/lit/ - Literature

Unironically The Alchemist

>>18232556
>Unironically The Alchemist

>>18232556
based

bump

Bumping again, are there really no books on this? Obviously I've read the Alchemist but it felt shallow

Alright last bump and I let it die

>>18232490
Contemplate and ponder those feelings for hours. I have a decade and a half of experience with this, and this is most conducive and far beyond any book, which will only distract you.

On an off day from work, or two to three hours before your usual bedtime, lie on your place of sleep on your back. Hold your arms comfortably at your sides, do not use a blanket or covers to reduce the risk of falling asleep.

Let your extremeties stay still, utterly relax your muscles, especially the jaws, forehead, shoulders, and feet/hands. Breathe thoracically, all stomach, no chest.

Contemplate these feelings you're having. You may have visions, take these as unreal but still as useful information. If you hallucinate voices or half-dreams, this is 99 times out of 100 hypnogogia.

Let the conscious thoughts slowly die out, and observe this process. At this point as you get to the root of these feelings you will start having revelations of yourself. You can try constructing these revelations into stories, characters, etc, then keep a journal writing everything you experience and note your present thoughts and interpretations.

In my heyday I meditated like this.for 9-12 hours straight, several days a week. I did this for several years and from all that remembered what I came here to do.

Keeping this practice will make you stronger willed and deeply principled, as well as harden your senses and mental acuity. Being close to dhyana at times it also benefits in destressing and relaxing you.

If you encounter a perfect character worthy of your reverence, this is your perfected self and you should follow their lead.

All characters will be personifications of yourself. Do not be deluded into beleiving at any point you are receiving some revelation of a major religion. If they wanted to let you know they'd be more blatant.

>>18235613
Thanks for the effortpost anon.
I've tried to "meditate" (if you can call it that) in such a way several times, but I always end up falling asleep, or my thoughts start wandering uncontrollably. Is there a way to fix this? At some point I started assuming I was spiritually barren or something.

>>18235633
Persistence. It was the same for me when I started out.

>>18235645
How long did it take for something to actually happen?

>>18235657
Not long. I had a yearning similar to what you described, and it was bleeding into my regular meditations and dreams. I developed this method through experimentation.

Start by visualizing going for a walk. Where do you go? Who do you meet? What's the weather like? What do you talk with them about? Record all the characters, whether they have names or not, what they represent, or who they represent. Reread your notes every so often and keep dates and times. Also draw sketches of anything noteworthy or that doesn't seem to be from the real world.

>what are some books about [insert teenage existential crisis]
holy fuck I wish this website had ID authentication

You are not *meant* to do anything. It's your life anon. Sometimes hardship is a normal part of it and you just have to press on, other times this hardship may be taken by an indication that you are not into it that much, but it's not a sign from the outside that you should not do it. It's how you interpret it that matters and it's your choice to interpret it in anyway you like. You'll try many things, some you'll quit, some you'll resent quitting, some will stick to you all your life, or a decade or two, or a month or two, some are hobbies, some become your profession. Just take it easy and look within yourself, allow these experiences and try to do stuff that you like and that makes you feel fullfilled. There is no answer written anywhere about that, it's not on your palm, it's not "destiny", not God, not "meant to be", not something that anyone can tell you from the outside, even if you may talk to people about it and gather advice, the decision is up to you.

>>18235744
Are you talking about something like a dream journal, where you eventually start looking for trends and specific details and ascribe meaning to them?
>>18235825
I've had this mindset up to now but the only thing it's done is leave me feeling completely aimless, now I'm at the age where people usually start to get a career and settle down and I still don't know what I want out of life.

>>18235854
Similar to a dream journal. Unlike dreams you'll be able to stay entire lucid and thereby remember what happened much better when you write it down. This type of visualization, much like a dream, is highly symbolic of your subconscious, but you're lucid and instinct is a guide rather than your driver. It's important to speculate on what you experience on top of recording the experience itself.

>>18235894
>It's important to speculate
Is it fine to interpret everything by yourself, don't you risk becoming biased or getting tunnel vision?

>>18235913
Very much so, and that's why it's important to remember interpretive nature of what you experience, and remain grounded. You probably will naturally experience you obstacles and weaknesses which will do that job for you. I find it would be more difficult to become biased or over-focused. Focusing on one "topic" for up to months straight will happen, but will pass and segue into another.

I think it goes without saying but take what you learn into practice, learn, repeat.

>>18235939
Thank you for the advice, I'm going to start tonight.

>>18235854
> now I'm at the age where people usually start to get a career and settle down
And what age would that be, may I ask?
I ask this because this is bullshit, it doesn't matter what age you are. I'm an oldfag, I'm 35 and I only started doing something I really like and see results when I was around 30. That doesn't mean I didn't learn anything with the experiences I had before, even the bad and confusing ones.

I feel you when you say you are aimless, I have felt like that many times before, but the solution to that is not in looking at it as if you were meant to do anything in particular, written on the stars. Sometimes something you didn't plan at all grows on you with time. In this day an age we are asked to enjoy everything to the fullest and only do what we like, but most of the times it's not like that at all and this pressure makes us feel guilty for bad experiences, as if they were mistakes. Sometimes a scientist may feel like that's the life for them, that doesn't mean they are happy waking up early every day and filling reports.

some food for thought
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yWx7cqiSJI