Which philosophers will help me take it easy and no longer be anxious?

>>8426731
Your mother.

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Epicurus.

>>8426731
F. "Daveeey" Wallace

>Which philosophers will help me take it easy and no longer be anxious?
do people really see philosophy in the same way they see therapy?

Really any existentialist, or taoists if you're looking for ideology

Marcus Aurelius.

>>8426747
Applied philosophy is self therapy.

>>8426747
Yes, read Nicomachean Ethics.

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Lucretius
Epicurus
Lao Tzu
Zhuangzhi
Lao Zi

>>8426747
For some, yes.

Xanax

i agree with most people in this thread

stoic and zen philosophies are your friend

Thank you all! Time to hit the #bookz

>>8426793
Who is the artist of that image?

>>8426793
>Lao Tzu
>Lao Zi

You seem really relaxed mate

>>8426865
One wrote the Tao Te Ching and one wrote the Dao de Jing

>>8426951
is Dao de Jing worth reading? just started on Tao te ching.

you're not just going to read your way out of anxiety. or actually, you might, but it won't be with a syllabus you got from a stupid internet forum.

and definitely don't read any of this stoic/chinese shit unless you're already an old man

>>8426793
>>8426951
>>8428671
You should add the Iching to the list too. Even with the divinatory keks it has some nice pratical shit.

>>8428671
>not reading the Tao Te King

>>8428734
>>8428726
>that superior man mind

sartre :DD

Plotinus if you can be bothered with mysticism

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>>8426731
Anybody read The Dude and the Zen Master

But society won't let you take it easy. You will be faced every day with your own guilt and the constant belittlement of others unless you isolate yourself but that won't make your anxiety go away either and hardcore isolation causes depression 90% of the time all the time so it's better to not isolate yourself. But you don't want to play "their" games. But you don't want to be anxious and just take it easy. Such dilemma much angst. I say there are three choices: Get rid of the guilt (depends on your upbringing, limbic system is a bitch to retrain I heard), get rid of society (bad idea as noted above unless you are 100% impervious to side effects of total isolation) or get rid of the idea that you want to take it easy. I'm a long term NEET (who also isolated himself for months on time) and let me tell you this sincerely, taking it easy gets stale after a while, society isn't so brutal and you can work on yourself to not think you have to be a good boy all the time and still dominate socially and be respected and loved and all that good stuff. The anxiety will be gone but you gotta put in the work. The "Dude" is not cool, he is romanticized drug addict and not my president. Ok

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>>8426731

Epictetus and Aurelius are the people you're looking for. Aurelius dealt with a lot of shit in his life. He was the emperor but took no delight in it and found matters of the court and the petty senate quite tedious and exhausting. That coupled with trying to keep a kingdom together and staving off barbarians.

Through all this he kept personal book that were inspired from the earlier stoics (such as seneca) in which he notes to himself the futility of anxiety and emphasizes the importance of pragmatism.

Read it OP. Epictetus and Aurelius speak in simple terms but once you internalize some of their suggestions, you will find it quite cathartic. It won't necessarily make you happy (since it's mostly a defence against worry, anxiety, grief and the fear of death) but it certainly will allow you to be more calm and acquiesce to the things that perturb you.

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>>8429639
Not OP. But I completely get where you're coming from.

I've realized people are "brutes". Sometimes deliberately and sometimes inadvertently. So many of them tend to be opinionated, judgmental, shallow, stupid and temperamental. I will also admit that the reason why I find it so exasperating talking to most of them is because of my own ineptitude to be entirely comfortable or master the skill of conversation (as most people indulge in it).

My own ineptitude at socializing (which has been a source of ridicule and embarrassment and shame countless times) coupled with my growing disdain for the brutish insensitivity of people all around me makes me want to become a recluse.

1. Tried becoming a recluse. But I realize that the need for companionship in me is too strong and after extended periods of isolation I find myself clawing back to find some sort of company or connection or conversation with anyone at all. It's probably because if I'm not distracted then the self hatred and shame that emerges becomes too much to bear.

2. I tried getting rid of the idea that it'll be easy. I tried preparing for a difficult life but I realize that I don't want that.

3. I'm currently trying getting rid of the guilt. But it's difficult when you hate yourself so much and there are so many mistakes that you've made that lead you to such a detestable life. How do you get rid of a mountain of guilt and shame and regret?

>>8429668
>in which he notes to himself the futility of anxiety
And poof no more anxiety, or what

>>8429689
He justifies the futility of it. Sure, it won't immediately eradicate your anxiety. It takes time to internalize an idea and it will take time for me (and maybe OP) to gradually accept it as well.

I used to be hyper-anxious all the time and would constantly worry and fret and wallow in despair about everything wrong and dissatisfactory in my life. I still do but between all this anguish, I sometimes manage to find moments of calm. It isn't much but it's a start and prevents me from taking drastic measures that I was planning on earlier.

>>8426731
Tao it up son.

Try Montaigne ... He just may become your best friend...

>>8426731
Existentialists like Camus.

>>8426751
agree with this

>>8426808

I can't help but think all of Eastern Philosophy is a huge sham. I can't read Chinese, however; it seems like all of these works are beautiful, but rely so heavily upon the creativity of the reader to actually have anything meaningful.

>>8426758
underrated post

the bagavad gita
the greeks
calvinism
eric fromm
alan watts
robert anton wilson
taoism
bhuddism
confusianism

remeber when shit gets too crazy. stop what you are doing, close your eyes, and focus on your breath. in through the nose out therough the mouth.

>>8430233
I think too many westerners (and even modern easterners) go into these text thinking they can derive some ethical or metaphysical knowledge from them while separating that from the religious or the mystical, the way they usually can, even when reading highly Christian or Hindu works.
But much of Eastern philosophy can't really be separated from its religious intention, many things that would seem allegorical at glance are actually meant to be literal, or thinly veiled allusions to other texts or tales that might not be so obvious now, or even lost.

>>8430694
Focusing on my breath makes me anxious.

>>8426731
Stirner, U.G. Krishnamurti, Alan Watts

>>8430724
dis desu senpai

>>8430724
is it becuase people always tell you to do it when you are anxious.

so instead of calming you it triggers you?


then hold your breath till you pass out

or move. stretch.

I dunno.

maybe you need catharsis instead of supression.

either way. I hope you find what you are looking for.

maybe if you dwell too much in the present, change your environment, or imagine you are in the future, or in the past,

>>8429685
Really, like everyone else in this thread has said, meditations by Marcus Aurelius sounds perfect for you. He will make you realize all your problems are small without condescension, and honestly it's been the best book for my anxiety. Read it closely, write down your favorite aphorisms in a separate notebook, carry it with you. The stoics in general, and Spinoza as well, are very practical philosophy I've found.

>>8430775
>is it becuase people always tell you to do it when you are anxious.
No, even in a relaxed setting such as during relaxation after a yoga class, it mentally bothers me, but then again pretty much all hyper awareness of my bodily function does. Focusing on my heart beat for instance is one of the most unpleasant exercises I know of, comparable to being too aware of your own tongue or the blood flowing trough your veins.

>>8430832
>being too aware of your own tongue
fuck you buddy

>>8426731
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Huron_Statement#In_popular_culture

>>8429639
>>8429685
How much time did you guys went full recluse?
Im 3 weeks in, havent talked with anyone outside of my family and therapist. Kinda comfy but I think I want off this, is becoming boring.

>>8430719
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/OldWeb/passissue/9710/sources/art9.htm

Would this apply to something like the Ox-Herding Poem? You would claim that something like this would be sacred? Unfortunately the link I gave has bad images, the Ox (mind?) in 5 is supposed to be a gradient from black to white, then 6 it's supposed to be fully transparent, then 7 it disappears.

After reading what you said, I could see someone reading it as something that actually happened in order to send a message, i.e. that the mind can be tamed, or perhaps anything can transcend to nothingness.

we used to have greek writers and buddhists for that.

now we have klonopin, you wouldn't wash your clothes by hand would you? So why wash your personality with antiquated technologies maaaan?

>>8430059
this, camus is a bit of a pleb but he's good at the good life

>>8430832
imagine endlessly falling into blackness when you close your eyes

>>8430858
you can't unlearn hegemony, there is literally nothing behind the images, the self died when the Real was murdered.

>>8430955
Heh, I've gone further by imagining that every time you go to sleep, the former conscious you dies, only to be replaced by another consciousness that shares your past memories, and that dreaming is just a less intense version of what near death (or in this case, the impostor consciousness of the already deceased) cases report of the "afterlife".

>>8430983
tell me , do you find yourself repeating the same mistakes over and over?

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>>8426731
>Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

- Jesus of Nazareth

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>>8426731
Dale Carnegie

Spinozey

>>8429685
Honestly I think the problems you're dealing with boil down to two things. Humans naturally 1. are selfish and 2. need companionship. The two traits are pretty contradictory, but if you can find a way to defy the first thing, the second thing will become a hell of a lot easier.

My advice would be to read Meditations by Aurelius or Amador by Savater.

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not a philosopher but when soseki goes full zen it's extremely comfy

>>8426731
Wont you need a doctor instead?

Stirner because you realise that only what you want truly matters.

>>8426808
not op, but get too deep into benzos and you fuck up

>>8430040
Seconded

>>8426951
>>8428671
they're the same book

>>8431773
This is what happens when you use pleb tier pinyin. Daily reminder that zhuyin is superior and communism was a mistake

Xanaxagoras of Clazomenae
Diazepamenies of Syracuse
Ativanicus of Athens

>>8431015
Holy shit what pesudiest of pseuds made this nonsense?

You should go to the army. After being there for a few month you will realize the problems you had as a civilian were mostly bullshit

>>8432018

>Give yourself even greater problems and you'll stop caring about the problems you had before

Stupidity, thy name is soldier.

>>8432021 At least it works. If you're afraid of drafting in, you could just find yourself a very hard job to reevaluate your life a and the struggles you are going through

>>8426731
>All this talk on anxiety
>No one mentioned the man who invented the word "angst"

Sickness Unto Death is a masterpiece in the psychology of despair. There's one line that really always soothes me:

"Anxiety is the dizzying heights of freedom"

It makes me take that anxiety and become excited by it.

Aurelius

>>8426742
>Epicuckrus

Nice meme

>>8432191
>2016
>not being an epicurean

Nice cuck, meme

>>8426742
But all his works were lost

>>8426731
The only thing that will legitimately help your anxiety is medication and cognitive therapy.

Even cognitive therapy alone will help you.

>>8426747
>2015
>not a quietist

enjoy barely being able to keep it together when your life gets even worse

>>8426731
For real, Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Stop being a bitch

Lift weights

>>8430954
>Camus a bit of a pleb
Lol, the man practically was the intellectual James Dean of his time. Wrote books that got him a nobel prize, hung with movie stars, dated the most gorgeous women.

He was basically the polar opposite of Sartre. The dude was literally a pre-death legend.

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>>8426731
Nietzsche

>>8426731
all of them except Schopenhaur