Thread replies: 8
Thread images: 1
Thread images: 1
File: subtle-art-cover.png (46KB, 312x468px) Image search:
[Google]
46KB, 312x468px
Anybody here read this book?
> inb4 self help bullshit.
Yeah, I know, but Mark's prose is pretty good and this book gives a pretty new spin on improving your life.
Basically he says that most life advice is bad because it emphasizes what you lack, which causes you to feel inadequate. So for example, let's say a self help book tells you to not be scared when you're going into a job interview, and provides some meditation exercises to help you not be scared. In the short term, this may give you a feeling of confidence ("I'm armed with this awesome information on not being scared"), but then when you go into the interview and do get scared, you feel like a failure, which will reinforce your fear in future interviews.
What Manson recommends instead is to find what actually matters to you and pursuing that. You only have so many fucks to give and spending them on insecurities that other people or advertisements have placed in your head is a waste of time. So he says you need to learn to identify your actual values and filter out things you only care about because you're being manipulated by social pressure.
Essentially the title is a misnomer. The book isn't really about *NOT* giving a fuck, it's about finding out what you *SHOULD* give a fuck about. He emphasizes that pain is inevitable and suggests that finding out which types of pain you would welcome in your life will help you know what you really want, because if you see a form of pain as a blessing that's a good sign that it's implicitly tied to something you really want on a deep level. Essentially you need to know what kind of pain you want in your life. For example, if you have a crush on a girl, and thinking about talking to her heaviest and most painful issues gives you a weirdly motivated feeling, that's a sign that you really like her for the right reasons, because you actually want the inevitable hard parts of a relationship with her.
I dunno.
What do you think?
Just more self-help tripe or genuinely insightful?
I have to admit I'm finding some of his ideas intriguing
>>
>>8893217
Pure drivel. Self-help is a pseudoscience, and if common sense doesn't tell you this, then nothing will.
>>
>>8893217
Or you could just start with the Greeks. Or the Chinese or the Indians. And then make up your own mind about it.
It's out there, help yourself.
>>
>>8893229
This. Also change your writing style next time so you're not recognizable old boy but nonetheless, it's was a pleasure, Mark.
>>
I don't need a manual on how to not give a f*ck
>>
I read it and it's good but it is essentially modern pop-stoicism. It led me to the ancient roman stoics from which he derives his message. Stoicism is also the basis for cognitive behavioral therapy. GO READ THE ANCIENT ROMAN STOICS! THEY ARE GENIUSES.
>>
>>8893267
This. Seneca > whoever the fuck the OP author is
>>
>>8893217
Self help works when you actually apply it. Most advice is common sense when applies to external situations. When a friend is in a terrible relationship it's obvious to everyone else that he should leave, but he puts on blinders and filters reality through his bias. The key is to be able to objectively look at your situation, analyze it, and follow through with your plan to change.
Thread posts: 8
Thread images: 1
Thread images: 1