All is vanity

I'm turning 24 soon and I've come to the realization that the pursuit of knowledge has led me down an endless rabbit hole full of misery. I graduated from university with an engineering degree 2 years ago; I've done nothing but focus on reading archaic texts nobody bothers with anymore and playing a number games with physics and math since I was a junior in high school.

All of my old classmates are either married or in long term relationships, and most have kids. I have nothing but a bookshelf full of tomes nobody cares to talk about. I used to pride myself on asceticism but I've realized the pursuit of knowledge can't suppress the dread forever and that Solomon was right all along.

The worst part is that I'm attractive enough and had several attractive girlfriends in the past that I threw away to focus on myself, thinking I could find a girl whenever I was ready. But at my age everybody is settled and nobody wants to deal with a bitter pseudo-philosopher with a superiority complex and a mind stuck in ancient Athens

Other urls found in this thread:

terebess.hu/english/tao/wu.html#Kap81
youtube.com/watch?v=Df50rvxXe1w
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

I thought I returned my tape of Poor Little Normalfag and His Quarter Life Crisis 4.

That's because you, in your default quality of young american of the cursed 21st century, are devoid of talent, thus unable to use any affected form of bullshit "knowledge" you decided to force upon yourself in order to appear intelligent to actually create something.

ACQUIRE REAL knowledge that is USEFUL for the creation of arts or inventions, or perish preferably in silence not to bother the actually talented humans of the species, like the miserable cockroach that I know you are, in your infinite affected thirst, you filthy fuck.

>The pursuit of knowledge is unfulfilling
>Maybe pursuit of romance will be better!

For God's sake, user

I think I'll burn my greek collection or I'll become someone just like you. Thanks, OP.

What are these archaic texts you read?

Also,
>all is vanity
If you've actually read Ecclesiastes you'd you know how to fix your problem

Just realise your mistake is thinking for thinkings sake. If what you read actually meant something to you besides the license to postulate as an intellectual (that you now know nobody cares for) then you wouldn't have written this out.

cough projection cough cough cough cough cough

Lol

Kid, you're 24. You've got your whole life ahead of you.

Get yourself sorted. Maybe you're at a turning point - a turning point for the better.

But with all the fucked-up and dire situations that people manage to get themselves into by the age of 24, believe me, you're doing okay.

Take a lesson in wisdom from Ecclesiastes, well there's nothing wrong with that. Better at 24 than 54. You might think about praying as you steer your life forward on a hopefully better and more productive course.

Op smoke some weed or something - ditch all the shit that ain't useful to you - Be that alpha source player you signed up to be... The more you know - the less you know user 2017

Just know biggie and 2pac did 9/11

I focus on Greek and Roman philosophy and poetry. I'm not going to namedrop anything for you. Also that is your personal interpretation of Ecclesiastes.

Have you considered becoming a Christian, OP?

Bitch I'm a painter, sculptor, poet, novelist, film director, essayist, political theorist and playwright. My works are critically acclaimed and considered part of the western canon within a week from their release. The greatest minds of the western and eastern world have come to an agreement that my prowess is infinite and inimitable and that I'm a national treasure for my home country. Bask in my greatness.

Just don't care about those things, idiot.

Definitely dont do that Op

Gg no re

How is Greek and Roman philsophy archaic? I was expecting you'd say some hermetic bullshit. Don't fret if philosophy hasn't solved your life's problems, or that your pursuit of knowledge is lonely, thats just how it is. You seem to be close to humility. Just keep going, learn to have fun, and maybe you'll find that qt Hellenic gf you've always wanted.

Oh yeah? Well I'm a multibillionaire, published author, businessman, television personality, and President of the United States. Who the fuck are you?

What is it you are truly seeking OP? Because if its the truth... You know where to look

Vanity is vacuity is nothingness is nihilism, user. Youre just a little nervous, not acclimated to your new found freedom, AND THAT'S OK. No need to make Faustian gestures or to become a vulgar libertine. Why not just take a deep breath, count to ten, then go for a walk? It's a lovely evening.

Read some yoga/med books

So basically you lack the spine to follow your convictions because you want the Normie life. Go do it then

>All of my old classmates are either married or in long term relationships, and most have kids.
>But at my age everybody is settled

What country are you in? Surely not the US.

Or are you posting to us from the 1950s?

...

I live in the Midwest in the US so perhaps It is a little backwards but most worthwhile women here are definitely taken by senior year of college. Also attractive women in general are extremely rare

Masterful

I'm the kike fucking your daughter.

Dude just chill you got time. Learn to appreciate your freedom while you have it. I'm from the midwest too so I know what you mean, but I'm 30, no gf, and barely starting a MA degree so in a way worse spot than you.

That's quite evident, nobody doing good in life is an anime imageposter.

You're TWENTY-FOUR. Maybe your concept of average age to settle down is stuck in ancient Athens as well

>Time to get paid
>blow up like the world trade

holy...

>Ecclesiastes
Was probably tied with the book of job for my favorite part of the bible. what was your interpretation of it?

Its pronounced steve job

>Ecclesiastes
im glad i refreshed by page to read this you fucking idiot

Le kiss

> Greek and Roman philosophy

Literally first year 101 Phil. course shit. Nothing archaic about this, you pompous lush. Try writing your dissertation on Nahua metaphysics and then we'll talk archaic, friendo

...

The pursuit of knowledge? By that you mean consuming books like a shut in neet? How is that different from watching anime all day and avoiding the real world ?
Reading is a fine hobby but ffs go outside and stop larping as an ancient scholar.

>at my age everyone is
Find someone younger then

that is one ugly ass cat

bait.as if...

Even Jung had time for bitches

Sartre and Simone had a whole grooming schedule set up.

Well, mate, don't be bitter and shit. Get as smart and well-read as you can in fields relative to what you believe will help you in the things you love or will often do (probably things that'll help socially in one way or another, seeing as we are a social animal and that tends to bring us joy). I've been picking up a bunch of languages for this reason for example, and I'm also interested in linguistics and the link thought->word if we can even grasp at that yet.

But yeah, I was in your situation a few years ago, depressed sorta (though I imagine not too bad). Yeah, we're just a wad of flesh with neurotransmitters and chemicals deciding how they interact and whatnot. The crux of it is some chemicals or combinations thereof make us feel good and can be attained naturally and be fairly sustained, find what ticks yours off in the right way and brings you pleasure/happiness (try different things I suppose) and then do things to improve the baseline of those things (often things such as cardio, diet, potentially meditation and eventually supplements such as vitamin D3, omega 3s, phytonutrients from broccoli sprouts etc). I, as I assume most of us do (let's be honest here), get happy by showing intellectual prowess in conversations, so I learn as much as I can, especially in more popular subjects or overlapping ones.

Tl;dr find what makes you happy and then change your physiology to make that thing make you even happier.

terebess.hu/english/tao/wu.html#Kap81

LEARNING consists in daily accumulating;
The practice of Tao consists in daily diminishing.

Keep on diminishing and diminishing,
Until you reach the state of Non-Ado.
No-Ado, and yet nothing is left undone.

To win the world, one must renounce all.
If one still has private ends to serve,
One will never be able to win the world.

-

WITHOUT going out of your door,
You can know the ways of the world.
Without peeping through your window,
You can see the Way of Heaven.
The farther you go,
The less you know.

Thus, the Sage knows without travelling,
Sees vithout looking,
And achieves without Ado.

-

To realize that our knowledge is ignorance,
This is a noble insight.
To regard our ignorance as knowledge,
This is mental sickness.

Only when we are sick of our sickness
Shall we cease to be sick.
The Sage is not sick, being sick of sickness;
This is the secret of health.

-

BY not exalting the talented you will cause the people to cease from rivalry and contention.
By not prizing goods hard to get, you will cause the people to cease from robbing and stealing.
By not displaying what is desirable, you will cause the people's hearts to remain undisturbed.

Therefore, the Sage's way of governing begins by

Emptying the heart of desires,
Filling the belly with food,
Weakening the ambitions,
Toughening the bones.

In this way he will cause the people to remain without knowledge and without desire, and prevent the knowing ones from any ado.
Practice Non-Ado, and everything will be in order.

HAVE done with learning,
And you will have no more vexation.

How great is the difference between "eh" and "o"?
What is the distinction between "good" and "evil"?
Must I fear what others fear?
What abysmal nonsense this is!

All men are joyous and beaming,
As though feasting upon a sacrificial ox,
As though mounting the Spring Terrace;
I alone am placid and give no sign,
Like a babe which has not yet smiled.
I alone am forlorn as one who has no home to retum to.

All men have enough and to spare:
I alone appear to possess nothing.
What a fool I am!
What a muddled mind I have!
All men are bright, bright:
I alone am dim, dim.
All men are sharp, sharp:
I alone am mum, mum!
Bland like the ocean,
Aimless like the wafting gale.

All men settle down in their grooves:
I alone am stubborn and remain outside.
But wherein I am most different from others is
In knowing to take sustenance from my Mother!

-

SINCERE words are not sweet,
Sweet words are not sincere.
Good men are not argumentative,
The argumentative are not good.
The wise are not erudite,
The erudite are not wise.

The Sage does not take to hoarding.
The more he lives for others, the fuller is his life.
The more he gives, the more he abounds.

The Way of Heaven is to benefit, not to harm.
The Way of the Sage is to do his duty, not to strive with anyone.

THE ancient adepts of the Tao were subtle and flexible, profound and comprehensive.
Their minds were too deep to be fathomed.

Because they are unfathomable,
One can only describe them vaguely by their appearance.

Hesitant like one wading a stream in winter;
Timid like one afraid of his neighbours on all sides;
Cautious and courteous like a guest;
Yielding like ice on the point of melting;
Simple like an uncarved block;
Hollow like a cave;
Confused like a muddy pool;
And yet who else could quietly and gradually evolve from the muddy to the clear?
Who else could slowly but steadily move from the inert to the living?

He who keeps the Tao does not want to be full.
But precisely because he is never full,
He can always remain like a hidden sprout,
And does not rush to early ripening.

-

WHEN the Great Tao was abandoned,
There appeared humanity and justice.
When intelligence and wit arose,
There appeared great hypocrites.
When the six relations lost their harmony,
There appeared filial piety and paternal kindness.
When darkness and disorder began to reign in a kingdom,
There appeared the loyal ministers.

-

DROP wisdom, abandon cleverness,
And the people will be benefited a hundredfold.

Drop humanity, abandon justice,
And the people will return to their natural affections.

Drop shrewdness, abandon sharpness,
And robbers and thieves will cease to be.

These three are the criss-cross of Tao,
And are not sufficient in themselves.
Therefore, they should be subordinated
To a Higher principle:
See the Simple and embrace the Primal,
Diminish the self and curb the desires!

-

HE who knows men is clever;
He who knows himself has insight.
He who conquers men has force;
He who conquers himself is truly strong.

He who knows when he has got enough is rich,
And he who adheres assiduously to the path of Tao is a man of steady purpose.
He who stays where he has found his true home endures long,
And he who dies but perishes not enjoys real longevity.

-

THE movement of the Tao consists in Returning.
The use of the Tao consists in softness.

All things under heaven are born of the corporeal:
The corporeal is born of the Incorporeal.

-

TAO gave birth to One,
One gave birth to Two,
Two gave birth to Three,
Three gave birth to all the myriad things.

All the myriad things carry the Yin on their backs and hold the Yang in their embrace,
Deriving their vital harmony from the proper blending of the two vital Breaths.

What is more loathed by men than to be "helpless," "little," and "worthless"?
And yet these are the very names the princes and barons call themselves.

Truly, one may gain by losing;
And one may lose by gaining.

What another has taught let me repeat:
"A man of violence will come to a violent end."
Whoever said this can be my teacher and my father.

Book of Ecclesiastes

And I have given my heart to know prudence, and learning, and errors, and folly: and I have perceived that in these also there was labour, and vexation of spirit, Because In much wisdom there is much indignation: and he that addeth knowledge, addeth also labour.

...

Before the silver cord be broken, and the golden fillet shrink back, and the pitcher be crushed at the fountain, and the wheel be broken upon the cistern, And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the spirit return to God, who gave it. Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, and all things are vanity. And whereas Ecclesiastes was very wise, he taught the people, and declared the things that he had done: and seeking out, he set forth many parables. He sought profitable words, and wrote words most right, and full of truth.

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply fastened in, which by the counsel of masters are given from one shepherd. More than these, my son, require not. Of making many books there is no end: and much study is an affliction of the flesh. Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is all man: And all things that are done, God will bring into judgment for every error, whether it be good or evil.

>I'm turning 24
>But at my age everybody is settled

?

>Bitch I'm a painter, sculptor, poet, novelist, film director, essayist, political theorist and playwright. My works are critically acclaimed and considered part of the western canon within a week from their release. The greatest minds of the western and eastern world have come to an agreement that my prowess is infinite and inimitable and that I'm a national treasure for my home country. Bask in my greatness.

*basks*

>Yeah, we're just a wad of flesh with neurotransmitters and chemicals deciding how they interact and whatnot.

>I haven't read Plato or Aristotle and have absorbed Humean doctrine from my materialist culture

10/10

Fuck off whiny OP

Perhaps God is calling you, through these feelings of dissatisfaction with your life. Perhaps He is calling you to a more meaningful life. Perhaps he is calling you to the priesthood.

youtube.com/watch?v=Df50rvxXe1w

>Caravaggio's The Calling of St. Matthew depicts five men sitting round their usual table, telling stories, gossiping, boasting of what one day they will do, counting money. The room is dimly lit. Suddenly the door is flung open. The two figures who enter are still part of the violent noise and light of the invasion. (Berenson wrote that Christ comes in like a police inspector to make an arrest.)

>Two of Matthew's colleagues refuse to look up, the other two younger ones stare at the strangers with a mixture of curiosity and condescension. Why is he proposing something so mad? Who's protecting him, the thin one who does all the talking? And Matthew, the tax-collector with a shifty conscience which has made him more unreasonable than most of his colleagues, points at himself and asks:

>Is it really I who must go? Is it really I?

>How many thousands of decisions to leave have resembled Christ's hand here! The hand is held out towards the one who has to decide, yet it is ungraspable because so fluid. It orders the way, yet offers no direct support. Matthew will get up and follow the thin stranger from the room, down the narrow streets, out of the district. He will write his gospel, he will travel to Ethiopia and the South Caspian and Persia. Probably he will be murdered.

>And behind the drama of this moment of decision is a window, giving onto the outside world. In painting, up to then, windows were treated either as sources of light, or as frames framing nature or an exemplary event outside. Not so this window. No light enters. The window is opaque. We see nothing. Mercifully we see nothing because what is outside is threatening. It is a window through which only the worst news can come; distance and solitude.
-John Berger