Can reading books ever be dangerous?
For example, if you're at the brink of insanity, depression or suicide - should you, for the sake of your own, stay away from certain books? Not wallow in the self-despair of Dostoyevsky for example.
Or is knowledge and insight ALWAYS what is good, and needed?
Yes
What is not commonly known, and that any serious reader will experience and have to overcome, is over reading produces a kind of a dependence on books to simply think. This is more dangerous than it sounds.
Yes, there are a lot of situations where it can be extremely dangerous. For example, do not read a book while sitting on train tracks.
>>7838847
The latter. It is the individual that determines how the knowledge and thought of another is integrated, for better or for worse. A certain level of maturity is needed for absorbing certain material in a balanced manner.
I've gotten a few pretty bad papercuts from books.
I also dropped a really big one on my toes once.
In all they're very dangerous, I wouldn't recommend them.
Not entirely related, but why do people always say Dostoevsky is so full of despair? I've only read a few of his books, but I always found that, although they deal with human suffering, they always seem to have a theme of hope.
>>7838847
person suffering a particularly bad spout of OCD might want to stay away from some books with certain concepts, maybe. things he might not be prepared to engage with without anxiety. there was a point when, before I knew what I had, i thought i should stay very far away from Jacob's Ladder, the film.
maybe you'll find despair reading something like cioran, or solace
Why is it better or worse to despair or not despair, to be insane or not to be insane, to commit suicide or not to commit suicide?
You seem motivated by presuppositions that do not help your understanding of this topic at all.
mein gott you have a huge spook on your shoulder
>>7838883
As far as I can tell, the same reason people think of Russian literature in general as being depressing. I have no bloody clue.
Getting out of your comfort zone is positive
>>7838849
holy fucking christ, im not the only one...
>>7838847
>can reading books ever be dangerous
heh
heh heh heh
>grow up
>>7838899
nice edge you have there
>>7838977
Even if it's into your suicidal zone? Into your eating other people's face off whilst in a psychosis-zone?
Surely there are limits. What are they?
>>7838900
It is depressing, but it mostly has that beacon of hope German or French or English literature don't. The other three appear to be less depressive, but unlike with Russian literature, they don't shine the light of God upon the reader.
Generalisation, I know, but that's the general impression I got.
>>7839015
who are you quoting?
>>7838847
Only if you give the book too much power. The point of art is that it is viewed at a distance, where flashes of likenesses to ourselves and the events we encounter arise from the work itself: a private investment of desire into the hypothetical of fictions, where we may see what happens if we allowed our desire to run its course.
Nevertheless, art is only ever a likeness of reality, and therefore to follow in the footsteps of art is unlikely to lead you to a more virtuous place. A reader must remain pragmatic, yet aesthetically conscious such that some personal value is derived from its enhancements of reality, without undermining our knowledge of real truths.
>>7838899
S P 0 0 K $
Ignorance is bliss
so almost every book can be considered a threat to your optimism
Have you ever heard of the Quran? Reading that seems to be bad for your health
>>7838894
Very true. I was having a tough time and the film Spring Breakers was very anxiety producing, still like something about the experience though.
Certain ideas can certainly be destabilizing, but that may also be a desired pursuit as afterwards comes new growth and understanding.
Most people are set by 20, and stop truly growing, books can through destruction of ignorance or perceptions, make us even greater. But of course there is a danger of dissolution.
Personally I find something like Schopenhauer's pessimism to be a great source of humor and mirth. Part of what he is true, and it's absurdly funny how bad things are, but part of it is gross exaggeration and mixed together re entertaining.
>>7839239
You know that optimistic books exist too, right?
>>7838847
It depends on your foundation. If you're harboring a mental illness, emotional distress, or personal insecurity of almost any kind, certain books probably will harm you more than help you.
And I'm not talking about just reads like Dostoevsky, or Kafka, Poe, or whoever. Even philosophy books, in fact especially these. These books will fuck you up if you're sick in any way. They're meant for people who are healthy and don't need a crutch of any kind. Reading them when you're not prepared will either worsen your condition or warp you into some useless manchild armchair-speculating fuckwad.
>>7838847
Yes, there's even a term for it.
http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/2084.html
>>7839276
I don't think that's accurate. Being sick is often a very good reason to pursue certain books as they can both explain the sickness and help you see a different world.
Like The Sane Society, it can be scary to see what our society is, but also enlivening to see new possiblity.
>>7839297
Well I would never recommend it. The best readers and authors have always been individuals who pursued and confronted books with some kind of health in their possession. Healthy curiosity, healthy desire for power, a healthy outlook about themselves, little to no hangups, etc. There are a lot of people out there, even on this website who become overly stressed when reading certain books, or develop some kind of megalomania afterwards, which is a sign that the person was not prepared to me. I've known personally people who practically physically recoil from the mention of some philosophical books. They were all fairly religious and thus had hangups, mind you.
>>7839307
>who become overly stressed when reading certain books, or develop some kind of megalomania afterwards
Develop your thoughts on this.
>>7839078
>ur mum
>>7838847
>Dostoevsky
>wallowing in despair
You're supposed to read the authors you reference
>>7839330
It's the result of an imbalanced ego or insecurity, someone who is concealing a lot of doubt in them and lacks real strength or confidence. Encountering certain texts, if they understand them at all, just increases the degree of fear and doubt they possess, since books can be overpowering if your ego is not balanced beforehand.
Another example, I've had two homosexual friends who attempted philosophy. One couldn't handle anything I suggested at all, he just hated it and admitted to feeling depressed after. The other considered him an avid reader of Nietzsche before I even met him but he was bizarrely fetishistic and was suicidal when he was younger, not at all someone I would consider to be healthy.
>>7839384
>what is Notes from the underground
Pinpoint the hope aspect of it. Please.
>>7839394
>bizarrely fetishistic
Imma need more
>>7838849
Are you saying that too much books will eventually replace your ability to think on your own?
remember to eat when you get hungry
>>7838849
>books replacing ability to think
Are you fucking retarded? Booms will only help you think more, not stop you from thinking on your own
>>7838847
>Can reading books ever be dangerous?
ask don quixote
>>7839454
>>7839409
I wouldn't know, my homo friend's fetishes didn't exactly pique my interest. I just knew from hints he dropped, his visible lifestyle and through others that knew him that he was a crazy dude.
>>7839403
Then say Notes from Underground and not Dostoevsky in general you pleb.
If you were depressed by the Brothers K or Crime and Punishment then you have no reading comprehension
>>7838847
It's no more dangerous than the shitty ideologies we are peddled everyday. The really dangerous stuff is normal ideologies that tell us our suffering is our own fault and that everyone can be successful if you just try hard enough. Believe that and self-destruction makes a lot of sense.
At the very least most good books have nuanced messages that don't make rash action easy.
>>7838847
>he hasn't read Don Quijote
Your question is a major discussion in literature. How, if at all, do books affect us in how we think and act and live?
>>7838847
The danger is in reading a book and then never reading another book ever again. Nietzsche is a perfect example of this.
>>7838849
https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/essays/chapter3.html
Schopie agrees.
>>7839866
What do you mean? just reading the works of one thinker and then never moving on to another one?
>>7839264
Is it just me or are optimistic books more depressing than depressing books?
I guess I'm in that state where I don't want to hear bullshit because I know that ultimately no one including myself can ever truly be happy.
Fuck... Did I nihilism?
>>7839443
Boom boom
>>7840478
Pesimism is the easy way out. It's much easier to feel sad than it is to feel happy. Nihilism is in our vains.
It's what everybody does, when you're thrown into a situation you first imagine the negative and worst possible outcomes and then the good ones.
It's how the brain works and it's hard to change it. I've been trying for the past 3 years but shit it's hard to do. You have to be really strong mentally in order to achieve that and from what I understand I'm weak af.
>>7838847
Dostoyevsky's self-despair? What do you mean?
The Brothers Karamazov helped me a lot through my depression
>>7840607
As am I. I understand that the remedy to my problem is a consistent pull of strength but I lack the ability to muster of the effort anymore. It all just makes me wonder why. Why should I put all this effort into self betterment if I don't believe there's anything to be gained from it, it serves no purpose. Those that would argue that purpose I respect but I don't share their values, ambitions and views. There's something just missing in the equation, I do not have that that seems to drive everyone else around me. I am still somehow okay with that.
I dabbled with the thought of self termination a few years back but not out of despair or sadness or anything really. I arrived to the conclusion that I'll just live until I don't want to. Meanwhile I'll just do what needs to be done in order to be able to do the things that I enjoy.
>>7840642
I am too bound by fear, frustration and dread, fully recognizing it's my downfall as a human being.
Are nihilists immune to these feelings? If so, please recommend a nihilists guidebook.
>>7839394
>bizarrely fetishistic and suicidal
>Nietzsche
sounds about right.
also you say the best authors are healthy and well-adjusted, that is empirically untrue as fuck.
If you take it too seriously and with a closed mind, a lot of philosophy can by stressing for the common man.
>>7838847
If youve just broken up, you would probably want to avoid the sorrows of young werther.
>>7838849
>>7839998
As does Montaigne, one of his essays are about socialites who are unable to express or synthesize a thought on their own and whose opinions change depending on which book they have most recently read.
People who can only talk in quotes and aphorisms and desire the appearance of knowledge rather than knowledge itself.
>>7840906
>the appearance of knowledge rather than knowledge itself
This sounds exactly like one of those aphorisms.
>>7840654
the stranger
>>7838847
Books are (among other things) a vehicle for ideas. Some ideas are bad, poisonous. There is a general orientation to life I'm inclined to call wisdom (it is distinct but related to ideas or knowledge). Wisdom is typically calm, cheery, helpful, yet also dead serious about life.
Ideas that undermine wisdom (violent, depressed, helpless and which treat life as frivolous) may be called dangerous.
This is of course not to say that you should bury your head in the sand and avoid reading, for example, about war and depression.
I think people who are already depressed (or anxious or confused or helpless) ought not fuel it with books.
And people who don't take life seriously should not be looking for ways to fuel frivolity with noisy non-lit books.
>>7840654
(not part of previous dialogue)
If you are bound then you are bound from something. That is to say you already have a sense (which is universal in presence but not content, among all persons) that life has an objective, and that freedom consists in its pursuit.
Read books that help free you, not books that tighten the shackles.
>>7838847
Yeah, if you're as autistic as op then you'll definitely want to kill yourself.
>>7838847
I was having real problems with anxiety, unexplained crying, hair falling out, constant feelings of terror.
I went on a largish dose of prozac, and after a month had an appointment with a shrink. I told him one of the problems I had with prozac was that I couldnt focus on books. He asked what kind of books I read and I told him, and he told me that maybe it was for the best, that books bring us to dark places.
He was a waste of money and I stopped the prozac because it broke my dick and made me unattracted to my wife, but that was an interesting comment he made.
>>7839443
check out those booms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llyiQ4I-mcQ
Sometimes when I read too much 'depressive' literature, I stop reading for a while because I feel I can't bear any more knowledge of how monstrous we are, or how shit is this world is.
>>7841129
you're accusing him of something you recently read on 4chan
>>7838853
I'd like to agree with this, but obviously someone who is already mentally unstable won't have that maturity or self awareness to be able to integrate certain information in a healthy way. If you're already unbalanced, it's likely you won't have the capacity to read something unbalancing and learn from it, more likely that you'll just end up wallowing in even more self pity.
>>7842854
Things is, this literally applies to everything, not just books. A film, a conversation, seeing a fight, anything can unnerve someone on the brink.
Like a fragile flower blown over by a delicate breeze, we sway wildly from the emotions within.
598. Nor does reading a genius's writings help in any significant way, shape or form, if you are not already a genius, as all the inferior intellects are pleased to think. "Maybe I wasn't born as smart as him, but all his smartness must be contained inside his books, so all I have to do to become like him is read them!" A gross overestimation of the power of words, that amounts to believing that reading books can change your genes! The reality is that, at most, and if you are sensible, the genius's books will give you an inferiority complex. If you aren't, they'll turn you into a stark raving retard for whom there is no cure. — And you thought that lifting weights above your strength was dangerous! But reading books above your intelligence is unimaginably more so. But that, too, you stubbornly refuse to acknowledge and heed, precisely because evaluating the power of books is an unimaginably harder task than sizing up the weight of a couple of barbells, while to you books are, after all, just books. "What harm can there be in reading them?", you think, like all uneducated people
>>7839213
stop writing like that
I can say without a doubt that literature has been a bad influence on me, but I can't stay away.
>>7841315
I understand where you're coming from but what if one if scared of the end?
For instance, I view life as meaningless yet I dread the day it must come to a close.
Maybe I just don't view life as meaningless? I really don't know.
>>7843650
make me you chum bucket
>>7839454
I thought the ending where he suddenly regains his sanity and dies to be quite shitty.
>>7838849
I think this just means you're a pretentious git that reads not for fun or information, but to appear intelligent or some shit
>>7844959
not that guy, but what he said is true. also your first reaction to people saying anything vaguely smart should not be "pretentious git." you can't seriously be this insecure can you?
>>7839439
underappreciated
>>7840642
negativity bias
