/lit/ - Literature

Looking for study Bible recommendations. Ones that are more content rather than trivia based, if that makes sense

>>22145194
>Neighbors, said the reverend, he couldnt stay out of these here hell, hell, hellholes right here in Nacogdoches. I said to him, said: You goin to take the son of God in there with ye? And he said: Oh no. No I aint. And I said: Dont you know that he said I will follow ye always even unto the end of the road?
>Well, he said, I aint askin nobody to go nowheres. And I said: Neighbor, you dont need to ask. He's a goin to be there with ye every step of the way whether ye ask it or ye dont. I said: Neighbor, you cant get shed of him. Now. Are you goin to drag him, HIM, into that hellholle yonder?

>>21668742
Am I wrong in thinking that symbolic structures have a very close relationship with morality? Also, is this sort of religious symbolism not, if you have pinpointed it correctly, deep and rich enough (i.e. profound) that they're always going shortchanged by a mere interpretation as opposed to an overinterpretation or thick description? If that is indeed necessary to properly understand the profound symbolic 'language', wouldn't a morality meaning also be a component in this somehow?

Books about slowly being excluded from your close friends and increasingly becoming isolated?

>>16467173
9/10 bait
>>16467138
Track the character of Alyosha - following him, could you really doubt Dostoevsky's sincere belief? His character's depth of belief, so well put and described, and the complete innocence of his actions witness so well against those of his brothers, his father, and both the girls who have crushes on him (can't remember their names). So what if Dostoevsky is able to name some the arguments and movements against Christianity convincingly - doesn't that just mean that he has examined his faith? Why does it need to mean that he was a crypto-atheist, or that he had soul-crushing, constant doubts?

>>15211978
>poor people are usually more desperate
Imagine not ridding yourself of temptations/desperations as the first step of your asceticism

>>14386761
Would you be able to recommend me some particular schools or theorists? I am keen on enriching my enjoyment of literature.

>>14119281
>plays Toreador
>cringes on anons
Think about your sins.

Just got turned down from a job offer that had been in the works since July. I'm suddenly overcome with a feeling of helplessness and having nowhere to turn anymore, because before now there had always been more options but now there isn't anything. It was my only chance to be near my family and my girlfriend, who live 800 and 700 miles from me (respectively) throughout most of the year.

Up until this point in my life there's always been something else to do, but now there isn't. I've had this childish dread of being afraid of losing my soul since I was 13 or so from doing things I don't really want to do. Joining a monastery and forging an indestructible bond with God sounds really great right now. I suppose in the past I've felt things like this before, but this feels like the catalyst for everything else collapsing too. Now that the point in my life is coming to such a watershed moment all I want is to be 5 years old again to have another shot at it all. Wanting to be young again is also such a vain, juvenile pursuit, but I just can't outgrow it. All of my time recently has been in perception of getting somewhere else (the past) and tasting that sweet little wistful longing for a better day. My life is very good by most standards, but I suppose this is truth that no real, lasting happiness can spring forth from the earth.

I'm going to walk outside in the cold air to the store and buy something good to eat, I'm in the UK maybe the cold will shock me back into place. Someone please respond and tell me about your experience(s) feeling directionless and hopeless.

Not to blaspheme, but I feel like a crappier reincarnation of St. Benedict Joseph Labre (without the saintliness). At 27, I have finally come to realize my vocation is with the Church, but my health isn't good enough to join, and I fell for the student debt meme. I even attended a Jesuit high school...

>>13911135
I know evolution doesn't have moral creeds, but it is clear that if everyone can be protected then our genetics, which at least partially affect us, will degenerate as I have established earlier through mutation. This would imply that perfectly protecting everyone would eventually lower ourselves and therefore the notion to protect everyone would be in serious trouble (keep in mind that not all negative mutations would need to be massive genetic failures like down syndrome). Then you countered by explaining how we can supposedly treat genetic diseases.
My problem is that the previous civilizations that tried to protect everyone only avoided degeneration because they actually weren't able to protect them. This would mean that their efforts were actually in opposition to the necessary process of avoiding degeneration. If they were somehow able to achieve their ideals of protecting everyone, they would then experience genetic degeneration.

>>13911202
That is fine but you still haven't adressed my argument. Are we simply called to allow our gene pool to degenerate?

>>13900059
Initiation is the relation of a spiritual father to a spiritual child like in orthodoxy.
There is a real spiritual influence, a real spiritual enlightenment and real spiritual teaching etc...
It's not mental, it's spiritual.

My very dear guenonians, if, like me, you want to get a real initiation, become orthodox and monk.
Ama.

>>13873375
Good post.
The real problem of this world is greed, without it, there would have been no technology and industrial society. It comes when you have a mind full of passions, when you are not peacefull within yourself. All humans made without technology before, because they didn't seek material fulfillment of an indefinite thrust for terrestrial pleasures, they had the means to find the real joy and the peacefulness of the soul. They were spiritual and not materialist. Greed, envy, glouton is the start of the human fall in history, the eating of the apple speaks about that. Now, there is still some traditional place where people seek true peace, away from modern civilisation. Mount Athos is an example of that.
Traditionalism and orthodoxy is the way, friend.

If the Hindu concept of Lila is true (and my understanding of it), and in one way or another we will all be saved, why does this cosmic dance have to be so full of existential dread and mundanity!!!
To paraphrase Kierkegaard, what are demons and trolls compared to the gray and indifferent faces of everyday life. This hyperennui of doing without doing or knowing why feels like a curse.

Finished reading the Sayings of the Desert Fathers the other day. I wonder if we have become too liberal in our (human) offering of salvation. For the fathers, it seemed to be a continuous struggle their entire life.

I am Catholic but I sure wish that we had the monastic infrastructure, for lack of a better word, that the Orthodox have. It has always been a dream of mine to join a monastery but so many of them seem to be either watered down or too reactionary at the expense of spirituality. To be honest, even the American Orthodox monasteries seem but a shell of their European counterparts. I was thinking about going to a Byzantine rite Catholic monastery in Ukrainian but I am worried about the conflict with the Russians.
Sometimes I feel that my dream of joining a monastery with truly ancient spirituality, self-sufficiency, and diversity in age will never amount to anything. It feels bad bros.

When did you get into reading /lit/? How much did you know about literature in your late teens?

>>12393666
>satanic digits on a tripfag
NEET asceticism confirmed divine

What's your favorite Thomas Merton book? Other authors similar to him?

>>12096052
stay strong we're going to make it

Post a piece of art, get book recommandations

>>11312362
>>11312336

I consider myself to be an evangelical Orthodox Christian and I am terrified of death. We are all weak, imperfect and have fallen short of the glory of God. I have weaknesses that I have not overcome, I am young, I still sin far too frequently and I struggle to make amends. Part of has a fear that I will die and God will not forgive me for my sins, even though the church teaches that he is allpowerful, forgiving and loving.

Eternal disconnect from the Father would be too much for me to handle. That's why I fear death. Because I want to be with Christ so badly and yet I'm scared I am not worthy.

I want to get a deep understanding of the development of Christian history and its theology, can anyone give me a rough reading guide? We're talking about two millenniums worth of material, besides the bible and some medieval thinkers I don't know where to start.

Please don't shitpost me to death.

>>10989001