[a / b / c / d / e / f / g / gif / h / hr / k / m / o / p / r / s / t / u / v / vg / vm / vmg / vr / vrpg / vst / w / wg] [i / ic] [r9k / s4s / vip] [cm / hm / lgbt / y] [3 / aco / adv / an / bant / biz / cgl / ck / co / diy / fa / fit / gd / hc / his / int / jp / lit / mlp / mu / n / news / out / po / pol / pw / qst / sci / soc / sp / tg / toy / trv / tv / vp / vt / wsg / wsr / x / xs] [Settings] [Search] [Mobile] [Home]
Board
Settings Mobile Home
/lit/ - Literature

Name
Spoiler?[]
Options
Comment
Verification
4chan Pass users can bypass this verification. [Learn More] [Login]
File[]
  • Please read the Rules and FAQ before posting.

08/21/20New boards added: /vrpg/, /vmg/, /vst/ and /vm/
05/04/17New trial board added: /bant/ - International/Random
10/04/16New board for 4chan Pass users: /vip/ - Very Important Posts
[Hide] [Show All]


[Advertise on 4chan]


File: 1463234463831 tired robot.jpg (181 KB, 1280x1220)
181 KB
181 KB JPG
how do you deal with a lack of purpose and a lack of faith? i can't seem to find meaning or purpose in things, and i cannot create it for myself as of yet. individual things are nice, but as a greater whole it all ebbs together into a "ehh it's okay" whatever.
>>
>>25182916
firstly what is your country of origin?
>>
>>25182920
norway desu
>>
>>25182925
Nei, egentlig. Hvor kommer du fra? Bevis det hva din frossenpizzabestilling er?
>>
>>25182946
sensasjonell
>>
idk why this is on the lit board but if youve suffered quite badly in life to the point of dissociation, a lot of what jesus and the buddha say instantly makes sense. (dhammapada, gospel according to luke, ecclesiastes, job, acts of the apostles, all very good.) you dont have to explicitly "be" a christian or buddhist in order to appreciate their wisdom, if you dont want. i think this gets a bad rap because of grindset bros but unironically get a skill to a level where you start making independent derivations if you want self-fulfilling purpose. this takes a lot of time and at least an hour a day but it really does start happening. the confidence you get from seeing yourself actually become good at something (youre probably lacking purpose because you are skeptical about your own abilities in life) is life-changing and it is a feeling you unlock for sure, not one youre raised with or taught by school

if you want some books that really got my ass moving, pick a couple from here, whatever catches your eye:

Condensed Chaos by Philip Hine
Walter Isaacson's book on Einstein
that American Prometheus book about Oppenheimer
anything biographical about like Newton/da Vinci/Gauss/Euler/Ben Franklin/etc., anyone we typically conceive of as "genius" - you probably relate to them more than you think, and they have very distinct characters which are fun to read about. Rachmaninoff especially if youre depressed
Infinite Jest/The Pale King/Brothers Karamazov but read only from the perspective of trying to understand your own emotions and getting the language to comprehend them
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs' first chapter (i think its section 1.6 or 1.8) details a way to break down any problem of any kind
The Soviet Experiment by Ronald Grigor Suny really gives you a fat fat nonfiction book to sink your teeth into
Steven Moore's two volume The Novel an Alternative History gives you the same experience but for novels
MW by Osamu Tezuka was an appropriately japanese manga that expanded my taste a bit
The Republic by Plato

hope you feel better man. skill development is the key though, whether its sculpting, writing, acting, coding, whatever
>>
>>25182916
>how do you deal with a lack of purpose
By remembering that only tools can have a purpose. A stick and a rock is just a stick and a rock until someone ties them together and uses them to strike a nail. Only then do they become a hammer, and have a purpose. And if that person were to cease to exist, the hammer goes back to being a rock and a stick until someone else uses it to strike a nail. Things that have purpose do so because they are useful to someone else. I have no wish to be a tool, therefore I am fine with not having a purpose. But if you do want to have purpose, make yourself a tool for someone else. The more people you are useful to (or the more important those people are to you), the more purpose can be extracted from the experience.
>and a lack of faith
This matters in exact proportion to the importance you lend it. When I was an atheist, my lack of faith meant nothing to me. Now that I have faith, it seems obvious for me to have it.
>rest of post
That's just a regular depression that has yet to overwhelm you. Give it some time, anon, and the "ehh it's okay" will turn into "breathing costs more than it yields."



[Advertise on 4chan]

Delete Post: [File Only] Style:
[Disable Mobile View / Use Desktop Site]

[Enable Mobile View / Use Mobile Site]

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective parties. Images uploaded are the responsibility of the Poster. Comments are owned by the Poster.