recommendations for Ki (the energy of the body)? 2015-12-25 03:32:20 Post No.7502251
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Anyone have any good recommendations for Ki (the energy of the body)?
Anonymous
2015-12-25 03:32:20
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I've always been interested in the idea/etc of Ki (all started when I watched DB/DBZ as a kid). I just find it a very interesting concept, and I do believe in the willpower of the human mind/body and in the energy of all things.
I don't really "practice" ki or anything, but I do muse on it sometimes. I also try and think or "use" it when I'm exercising. Like when I feel tired when I'm running I sometimes think about "using" my ki and it always gives me that burning desire in my heart to help me go that extra distance.
I know this probably all seems really lame to most people, but I like it alot, so I think it would be lots of fun to read up on it.
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Try looking into Taoism.
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>>7502273
What exactly is that?
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>>7502251
Read "Awakening the Healing Energy of the Tao" by Mantak Chia.
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Hey guys. I'm looking through year-end lists of the best books from 2015. What is worth reading from this year?
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purity by franzen
breezeway by ashbery
the life of saul bellow: to fame and fortune 1915-1964 by zachary leader
thats pretty much it
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You too can have a body like mine by alexandra kleeman, my waifu
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Soumission is the biggest one of the year.
Anonymous
How to read philosophical texts 2015-12-25 02:27:39 Post No.7502043
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How to read philosophical texts 2015-12-25 02:27:39 Post No.7502043
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How to read philosophical texts
Anonymous
2015-12-25 02:27:39
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I've never had that much of a problem with reading but I have a harder time with texts such as the Meditations or the Art of War. Are there any tips on how to read philosophical and strategical texts?
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>>7502043
Hope you reincarnate as a human with an IQ over 150. It's literally the only way. Anyone with an IQ lower than the is practically brain dead comepared to these authors and will be, without a doubt, unable to comprehend these texts.
If you have an IQ under 150, don't even try. You will simply misunderstand.
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>>7502043
it's okay to read them many, many, times until you get it, it's only the fiction that is designed to be consumed quickly and become stale after one round.
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>>7502043
>Meditations
which one,are you talking about Marcus Aurelius or Descartes? Because if it's Marcus Aurelius' you might be retarded senpai.
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What books did you buy your girlfriend for Christmas /lit/?
What books do you think she's getting you?
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>>7501958
>girlfriend
>>>/reddit/
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cruel
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my mother gave me a book named "how to clean your house". and a empty smartphone box. I'm not kidding.
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Merry Christmas lit
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I tried to go to a Chinese restaurant today and they were closed. Aside from there is no-one to serve on this day. Sure enough, there are Muslims, there are Orthodox Christians and there are Atheists from Eastern Germany, but they immigrants and poor. They don't waste moneys on restaurants. For Germany that's the patrimony of Hitler.
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>>7501930
i want to go out and buy a pizza from a corporate establishment but i can hear the awful hobo who lives in the slum across the street laughing like a maniac clearly drunk as fuck
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>>7501939
get it delivered pham
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Are you guys selfish about your insights? I mean on here. Since we're anonymous, we don't really get any credit for good posts. Putting effort into posts is rarely rewarded and often punished. I want to share my knowledge with people, but they don't seem receptive, and not receiving any positive acknowledgment makes me not want to.
On the other hand really, really great posts are acknowledged, but I feel like most of the time these posts have a kind of sensational aspect to them. That makes no room for the humbler, subtler insights that can help people understand various topics incrementally better. I often feel the need to sensationalize what I'm saying so that it will be more likely to be appreciated.
That being said, I never stoop so low to reduce it to a string of memes. That's the first step down a short road to willful retardation.
I want to contribute to the improvement of discourse on this board. At this point this largely involves the task of spreading my knowledge. Most people here are undergrad or early grad level. From my experiences, it's clear that the more educated you are, the less you want to bother with this board.
What are some things I can work on in the coming year?
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Are you full of yourself or am I insecure?
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>>7501947
This is a place of love and acceptance! Get out!
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
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I couldn't agree more OP.
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Why you no read Burroughs?
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>>7501688
Because I'm reading Gass.
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he's just another cisgendered whiteboi
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>>7501690
The Tunnel sounds good. Recommendations?
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what's the best place to start with Friedrich Nietzsche when it comes to existentialism?
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Nietzsche isn't an existentialist, although some beta writers might try to claim he is
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>>7501633
>some beta writers
i.e anyone who has any understanding of philosophy whatsoever
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>>7501638
explain me what in the fuck about nietzsche is "existentialist" protip u cant
Anonymous
What got you into reading? 2015-12-24 23:32:33 Post No.7501562
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What got you into reading? 2015-12-24 23:32:33 Post No.7501562
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What got you into reading?
Anonymous
2015-12-24 23:32:33
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Back when I was a teen, I read books, but only when I had to for school. I stumbled upon the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
>inb4 young adult fiction
This book got me into the Greek mythology and such, and then further on into reading works by the Greeks, and reading in general.
What got you started?
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>>7501562
>reading
I don't read. I'm just here to shitpost
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>reading
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Been reading since I learnt how to.
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Does language shape the way we think or does the way we think shape language
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language doesn't shape shit, but it does lead to shitty things like the way german philosophers are always on about "becoming" which just sounds gay in english, also failed uprisings like france 1968 or germany 1922 being called "revolutions" is stupid, in english a revolution is only a revolution if it's permanent, otherwise it's just a failed uprising
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>language shape the way we think
this one
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>>7501388
Language shapes the way we think. Our thoughts are bound to the symbols and words we know(most of us).