Some lit that slowly but steadily leads one towards an Orthodox ascetic life, anons...

youtube.com/watch?v=_tkc76JTtDc

This is exactly what you're searching for, OP. It's a wonderful book, honestly.

The translation by R. M. French is the oldest and the best. It's the classic, and it's definitely the one you want to read. And even though you can find the text online, I strongly recommend obtaining a physical copy.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_a_Pilgrim

en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Way_of_a_Pilgrim

hermitary.com/articles/pilgrim.html

amazon.com/Way-Pilgrim-Continues-His/dp/0932727301

Will I go crazy if I read this?

"Nihilism" by Seraphim Rose and "Cosmos and Transcendence" by Wolfgang Smith, they are both short reads but dense in ideas and insights.

No, you'll really enjoy reading. It's a beautiful story and as simple as could be, written in that charming way Russian folktales are. It's a great book on every level.

I don't know if it's what you're really looking for but you should absolutely read the Brothers Karamazov

Honestly though, be careful with this one, guys. My sister read it and had some kind of panic attack. Now she's moved back to my parents' house and literally just hangs out in her room with her cat, saying the Jesus prayer and crying.

Is she a qt?

Well, considering I'm her goddamn brother, I wouldn't really know.

Sounds like she might need to go to a convent. Dead serious.

Serious question, what would a real life deus ex machina even look like? I've never met anyone that's had a particularly good or even miraculous experience to have substantiated belief in a deity from a place of disbelief.

It would probably look a bit like what happened at Fatima, which of course culminated in a miracle seen by thousands. Of course I don't know what the Orthodox opinion is on Fatima.

What's interesting is that there were some believers at the Miracle of the Sun who saw nothing, and some atheists who saw the full extent of the miracle. Why? Who knows. The ways of the Lord are sometimes unclear to men.

>The ways of the Lord are sometimes unclear to men.
This does nothing for me.

Have you tried telling her that the fat lady is Jesus? I think it may help.

You know very well she's a total cutie, you lying bastard.

Stop living your life as if in fantasy following some literary archetype. It's the 21st century bro realize that the wagecuck life is the only one you can live in. You pretentious faggot.

this pretty much. OP are you just going to roleplay for the rest of your life?

>I'm done being a sensory pleb
>not using the five senses to make good in the world

Why are God's Children upset? For theirs is the Kingdom of God they say.

It's hard but if you can protect the Five Senses, you are on your way to a cleaner life. Knowing what comes in and out of your being is very hard to do.

>wagecuck life is the only one you can live
wew lad

Whether or not you like it chasing a cool romantic lifestyle isn't something you're interested in on it's own, you're interested in the appearance. The world isn't Veeky Forums. You need money to survive. Whether it's wage or disability or whatever. Stop living life in literary tropes.

I'm not op. The fact you seem to think wageslaving is the only way to live is absolutely pathetic.

I just came too lmao

>You need money to survive.
I get that edgelording and being this fatalistic can get you some "I'm just being smart and realistic" points in your head space and cafeteria, but you chose this life. My wife and I are self employed taxidermists, making money out of art and doing what we love from the comfort of home. But if you need to convince yourself of this bullshit to make "General Assistant-Manager" like a legitimate goal, then don't let me get in the way.

Read it a few years ago. Pretty great.

>you don't need money to survive
>look at how I make money

She needs to go easy on the bananas.

Interesting discussion of Fatima:

catholicstand.com/fr-stanley-jaki-on-the-fatima-miracle/

I have not read the book under discussion, but I have read several of Jaki's other books, and they're great, especially The Savior of Science.

The Ladder of Divine Ascent

>holy trips

Thanks be to God for the wonders worked in our midst even today, by which the spirits of the faithful are strengthened.

was pretty shit desu.
for a parable it didn't even have a satisfying ending.

Any thing by doestoyevski

>literally just hangs out in her room with her cat, saying the Jesus prayer and crying
Just to make things clear, guys: that is NOT the way of the pilgrim as described in the book.

These are both great at deconstructing the myths and nonsense philosophies of modernity and gettin g back to universal and metaphysical truths brought down through the ages through (Orthodox) Christianity. Check it bros.

Check out Phillip Sherrard, he was a British man studying theology who went to live a monkish life in an Orthodox monastery in Greece. He has written many books and essays. I have only read one called "A Single Unified Science", but he is a very influentual Orthodox thinker.

She's sad because her older brother, the original owner of the book, committed suicide some years ago.

I don't think the image is much that important to people of disbelief. The message or meaning that is transmitted, or even the feeling of communing is more likely to bring someone to belief. Coincidence and meaning can grind away at someone for years, and even then, the likely hold is for that person to hold doubt higher - especially if they have no community that would accept and help them integrate that experience.

To go from disbelief to sureness in one moment isn't possible unless that person was already prone to believe in some visitation.

William James The varieties of religious experience.

Why? And why can't you handle someone choosing to find reward in different aspects of life? Are you jealous? And why speak, if not? This is like a husband who demands his wife not have any children and stay at home because he wants her to work and have money so that they can buy a nicer house and take more vacations. You're incapable of separating the sincerity of seeking meaning in your life from that of seeking a lifestyle through capital. Fucking capital-commie-nihilist-wagecuck.
You need a will to survive and knowledge how to do so, and that is all. People make do on the fringe of this world without capital, and live how they will.

That is it.

1. Dostoevsky (in particular "The Idiot" and "Brothers Karamazov").
2. Tolstoy's parables.
3. The Gospels and the letters of St Paul.
4. "The Greek Passion" (also titled "Christ Recrucified" by Nikos Kazantzakis).
5. The works of the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil, Gregory Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa)
6. The works of Pseudo-Dionysius and John Chrysostom.
7. The works of John Zizioulas, the foremost Orthodox theologian of our times.

>Some lit that slowly but steadily leads one towards an Orthodox ascetic life, anons? I'm done being a sensory pleb and want a disciplined life aimed at peaking beyond.

Catholic here, if I may offer my perspective. Don't look for lit to inspire you to lead an ascetic life. What matters in the spiritual life is what you *do*, whether or not you're feeling particularly inspired. The way to move toward an ascetic life is to begin an ascetic life, through an act of the will. And then through daily acts of will. Begin with praying in the morning, read from the New Testament and/or the Psalms, and pray at least briefly prayer in the evening, as an absolute minimum. Develop the habit of prayer. Put away gross sin. Your spiritual reading will inspire you, but inspiration must be accompanied by daily - hourly - acts of the will.

In this way you will advance. Seek, in your prayer life, to discern God's will for your life.

In terms of books, other than the scriptures, I would suggest looking for something practical in the Orthodox tradition, such as a guide to prayer and spiritual discipline.

Paul compares the discipline of the spiritual life to the discipline of the athletic life. Athletes can't sit around waiting to be inspired -- they must go through their daily round of exercises. It is only after many months of such exercises, at a minimum, if not years, that they are ready to enter the arena. The longest journey starts with the first step -- that first act of the will, followed by another, and another. The goal seems impossibly distant, but it can only be reached through small acts of the will, which then become easier as they become habitual.

>Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I discipline my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
-1 Corinthians 9:24-27

>Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
-1 Timothy 4:7-8

>Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
-Hebrews 12:1-2

Ask God for the grace to start now. You have thus already started. Now -- persevere.

Why can’t Amerifags spell Dostoyevsky?

Real easy mental gymnastics - God's plans are greater than yours, so if you desire God plans to succeed (and they will) but you're not part of such plans due to your refusal of faith and atonement for sin, then you will die.

But nevertheless your desire came true.

(P.S. is better if you don't bring others down with you)

Sorry, Дocтoeвcкий.

Give her Laurus right now.

But a very Christian ending. I remember reading in the notes that the extensive research Husyman's did for the book actually compelled him to convert himself

go to bed, Zooey

jej

I agree with you largely, many here will not wish to face this reality and try and deny it.

They will explain and re-explain things to try and mold an image otherwise.

Your words, however true and relevant, will be read by the eyes of the disillusioned and deemed foolish in their false perceptions.

>you can't possibly be financially independent and live an ascetic, disciplined life
>getting this triggered by someone not being a hedonistic materialist consumer
If you grew up in a middle class family in a first world country and aren't set by your late 20s/early 30s, you're an abject failure.

Because there are alternative spellings in English

Join a monastery. Do it.

wtf go to gym maaan
u talkin shit right now bro
fuckin reading make you so asiocial thaats mad
ur so called 'problem' ll be solve when u find girl

Do you know of Phillip Sherrard and what do you think of him?

Why would a staunch Catholic thomist like Wolfgang Smith carry truths transmitted through Orthodoxy?

Franny & Zooey, yo.

It wasn't a parable. Or at least that's the prevailing belief. It's considered very likely that the unnamed narratator was in fact the anonymous author himself, and eventually made his way to Mount Athos, which is where the original manuscript was discovered. OP really owes it to himself to read this book, at least if was serious about his original question.