4 ms·
A genius at suffering
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y agoIt seems as is there is one common thread to Russian literature it is suffering.
- braymundo 4y ago[flagged]
- ChuckNorris89 4y agoIt is. Basically, the loop of suffering is: >Hard times create strong Slavs. >Strong Slavs create hard times.
- wahnfrieden 4y agoAre you promoting Kali Yuga ?
- rcme 4y agoI highly recommend the works of Ivan Bunin. His short story collection Sunstroke is amazing. His stories are a reflection on life's beauty.
- roca 4y agoSo the question is, how does one maintain hope and joy while taking human depravity seriously? My answer is: by following Christ. Some of Garshin's peers could see this but apparently Garshin himself could not.
- fancybouncy 4y agoaka fanatically telling yourself fairy tales until you blind yourself to reality
- starkd 4y agoAnd what's it to you? That you have to make snide commments about other people's belief systems? Why are you so hostile?
- spicymapotofu 4y agoAn empathetic or curious perspective would imagine that they had come to hold a negative attitude toward religion as a result of some experience. If you were asking in good faith, it certainly did not appear so.
- wellanyway 4y agoLet's not pretend that preaching any religion, much less christianity, is a naive act devoid of any consequences or connotations.
- goldenchrome 4y agoHave you ever considered why fairy tales have persisted? Why do we see the same stories repeated time and time again? Why are tales retold in Disney and Marvel movies to the tune of billions in profit? It’s because the stories resonate, which is another way of saying they present an essential truth. They teach us something about ourselves that help us make better decisions. The lessons can be misinterpreted, abused, and used to manipulate others, but there’s a reason why those stories in particular persisted. This is even more amazing when you consider that these stories had to be passed down every generation for thousands of years through word of mouth. It’s a tenuous process. Only the most truthful stories will last through the ages. Therefore, there is value in telling yourself fairy tales because you might learn something. Even if you’re not religious, you’ve heard many of the stories already through pop culture. It isn’t clear that blinding yourself from reality necessarily follows from being religious.
- haswell 4y agoThis is the path my parents took, and for whatever peace they personally experienced, it involved just dumping their unresolved traumas on their kids in the name of that deity, leaving us with lifelong emotional baggage to work through. The underlying ideas that could help someone deal with the realities of the world are philosophical intuitions that need no religion to practice. While not all implementations of religion look like my parents, it is no more perfect a solution than any other, and seems particularly susceptible to the same malevolence against which it claims to be an antidote. If you actually are curious about a non-religious path, Sam Harris’ work has resonated with me. The book “Waking Up” is an appropriately named and great starting point.
- bsenftner 4y agoAt risk of triggering an uncomfortable discussion, why does it seem that European intellectuals in general appear more extreme than any of their American counterparts; and Eastern European Intellectuals take that extremeness even further, ultimately creating Communism. Is it "American Pragmatism" that prevents the extreme intellectual from forming in the United States? Is it a cultural respect for complete commitment to one's ideals in Europe that creates these widely accepted extreme intellectual personalities? I am seriously curious.
- csdvrx 4y agoI also wonder why. It seems to be that Europe doesn't like comfort or pleasure. I like the simple pleasure of drinking very cold water, so I keep water bottles in my fridge, and add icecubes from my fridge ice dispenser. Even separately, these things were almost impossible to get when I travelled to Europe: most bars and restaurants said they didn't have ice. And the cold water was maybe less warm than the ambient air, but not really cold. I believe we in the US are more focus on pleasure - and I'd roll pragmatism into pleasure.
- danny_codes 4y ago> It seems to be that Europe doesn't like comfort or pleasure. Ah yes, Amsterdam, the city known for its seriousness and lack of fun.
- kergonath 4y agoOr Berlin. Or Rome, Paris, London, Barcelona… These famous cities where people hate enjoying themselves and never party ever. That said, I have to admit, I dislike ice-cold water.
- bsenftner 4y agoI'd say comfort and pleasure are not elevated with respect as they are in the 'States. Perhaps due to puritanical Christianity and the "Protestant ethic", comfort and pleasure tend to be viewed as luxuries and therefore desirable, therefore within the realm of corrupted desires, and therefore worthy of a form of reserved/frightened respect. I do not see the same value transference in conversations with Europeans.
- commodorepet 4y agoThere is a Polish saying that great Polish literature requires three people to suffer: the main character, the writer and the reader. If all three are suffering book becomes part of the school curriculum.
- Cthulhu_ 4y agoIn Dutch literature it seems that the reader has to suffer while the author describes his newest niche fetish to the reader, usually teenagers in secondary school.
- Thiez 4y agoWith the (sad?) consequence that many Dutch people never pick up another book by a Dutch author again. If there is one thing that school taught me about Dutch literature is that I want it to die, and I will only read books by foreign authors (especially English) out of spite.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bitL 4y agoTrurl and Klapaucius disagree.
- optimalsolver 4y agoThanks to ChatGPT, we can now revisit The Cyberiad's "poem about a haircut": https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/zaaogd/comment/iymerxm/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/zaaogd/comm...
- azubinski 4y ago"On the front lines of the battle for culture" There will be such a battle for culture that there will be no stone left unturned. Again. OMFG.