I want to change my lifestyle and leave hedonism behind. I feel my existence is meaningless and empty...

Shill me good books that truthfully acknowledge the nihilist nature of reality and lets you to transcend above it?

...

Stirner and Nietzsche

>What are the best books to read and why?

>not realizing that book-reading and eating of the tree of knowledge is one of the biggest hedonistic activities one can partake in

kys

In the long term your existence is meaningless.
the universe owes you you no meaning
what's wrong with a little hedonism?
me thinks you just want to inflate your ego

if you want a quick way to feel special and important, why don't you try a religion

The problem with reading too much philosophy and trying to convince yourself that a philosophy will make yourself happy will most likely just exacerbate or mask the underlying problems. You're already too much in your head if you feel your existence is meaningless and empty (and maybe it is).

But the point is to just accept things as they are and accept your feelings one way or the other. Accept your suffering and realize you will never completely rid yourself of it. Certain meditation traditions/styles keep this in mind. The traditional notion of mindfulness fails because it ultimately keeps you stuck in your head, which is where you identify with all of your suffering.

"Non-dual" traditions try to break from this. Dzogchen is one of these traditions, however, there are some good authors out there who have taken the core concepts of such "non-dual" teachings and made them a bit easier to understand. Look up things like somatic meditation.

Mindfulness succeeds at reducing mental and physical pain. There was even a paper published in the last year or two out of Iran that showed that people who practiced mindfulness techniques experienced a significant reduction of pain caused by chronic headaches.

He wants to confront pain instead of numbing it. Even if your goal is to live a happy life, hedonism is nothing but a short term solution with bad long term consequences.

>what's wrong with a little hedonism?
Happiness > Pleasure

Buddhism is anti-life self and freedom and thereby radically incompatible with the Glory of Christ

Viktor Frankl's Man's search for meaning.
Understand that the purpose of life changes all the time, because you're not in a static state.
A personal example: I go for early walk every two days, I walk atop of a large hill and watch the sun come up.
I watch the sun as it paints the sky and clouds in different colours. I watch the birds fly by, I watch the busy people going on about their business in the distance.
This fills me with a sense of 'purpose', but only for a day.

>implying Christianity isn't anti-life

>christianity isn't anti-life

>I am the way, the truth, and the life
What do you think he meant by this?

No, I am the way, the truth and the life.
What do you think I mean by this?

>Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

what a pretty girlie

Read Psalms in the Bible user. King David was not particularly always a good fellow. There's a lot of beauty in that book. There's beauty in the love for God and the repentance for our sins that David expresses.

If you feel like garbage and desire to have a meaningful existence through love of your Creator, I urge you to read it user. God bless you.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Also, who is the girl?

Not saying it doesn't work. It does. Just saying that the traditional notion of mindfulness doesn't give you a break from suffering. There are deeper levels one needs to go.

If one simply does traditional mindfulness meditation, they will go a long way, no doubt. But there are deeper levels to practice that are better for obtaining an "awakening" experience.

That's a wrong translation, "vanity" was originally something like "transience" in the Greek translation: hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/1/what-translation-best-translates-the-word-vanity-in-the-kjv-in-ecclesiastes

she probably has a forest down there

hedonism can be deep and satisfying if done with art, I don't get why people try to put it down as if it is a cheap thing. Sculpting yourself, your existence to be great must happen with your body so why deny it? why mortify yourself? your body is one with your mortal soul so cultivate it as well as you can.

I sure as hell hope so

Don't worry OP I got you covered

Brothers Karamazov is a very universally inspiring book

the inaccuracy of this actual makes it hurt harder b/c the stuff that is incorrect is very embarassing

why did you put a question mark at the end of a command(?)

because i like it faggot

Is that the girl you were hedonistic with or is that a good girl you want to lie to and act like you aren't a dirty hedonist?

It's the girl i want to marry and spend the rest of my life with

Man, i need help. How can i get a girl like this?
I'm fit, i have a job, i live on my own. Why is it so hard to meet interesting women?

Why do you deserve her? Why doesn't someone who has remained pure for her deserve her more?

If you find out let me know
I would take a girl like this over any super model any day
Because I feel like I'm still pure and innocent at heart. I am trying to fix myself and live a life of virtue. Am I the most deserving of a literal angel like her? Probably not. But will I turn down the opportunity? Not in my lifetime. I would be true to her, whatever comes.

I would sow those wheat fields

I think it depends where you live, bro. I just graduated college, and when i was there although i went out with a lot of girls, none of them were that much interesting.
Honestly, i'm just idealizing to be something that she might not be. For all we know she might be into harry potter and john green.