A short book with many life lessons in it.
"Amazing. You were so attached to it, and it still disappeared for you"
"Attached! I was whocking that cloud with everything i had! Fireballs, Laser beams, vacuum cleaner a block high..."
"Negative attachments, Richard. If you really wanted to remove a cloud from your life, you do not make a big production out of it, you just relax and remove it from your thinking. That's all there is to it."
3d ago
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This one changed me, blending well with my Absurdist and Buddhist beliefs.
The thesis of Beckerās book is that human civilization is rooted in our internal defenses against the inevitability of death. We struggle to accept our impermanence and thus devise āimmortality projectsā that we hope outlive us. If we must die, we hope to be remembered via some kind of legacy that will live on symbolically. These projects could be grounded in oneās work, family, or religion.
We seek symbolic illusions that assuage our death anxiety, or we drown ourselves with triviality and hedonism. Either way, our survival instinct makes it difficult for us to face the certainty of death and the uncertainty of life.
While the topic is heavy, shining a light on the terror of death, it also helps me feel lighter. It reminds of how many of the things that feel so urgent in life are really just distractions. Everything we do is beautifully temporary. Life is building sandcastles on the beach. And while it can be beautiful and meaningful for us to create and collaborate, there is a lightness to the understanding that everything we ever do or make will one day be nullified by our ultimate annihilation.
So, in other words, donāt take yourself too seriously.
Dec 9, 2024
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I found this book at my friendās apartment and we decided to read it, partially for fun and as a joke, but it absolutely wrecked me. It was a couple nights before I left London, after my graduation, and I was in the whole job hunting process and I was hopelessly lost!
There was something about this whole idea that even though the book was meant for a kid, I never felt more connected to it, at that point it felt like every line was perfectly tailored to how I was feeling. Itās also really interesting because I think it was his last published childrenās book. kinda makes me think if he mightāve written it for himself as well, to cope with growing old?
Iām turning 23 in a few days and Iām right where I was (cluelessness wise) when I read this book several months agoā¦ I think itās okay not having everything sorted and figured out, just because you havenāt yet met the goals youāve set doesnāt mean you havenāt been constantly learning something. āš¤øāāļøš§øš
Apr 28, 2024
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Yes I realize this is far more than one book, but I read all of these stories in very close succession & I believe they shaped me into the guy I am today. These are all very sensitive-young-man-core, but what can I say? I was a sensitive young man.
I have a very complicated relationship with Mother & Father. When I was first introduced to Kafka, it was like meeting my soulmate. I donāt have it in me to go into much detail at this moment, but being condemned to death by drowning for failing an aging father who can sense a deeply felt resentment; waking up one day to find youāve turned into a disgusting bug after sacrificing so much for a family that cares so littleā these are ideas that deeply rattled & resonated with me personally at the age that I read them. I resolved to try to live differently.
Death of Ivan Ilych was simply further exhortation for me to not live my life according to convention, to pursue wealth, status, family life for their own sakes. I think every single one of us has it in us to become an Ivan Ilych without even realizing. I was totally rapt & manic upon finishing this one I still am today, to some degree.
Portrait of the Artist really spoke to me as well. When Stephen looks at his father & realizes heās a fool, and that he wants to be nothing like him. The moment when he sees the girl in the water & he becomes so horny he decides to dedicate his life to the pursuit of beauty, to aesthetics, to being an artist. The entire ending segment written as first person journal entries filled me with a lot of hope.
Emerson is the man. Great way to shock the materialist reductionist, the comformist, the busybody, & the consistent, conventional company man out of your system. Probably made me a more annoying person when alls said & done. Oh well.
May 12, 2024
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Apr 27, 2025
noticing life and slowing things down has helped with every stress my body has, it's also got me going on walks to places i've never been before. I go alone and do walkie talkies sometimes too, which is like an audio journal log. i also get some cool pictures out of it.
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