Existential Crisis Guide

be sad a lot

usually jerk off for a bit and then regret it afterwards

I usually just re-read Candide.

>>7709917
I killed myself anon, it worked really well, solves evrything. Also as for what to read, my diary tbqhwyf.

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A series a distractions to make me forget that I want to kill myself. Then I tell myself tomorrow will be the day.

But wait, I want to see what anon will post on /lit/ tomorrow.

>>7709917
How apt: Camus was who set me on this path.

>>7709917

This infographic actually isn't completely retarded. I never see anyone talk about the Kyoto school on here, mad props.

I had an existential crisis from reading Sartre. I just sort of forgot about it after a while though.

>>7709978
THE FUCK. There's this one dumb faggot in my lit class who dresses like that with a dumb fucking fedora.

>>7710261
Call him a cuck and watch his eyes

I used to feel be stuck in perpetual crisis but now I'm completely calm and content. I actually feel a little embarrassment for having felt about things so seriously in the past.

>>7710278
what pulled you out of it?

>>7710290
I don't really know. One day I woke up and just stopped caring, my beliefs and my outlook on life are the same as they were before, but my emotions are different.

I'd say a lot of it might be due to diet and exercise, try starting there.

>>7710290
Not same guy, but same story with me. Make the meaninglessness feel liberating; always remember that everything is going to be okay. Do what makes you happy.

>>7709978
A fedora hat, and also add a book by Hesse or Kafka, and it's fine.

I'm worried that if i start reading more into philosophy I will hate my life even more.

>>7710299
>>7710278
Are you both me?
Same here.
When I look back at me being worried constantly, I cringe hard. I think life is about learning how to let go of things, something not far away from buddhism actually.
The importance or not importance of things is just a matter of perspective, and perspective can be changed very easily. For example, by trying out new things, whatever you want to do, do it.

>>7710296
>>7710299
Would you say that your freedom from sloth was due to the presence of God in your life?

>>7710355
I've always been very skeptical of "God" but I've started viewing nature as a benevolent and comforting force instead of a hostile one.

>>7709917
>existential crisis

Where is the crisis? Life is shit and it is backed up by modern science. Life has the modality of an addiction. The existential crisis is a lifting of the curse of nose-blindness to the stink of begging-the-question.

>>771035
It had to do with that, but I changed a lot of things: I ate better, I exercised, and I made myself go hangout with my friends even if I was tired because I never regretted it.

The Nietzsche one isn't completely accurate, he admitted himself that he wasn't an Ubermensch

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Are Camus and Nietzsche the best we've got? I find a goal in life but I can lose interest and I'm back at square one. A Sisyphean lifestyle does not sound satisfying

>>7710655
I guess that's just not the path for you. Luckily, there's multiple paths for you to choose from! I recommend the "leap of faith" path as that's the only one that won't have you burning in hell for all eternity :)

>>7710376
fuck yeah.

>>7710655
Amor fati.

Embrace all the shit.

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>>7710661
Ironically I'd rather commit actual suicide before philosophical suicide

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>>7710748
All is as thinking makes it so

>>7709917
Last man reporting in

>>7709917

Übermensch Loide.

I follow the path where I tell myself that I'm going to actively work on psychological self-improvement and finally put solid effort in the artistic endeavors I've left sitting aside to rot most of my life but give in to the constant feeling of being just a little tired and "off" and instead investing what's left of my waning energy looking at dumb websites like this idly letting the constant realization of the absurd give way into constant anxiety so I decide to write vague posts that are just relatable enough to illicit a response as some half-assed way to validate my laziness and apathy in the laziness and apathy of others who can relate to this

Can someone please explain to me the benefits of reading existentialism? Even if you yourself align with those beliefs, why would you want to read someone just talk about it and list reasons that you already know...it's like my fedora grandpa who reads nothing but atheism literature. I just don't get it at all. not being a faggot, I mean, I understand that it's interesting from a historical perspective or sort of required reading to understand literary motifs and shit that are still around...but why would you just read a ton of books that give you nothing new.

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What is the difference between the "DIY ubermensch" and the "a rebours against the grain" both seem very similar?
is the main difference in that the uberman promotes the idea of attaining greatness and excellency and to a degree advance mankind. Where "a rebours" is more about grinding what ever you want and enjoying the journey that the endless grind brings?

>>7709917
only the dhamma is effective

>>7711335
Were you dropped on your head m8?

Why you no stoic?

>>7709917
Why not suicide? People act like suicide is not a valid act

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Meursaultism
Considering taking the godpill for discipline and a sense of community

>>7709978
Those are good albums though :(

>>7711594
What albums are they anon

>>7711618
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F# A# Infinity
Have A Nice Life - Deathconciousness
Swans - Soundtracks For The Blind
Joy Division - Closer

all super depressing and super good. I posted that chart and I don't think it's meant to be a bad thing...?

>>7711619
Music is never a bad thing.
Thanks for letting me know been a long time since I've listened to Swans

>>7709975
Teebeeqiehaa ahehha chvvvggg :^)

>>7711457
The chart factors that in.

And I don't think any philosophers tackled the "mom getting really sad" issue, which is one of the most unsolvable facets of suicide.

>>7711625
If you haven't heard deathconsciousness do yourself a favour and download + listen right now

>>7711633
I'm listening to it right now and now that it's getting further into the album it's making me want to listen to The Cure

>>7711634
Wait for the second half senpai

>>7711639
This is some good shit man, thanks for awakening me to this

>>7709917

Can someone post an infographic like this one that basically covers all existenial lit moving from basic to advanced? I want to cover the whole school or at least the major parts.

>>7710308
Whats wrong with kafka desu

>>7711755
Desu

>>7709917
>Mine is Übermensch path.
>caring about 'paths'

You're a stray

>>7709917
Please give me the PEACE.

>>7710299
>>7710278
>>7710344

Somehow this was the opposite for me. When I was 13 or 14 I had my first real existential crisis after watching a science show about how free will was an illusion. I became depressed and began to search for an argument that could prove that free will was real. That got me into philosophy. It only took a few months and then I felt better, but I kept reading philosophy books. I felt happy for long time, even reading pessimistic books did not upset me. I was in awe of the universe and felt grateful just to be a part of it.

Then out of nowhere I have another existential crisis. It was about 6 months ago. This time I feel even worse because I have already explored all the stuff in the chart. Any advice or guidance is old news and it does little to make me feel better. I already tried to kill myself once but was "thankfully" stopped.
Nothing is fun or interesting to me anymore. I just want to sleep for the rest of my life (in a literal way so I could wake up an old man and just die of old age rather than suicide).

I have no idea how I was so happy before, my ideas are still the same. Nothing changed in my life.

1/2
Journey.

I've been literally lost all my life, dropped compulsory education after years of violently refusing it, something inside of me was trying to explore and they were trying to give me prefabricated and artificial answers, mostly to questions I wasn't even interested in. I had depression pretty much since I can remember (lately discovered the term, "depressive realism" which describes my feelings quite precisely at that time), I had suicidal thoughts all of my life and was under antidepressants for some months until I realized that it was giving me artificial comfort and was only limiting me.

So here I was 12-13 years old me, scared, alone and confused, one of my biggest steps forward was realizing that in the worse case if I never find answer to my questions or fulfillment, death would always be there, (that realization gave me much more power than I would ever imagine, I already accepted death, it wasn't scaring me anymore, it was giving me power), probably having a overprotective family held me back, they were scared and who could blame them, watching a little kid contemplating suicide without a tiny bit of happiness or fulfillment can be harsh if you love him, that combined with friends, relationships, games and hobbies gave me temporary comfort and suspended momentarily my inner journey.

>>7713401
2/2
After some years (23 yr old), I had some big big crisis and I started acting erratically (I thought I was literally losing my mind), had to visit a psychiatrist because I was excluding myself socially most of it in fear of hurting either physically or emotionally someone I cared about. I wasn't picking up the phone, wasn't meeting with anybody, wasn't speaking with my friends or family. I was blocking everybody that tried to contact me.

I walked in the psychiatrist room, and we started to dialogue about it, about me. The more we talked the more lonely and profusely misunderstood I felt, that feeling caused me anger and impotence, the psychiatrist prescribed me anxiolytics and gave me many appointments for monitoring, but before I exited the building something had changed drastically inside of me. I didn't open the medications and wasn't thinking on coming back to that place, unwittingly I was starting to accept the fact that this was only about me, and no one would ever provide better insight or help to myself that what I could if I stay objective. That led me to one big realization, I was trying to delegate what I am, my responsibilities and fears on someone else in order to gain comfort and evade the problem. Here I was 23 years old finding myself. I honestly can't describe with words what I felt when I realized what I achieved. I stepped into the darkest room naked and alone, I submerged myself in a lake holding my breath determined not to emerge again until I find something without knowing if something has to be found, no guarantees of ever reaching the surface again, heck I didn't know if I existed, and finally I went through it, I overcame it, I found myself, I felt reality. I fueled my ever burning curiosity with the confidence of being in the right direction.

I was the answer to my question.

>>7713401
>>7713410
I never wrote anything in my life, that combined with my self-taught English can be fatal, but this thread inspired me to write it for some reason and I felt like sharing it.

>>7713131
I feel you.

>>7713410
>finding myself.
Anyone else is sick of this meaningless pair of words? This tends to get thrown around pretty often these days among folks in their mid-40-50s

>>7709978
Those are good shoes if worn with nice (read: not all black/edgy) clothes.

>>7713459
fucking kek i bet you wear checkered shirts

>>7713453
Well they are not meaningless for me, but maybe it is me fooling myself again, im 24 now btw

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>>7709917
>Mine is Übermensch path.

>>7713466
Aren't you lively, did something good happen?

I'm currently an MSc Psychology student and I'm considering doing a PhD and/or directing my career around helping depressed people who are having existential crises to find meaning in their lives.

Good idea or no?

>>7713754
Do you think it is a good idea?

>>7713754
Well in something like that, if you have to ask, the answer is probably no.

>>7713758
Not sure, I like the idea of working with severely depressed people, but I worry that I'll guide them to suicide because I've got a pretty pessimistic/realist philosophy myself. There's probably some ethical issues with that.

>>7713754
but what would you do? Assume that someone has already read lots of philosophy books and is reaching out to you as a last resort.

If it is just the classic "pick your own meaning" type thing I don't think that will help anyone.

I know my biggest issue was not that I did not have a plethora of choices, but rather that I could not find a reason why any of these were any better than just killing yourself.
Why do I bother to pick something when suicide or lazying around all day is just as meaningful as anything ever.

>>7713754

you would have better luck becoming a cleric and going into a mission

>>7713818
I really wouldn't want someone trying to force me into finding a reason for existence when I went to get help.

I don't think you should do it because I know it'd make me feel so much worse

>>7713838
Honestly I'm far from being an expert, but I wouldn't assume that they'd be well-read in philosophy. I think a lot of treatment-resistant depressives struggle to find any sort of meaning in their lives, regardless of whether they identify that they're having an existential crisis or not. I'd ideally do things like encouraging post-traumatic growth, helping them to identify their strengths and incorporate them into their everyday lives (making it more meaningful and authentic), and developing coping strategies for depressive episodes.

In particular, I'd try to encourage altruistic acts that serve some 'higher purpose' - whether that's God, society, art, or whatever. If they were well-versed in philosophy and still suicidal and unable to connect to anything, I'd have no idea though. I've not done much reading around this area (though I think it's barely been studied in psychology), I just think it's an interesting option because of my own experiences.

>>7713851
I wouldn't force someone into finding a reason for existence per se, if the client had reached the conclusion that life is completely meaningless then I'd probably try to encourage acceptance of that, and look at what strategies could be used to at least make it worthwhile, given that you don't really have much choice about being born. That's when it could get a bit ethically dubious if they then decide the logical option is suicide.

Kind of a mixture of Nietzschian self overcoming and Daoism. I've tried stoicism but it was fucking boring and I don't have enough balls to truly dive into absurdism.