Hey guys, going through a rough spell. Depressed and not happy with the direction of my life right now, feel like I need to make some drastic changes or I'll either be miserable forever or I'll do something stupid.
Any recommendations for books? Anything that might share a similar feeling to this, or something that might help me improve myself, something that I can just get lost in and forget about the world. Just something.
I'd recommend Siddhartha to anyone feeling the same. It's written in a way which just makes me feel better and more mindful and decluttered just by how simple and clean the text feels.
>>7709201
Well speaking of Hesse, Steppenwolf seems to be where you're at, so read that if you haven't already.
don't you need to make peace with the world, instead of forgetting about it? that's at least the reason why i'm depressed and have been going to the psychiatry.
zorba by kazancakis helped me until it wore off.
you might as well try reading seneca and the stoics, as it is suggesed in moby-dick.
>>7709209
Thank you. Hopefully I'll enjoy it as much as I am Siddhartha.
>>7709224
I don't know what I need to do. I'm almost looking for inspiration through reading but as someone also going through depression you'll understand that sometimes it's hard not to want to just disappear into a different world for a while.
What are the stoics like? I haven't read Moby Dick to understand the reference.
>>7709201
maybe some Beatnik Poets like Jack Kerouac? espacially On the Road gave me a nice feeling -it is just about freedom of traveling and the freedom of mind! Also Walden by Henry David Thoreau was and is a book which helped to improve myself and my perspective on life!
>>7709304
i-is this bait?
>>7709307
Why should that be bait?
>>7709294
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu7n0XzqtfA
stoicism doesn't try to give you delusional reasons or assumptions to keep on living, it teaches you to just accept life and its miseries. you at least won't care much if you agree with them. being careless is what kept me alive so far.
Mindfulness in Plain English - Bhante Gunarattana
You can get a free PDF online.
Very comfy writing, and great guidance.
>>7709201
>Depressed and not happy with the direction of my life right now, feel like I need to make some drastic changes or I'll either be miserable forever or I'll do something stupid.
For the love of god get treatment. Depression is a real mental illness and the chances of you improving, much less recovering, without professional help are slim to none. You don't need to be on antidepressants. They help and they're not the magic happy pill non-depressed people always seem to think they are, but they're not absolutely necessary.
Take it from someone who has been inpatient 3 times and has been diagnosed with major depression, treatment is your best option. I'm doing better than I've ever have and I wouldn't be without treatment. I just got off Effexor, which helped me for a while, but like i said, meds aren't completely necessary.
When you're deep in depression, reading deep lit/self help books make you feel productive in the moment, but you're really just fooling yourself into thinking you're "improving yourself."
If you're ill, see a doctor.
>>7709201
Ligotti
Steppenwolf (this is what you need op)
also Dharma Bums
>>>>/pol/
not even jesting
>>7709201
If Hesse's your Jessie you might wanna try some Steppenwolf dooply doo.
Meditations (Hays translation), Feeling Good, A New Guide to Rational Thinking, Prometheus Rising, and Meditation in Plain English are all pretty good.
>>7709648
I have an appointment to see someone for the third of march. Earliest I could be seen. Meanwhile I'm at risk of getting kicked out of uni cause I don't show up. A bit lost
>>7710458
Do you happen to live in South America?
>>7710577
No, I don't.
>>7710458
What do you study?
>>7709201
read Dostoevsky and find God
>>7710636
Earth science type stuff. But I really want to do astrophysics
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai helped pull me out of a funk, but it might not be your cup of tea.
>>7709648
This is cynical and incorrect. If you have depressive tendencies that aren't just your disposition and are genetic then you will not ever pull out of it or recover. Otherwise, you do NEED professional help.
>>7711805
don't need*
>>7709321
because it's a shallow yolo book?
>>7711847
He was searching for some uplifting shit! So why is a "yolo book" as you call it wrong?
>>7710458
>at risk of getting kicked out
You CAN no-show for a semester and a half and just wing the exams with no poor consequences (I was peaceably allowed drop out)
Although I suppose it depends on the school
>>7711855
When you're depressed you just want to know what is the rhyme and reason of the universe. YOLO is only uplifting when you realise there isn't one
>>7709201
Read the gateless gate (Mumonkan). Get rid of that duality in thinking.
Lift: deadlifts, squats, heavy shit.
Eat: meat, eggs, milk, etc.
Do: not masturbate, cold showers, sprints, meditate, competition.
Do these things and you will be able to kill the Buddha when you meet him on the road.
>>7711940
I guess you never had to deal with depressions! Because there is not only one form of depression there are serveral! And if OP isn´t fine with his way of life today maybe some Beatnik will give him another perspectiv!
>>7712282
You might be right. I always feel depression is wanting something but being unable to pursue it - stagnation
Been wondering for a while, should I read Steppenwolf or Siddhartha first?
>>7712322
Steppen
![img_woman_gaston[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/paczn7h.png "img_woman_gaston[1].png")
I used to be 'suicidal despair'-tier depressed, saw a psychiatrist and everything, until I took up Yoga. Not just the postures, but the whole shebang (pranayama, meditative practices, etc.)
Now my experience of reality is pervaded by pretty solid equanimity, and periods of straight up bliss. Those poo in loo's really know what's up.
Reading books is purely rational, and that can only get you so far. You need to practice. I'm not saying everybody should take up Yoga, but do your self a favor and start meditating. Not that 'dry-vipassana' memery, but the 'concentration' practices. (Concentration is maybe a bad word, because it is often associated with strain and force, 'gentle focused awareness', is perhaps a better term).
I can drop some resources if anybody is interested.
>>7712438
I'm interested. Also interested in hearing more from your experience if you're willing to share. How old were you when it started, how long did it last, whatever you wish to talk about if you're cool with that.
>>7712322
Steppenwolfbecause Siddhārtha is better
>>7712446
Concerning my background; I started getting depressed in my early teens, 12/13, and was clinically diagnosed at 15. I took up Yoga at the age of 17.
This early onset of depression might somewhat invalidate my situation to some people who might be under the impression that is was just puberty meme depression, but I was in a really bad place. Admitting me to a clinic was a very serious consideration at a certain point.
Initially I got into philosophy, which was rather uneventful. The problem of suffering isn't one that is fixed through reading or thinking. Suffering being a problem is a big thing in Buddhism, so I naturally fell into that, but I couldn't really get behind the dogma, and wanting something purely practical, I ended up at Yoga. Yoga is relatively secular in the sense that the only thing you really have to put faith in are that the practices will work. Either way, as if through magic, my mood started drastically improving when I took up the practices.
Without getting into too much woo-woo, it's it well know that physical exercise releases feel good chemicals, and exercise is generally recommend to depressed people. This is where asanas (postures) come in, I guess.
Whether or not you believe in prana (think 'life force' kind of like chi) the breath has been linked to physiology. Deep abdominal breathing is linked with, and facilitates, relaxation and calmness; whereas shallow chest breathing is linked with tension, high stress situations, etc. This is were pranayama comes in, life energy being real or not aside.
As for meditation practices, I'm sure we've all seen the 'mindfulness' studies and how it lowers blood pressure and makes people more calm, etc. These are all relatively 'mundane' side effects, however.
Prolonged 'focused awareness' on an object - the breath, a mantra, etc. - will bring about states of absorption. They are called Jhanas in Buddhism, Samhadi in some other Eastern Traditions, and I think even Taoism has it own equivalents. (Note that these states aren't described as being literally the same necessarily, they come from different traditions after all, but it will do for the sake of this post)
This is where the good stuff starts happening, and all the other practices are essentially just supporting practices. Bliss, enhanced cognitive ability, equanimity, and so on, are the produce of these absorption states.
All bullshit aside, how do we get there? Meditation is a very multifaceted practice, and cannot be properly explained in a single post on a Guatemalan Genocide Forum so I can at best link you to other resources.
Before I do that though, I would like to tell you to what concepts I have narrowed down successful spiritual practice to:
First is the physical aspect. You don't have to adopt a complex hatha yoga routine, but at least do something. If you already lift, or mountain climb, whatever; that's fine.
>cont.
>>7712663
If you don't do anything at least do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38GTnjg_aBA
Very, very basic stretching, that will at the very least get you off your chair for 10 min.
Do it a couple of times a day, 2-3 times.
Relaxation; learning to deeply relax is one of the biggest favors you can do yourself, and it's highly conducive to the practice of meditation.
The way this is done is essentially 'rotating your consciousnesses' through your body;
http://www.swamij.com/onlinesurvey.htm
Mastering deep relaxation will also develop the ability to lucid dream/astral project on will, but that's a different story.
As for meditation, it's is essentially bringing awareness to a single object - like the breath or a mantra - and staying with it.
Simple, yet difficult. It's obviously more than that so see the links down below.
As for resources;
http://swamij.com/ - Very solid site, yogic tradition, a lot of good info.
http://www.leighb.com/jhana3.htm - Basic instructions on entering Jhana
https://sites.google.com/site/chs4o8pt/meditation-1#meditation_serenity Meditation instructions - Some more instruction
http://www.mysticknowledge.org/04-A_Systematic_Course_in_Kriya_Yoga__977_pg._.pdf - Probably the most comprehensive, all inclusive, book on yoga in all it's facets, including detailed step by step 'courses' This is what I used, and the book has absolutely indispensable to my life.
http://liveanddare.com/types-of-meditation/ - Memey buzzfeed article but gives a brief overview of a bunch of ways of meditation
https://ia802309.us.archive.org/31/items/YogaNidra_201408/Yoga%20Nidra.pdf - I strongly suggest you look into Yoga Nidra, or relaxation in general, you don't even have to use this book.
I could drop even more resources, but this is just of the top of my, and I think it should set you on your way. Either way, I always encourage research.
Look into Jhanas, and concentration practices, etc.
Pro tip: Relaxation really shouldn't be underestimated. It is good for the body, pleasant, and highly conducive to meditation.
Here are two links on it helps with meditation: http://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/1545975
http://www.dharmaoverground.org/discussion/-/message_boards/message/81617
That's about it m8. Of course, this was very superficial by virtue of it being a post on a Mongolian Throat Singing Bulletin Board, but I hope it helps. Feel free to ask any questions.
>>7712688
Thanks, friend.
>>7712466
I started at 17, using the book mentioned above. It's about a 3 year course, 36 lessons; 1 month per lessons, but I kind of sped things up here in there, especially in the beginning, so I 'finished' in maybe 2-2.5 half years.
Positive benefits came right away after maybe 2 months, I stopped having episodes of intense despair.
The bliss and stuff took a bit longer, the are of course also different experiences and what not. Not all bliss is equal.
Equanimity is a more long term thing, that arises with insight.
I practice Yoga for at least 2 hours a day. I start with the postures and the breath work. I also do these things called kriyas which for lack of a better word are 'energetic' practices. They involve visualizations, and chakras; that stuff. I do Yoga Nidra, the relaxation stuff. Then of course meditation (dhyana). A meditation session could last for 30 min. to several hours. It really depends on the potential experiences during meditation and real life obligations.
On top of that I try to remain aware and present throughout the whole day.
I'm constantly mindful of the body, the mind, and any tension that might arise within them.
You really don't have to commit it to it like I did, if time doesn't allow it.
Learn to relax, learn to meditate, do that for .30 min. to an hour and you will already reap some extremely positive benefits.
>>7712688
>Mongolian Throat Singing Bulletin Board
Oh are we going there? It's funny that you should mention that in a post concerning meditation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsFpUJSCpzs
>>7712980
>you will never be a professional throat singer
>>7713010
That looks like a turtle.
>>7712008
How can stopping masturbating help at all?
>>7711805
I'm struggling to understand your post.
>>7710688
Then do. No point in wasting your time.
>>7713192
Having a wank floods your body with hormones causing relaxing torpor, but it can male you tired/withdrawn later on.
Never noticed how a good jerk feels like a cigarette?
>>7714379
I don't smoke
>>7711940
Well there is no rhyme to the universe, and the pile of "I can/can't do x" that you build up in your head are only alleviated by YOLO tier-stuff.
Nietzsche yourself friends. Song of myself. Someone mentioned Zorba. If you want the tough love version of "rhyme and reason" I like the tao, the Stoics and basically all Plato, Cicero's non political stuff and the fragments of Heraclitus.
If that shit won't cheer you up then you need to stop thinking and go do stuff. Or be a faggot American and try to solve your problems with meds/drugs, idgaf
>>7715708
Basically when you masturbate it triggers a biological mechanism that lowers your testosterone and/or the receptivity of the androgen receptors in your brain. This means that the natural drive and ambition you get as a healthy male is diminished and you become an emasculated male wallowing in made up emotional feelings. Research has shown that testosterone levels rise with abstinence from masturbation but not with sex. Research has also shown that androgen receptors are higher in mammals that are kept from sexual activities and with access to multiple mates.
The analogy to cigarette smoking is because both act as a dopamine activators, meaning that if you smoke you get a certain amout of dopamine flush in your brain. Masturbation acts in a similar way but way more intense. That is why many males have a hard time stopping it and especially with the rampant pornography on the internet and especially 4chan.
>>7709717
If you want to become an angry, impotent, stunted person then this is good advice.
>>7709201
psychotherapy east and west by Alan Watts
I'm a big fan of his. He studied western religion before heading out east and digesting various forms of religion. He brought philosophies together and presents them in a way that you can work through easily while still being insightful and applicable.
His talks are fun as well.
He seemed to be a scholarly gentlemen, quite learned
>>7716117
Can you provide source? Those are interesting results.
>>7716117
utter nonsense from some no fap faggot
>>7716163
>He seemed to be a scholarly gentlemen
Watts couldn't even hold a conversation the informal students of Suzuki, he definitely wasn't scholarly nor well read.
Alan Watts was a entertainer at best, a charlatan at worse.
Tao te Ching
>>7716509
say that to my face
>>7716482
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11760788
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12659241
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12689608
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12914589
There is lot more if you look for it but I know a lot of guys will defend their masturbation until death so I'm not gonna start a debate.
you need to read something fun that you can get lost it.
try the shadow of the wind by zafon or some or kafka on the shore by murakami.
you gotta start small with the changes. because unless you've got a terminal illness, it's all little shit.
>>7717311
>it's all little shit
What do you mean?
>>7717269
thanks
>>7709648
>>7711805
Seems like you're arguing the same point but here's my input on the medicalization of depression anyway.
If physicalism is true and we are material beings then depression is a state of these materials, that can be changed through entirely material means. People are irked by this idea because they feel it makes their depression, and all their sensations even, illegitimate.
Legitimate depression, if physicalism is true, must also be the material response of your body to it's environment. We can easily imagine this, a person, eating poorly, living in a polluted city full of mean people might well show signs of depression if you put him in an MRI machine. Does this mean he has a chemical imbalance? Well, what is a chemical balance? You might just as well take a fish out of the water, throw it on the ground and diagnose it's dying as a chemical imbalance.
The medicalization of depression is a confusion. Medicalization, as understood as a reduction to, for example, chemical terms, is tautological. While medication may or may not be effective, you can never prove that depression is anything less or more than a beings response to it's environment.
>>7719923
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOAgplgTxfc
>>7716117
This is entirely true.
However, I would like to add that there is nothing wrong with masturbating once in awhile. If you wait a good amount of time between each fap, it will reduce the negative effects. Everyone is different, but I always wait two weeks in between.
>>7721947
What happens to you when you don't masturbate?
Anyone have the screenshot of the guy that read it and decided to not talk to anyone? I think he got reported had to go to counseling or something. Don't do that, OP.
A key statement is having put away covetousness and grief for the world which has the same general meaning as ‘secluded from sensual desires’ that is required to enter into jhana - that is, my mind is no longer getting caught-up in all kinds of thoughts about what I did, need/want to do, what will happen if..., etc. The mind is simply settled in on the breath.
The term sensual desires is widely misunderstood.
My current take on this section of the anapanasati:
Form: Attend carefully to the sensation of breathing as simply a pattern of sensations and not as ‘breath’. While breathing in and out try to keep relaxing the tendency to see the body as a thing and view it just as sensations. Try to maintain this awareness and practice as continuously as possible so as to not get distracted by random thoughts - this takes time.
Feeling: When the mind is calmed down a bit and more attentive to the breath on a regular basis then attend to the sensations of breathing as being pleasurable - this takes time and requires a relaxed yet attentive awareness. Attend to and cultivate this pleasurableness because it feels good. This is seeing under the mental formation of ‘breath’ into its deeper more subtle nature.
Mind: when the mind is able to stay with the pleasurable feeling developed above:
- gladden the mind: the mind now no longer caught up in all kinds of random thoughts and feelings - noticing this there is a sense of gladness/peace/ease which is noticeably nicer than before - attend to and cultivate this gladdening of the mind. Metta (a feeling friendliness can be made good use of here).
- concentrate the mind: this means to steady the mind - developing an awareness that is smooth, steady,and uninterrupted by disturbances like random thoughts.
- liberate the mind: independent of the regular patterns of thinking that we have grown accustomed to. Notice this liberation - an awareness that stands free of those involvements.
In the first three sections one puts away greed and distress with the world - implying an intentional act while in the final section one abandons it due to wisdom - there is no longer interest because you see that abandoning these activities is much more enjoyable than engaging in them.
At this point, sati as a factor of awakening has been developed. A continuous steady awareness that is no longer involved with worldly concerns and pleasantly grounded in the subtle sensations of the body.
Can't say if this is how Buddha meant it but it works for me and makes sense (to me anyway).
You need some Moojiji in your life senpai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hymoCW6qNWE
February 21st
Come, live with the doors of the senses guarded, watchfully mindful, carefully mindful with the ways of the mind well-watched, possessed of a mind that is awake and observing.
-- A.III,138
>>7716117
I thought that fapping to porn only is what causes that
>excess masturbation drains your energy and cucks your well being
Sounds good
>i was suicidal and now meditation is the ultimate pleasure
questionable..
I have not read any evidence in the scriptures that a stream-enterer is reborn 7 more times. The scriptures refer to many stream-enterers (such as Kondanna and Sariputta) that soon after became arahants.
There is the Nakhasikha Sutta however my investigation of the Pali cannot find the term '7 more lives'. The sutta is about 'the breakthrough' that results in stream-entry and the sutta probably states there are 7 more 'breakthroughs' at most for the stream-enterer to make, i.e., the stream-enterer has 7 more fetters to break for arahantship.
Also, I have not read any evidence in the scriptures that refer to experiencing 'past lives'. The Pali term is 'pubbanivesa', which literally means 'past homes' or 'past dwellings' or 'past adherences'. The Khajjaniya Sutta and Haliddakani Sutta provide explanations of this that are not related to reincarnation but, instead, about thinking in the past "I was" this, "I was" that.
As for Dipa Ma, I heard she had psychic powers but many non-Buddhists have psyhic powers. Children can have psychic powers but not enlightenment. For example, what sees, hears, meditates, etc, is consciousness (rather than wisdom). If Dipa Ma did actually say it is wisdom that sees, hears, meditates, etc, she was definitely wrong since an ignorant mind also sees, hears, etc.
'Past life experience' is merely a mental formation. For example, each night the minds/brains of people create dreams & these dreams are not necessarily past life experiences. They are probably mere mental constructions and imaginations. Again, the Khajjaniya Sutta states if the mind regards any mental formation as "I", "me", "mine", etc, then it has wrong view.
Also, psychic powers can result in the transfer of information of one to another. Thus the information in our mind does not necessarily mean it comes from a past life. Even if our psychic powers are latent (rather than manifest), a part of our mind could be receiving information from elsewhere. Otherwise, people with actual psychic powers could be placing information in our mind about people who lived and events that occured in the past. Why do people who claim past life experience always seem to claim events that are known historically (rather than events with no historical record)?
When you were a toddler, who knows? Maybe your mind registered information it heard spoken but did not remember then event (due to the mind's immaturity)?
Anyway, I was just pointing I have read little evidence in the original scriptures (apart from one or two questionable suttas) that the core principles of Buddhism support reincarnation.
>>7724420
In short: abstinence from pornography is good if you want a healthy sex drive and mind, while total sexual abstinence is good if you want elevated levels of testosterone also. How much of a difference nosex makes to nofap is a debate but science supports the testosterone claim. The main point is simply to avoid pornography.
