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You should check out terror management theory, codified in the book The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. The theory is heavily based on Becker’s work.

I do! We read from a book called "Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre". The book contains writings from Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Rilke, Kafka, Ortega, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus. I recommend a read through the entire book, each story is vastly different in both style and subject matter, but deal with the same Existential theme.

Here's the Amazon link if anyone is interested: https://www.amazon.com/Existentialism-Dostoevsky-Sartre-Revised-Expanded/dp/0452009308

I think you've identified a very important issue: the self talk. There's a trade-off between what we choose to focus on and how happy we are, which is problematic since our brains are excellent at following patterns and continually focusing on the negative. Now, I realize this might sound like a 'head-in-the-sand' approach, but hear me out. You have to intercept the negative thoughts and put positive or neutral ones in their place. Otherwise, you'll end up in a dark spiral, dwelling on the bad things and thinking everyone is an unenlightened twat for not doing the same.

For example, instead of thinking about how much someone is paid, insert the thought that the waiter/waitress might be a social person and really like greeting people. Maybe that's the best part of their day. The brain responds really well to this kind of subroutine, you just have to set it up and give it some practice (cognitive behavioral therapy).

This idea of thinking the positive can be re-affirmed by existentialism, since you get to choose your own path/destiny/way of life. Would you rather live a sour, terrible life where you are constantly unhappy or a kinda happy, slightly naive life where you're happier? Either way, it doesn't really matter. When I realized that I wanted to be more positive, that is when I chose existentialism over the bleakness of nihilism. If nothing really matters, then I'd rather believe the best of everyone, even if that isn't always the case, because I am more understanding, more chill person when I do this.

Also, I highly recommend reading Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning". He addresses some common, practical issues with existing and staying positive (he was a holocaust survivor).

this seems to assume the rules are such that the subsequent state can be exactly determined from the current state. but in things like quantum mechanics one cannot determine exactly a subsequent state from a current state, so that seems to be one way it could break down. beyond that, the problem of free will and whether it's merely an illusion and if not, how it arises is a very old problem of philosophy lots of folks have grappled with. The hard problem of consciousness is a related notion - how do physical phenomena give rise to experience? It's considered and unanswered question.

Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl (even though it's about his experience in the holocaust)

The Discovery of Being - Rollo May

Towards a Psychology of Being - Abraham Maslow

These are existential psychology books and nonfiction but I think you'll find they give what you're looking for--going from crisis to purpose. For fiction, there's Irvin Yalom's When Nietzsche Wept that may be similar.

I became totally deaf in one ear suddenly. I was very depressed--basically suicidal--for a long time after that. At some point, my dad gave me "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. It was this line from the book that turned my life around:

“A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears towards a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the “why” for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any “how”. – Viktor Frankl

Found this a good intro with varied chapters from different notable thinkers.
Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre by Walter Kaufman

I've read Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning which was an amazing book, although I thought the specifics of the practice of logotherapy weren't near as interesting as his detailing his time in a concentration camp.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is a great book. Also, I think Carl Jung is super awesome. And here is a blog that talks about both of these dudes with regard to this exact topic.

For me, Sysiphus escapes the absurdity of his punishment by deciding that it's not punishment. In your situation, you have to choose not to see your work as work, but as something you want to be doing. What is going on around you while you clean cars? What are you thinking? What are you feeling? If I were you, I might feel some anger about doing something so routine day in and day out, but often, I'll see the irony my situation and think something along the lines of, "fuck 'em. I'm too good to be doing this for someone else's sake. I'm going to make this my own project and work for myself"

And sure, that feeling only lasts so long but I see Sysiphus taking pride in not only his toil, but his actions that got him there. He looks forward to his upcoming challenges. If that's still not enough, find a project or challenge outside of work. Go work out-- make your body your project. You'll feel better about yourself physically and you'll have your workout to think about and look forward to. If that's not your cup of tea, find some other hobby.

Hell, read more. Camus is just one mind. He doesn't offer a truth so much as a perspective or a tool for you to reach the truth. I would highly recommend Shunryu Suzuki's "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind". My professor thought I was crazy ever time I brought it up, but I found Suzuki's Zen Buddhist philosophy highly absurd and it fit very well with my world view without requiring any sort of religious observance.

Ultimately, keep in mind that cleaning cars is not your life's project. It is a means to an end that you determine and find worthwhile enough to justify and take pride in.

Kudos! They have PDF and ePub versions in English.

1st row: PDF English - I have to admit I don't know what I'm looking at will all the detail on the page. But after clicking on the title "Nausea" in the first row and then clicking on "GET" at the top, it downloads the PDF.

6th row ePub English - Same thing, click on the title "Nausea" and it says "Get" at the top. Downloaded the epub file and my Mac's iBook reader automatically opened it up. Pretty sweet!

That sounds more meaningful to me than what you say you are doing now.

Lately, I have been learning about Stoicism. Stoicism promotes thoughtful action, focusing on what we can control, i.e., our thoughts and behavior, so we can live virtuously, courageously, for the ultimate purpose of living a life worth living.

I joined r/stoicism and I am waiting for A Handbook for New Stoics: 52 week-by-week lessons. I am hoping stoicism will make my life more meaningful.

Good luck.

I don't see him in this subreddit really, but in my search for existential understanding I found Robert Pirsig and his book - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. The whole book is basically reaffirmation of Camus' point that essentially life's meaning is the meaning you create in your life.

One Pirsig quote from it that is basically that: “Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive."

Well said. Made me think of this:

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather have these because we have acted rightly; these virtues are formed in man by doing his actions; we are we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (1926)

How are these recommended to you? If you aren’t already reading philosophical texts then … maybe hold back either/or, doesn’t even mix with this list well, so weird.

There’s a sidebar here of texts to check out and also online references.

I can’t imagine how you got this list without At The Existentialist Cafe coming to you …. It’s just so stupid general and approachable.

link

I've been fascinated by consciousness and the mind/body problem since I was a teen. Never quite found the "answer" (spoiler: no one has), but some of my reading on how human consciousness works inadvertently left me with coping strategies for our mortality.

It's a long, dense read, but I would always recommend Gödel, Escher, Bach as my favorite among these types of books. The follow-up, I Am A Strange Loop is great as well.

This situation is not like yours, but it may bring you insight: Man's search for meaning. It's a book of a holocaust survivor and his story on how he managed to stay optimistic despite his torture. "...Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose"

For your panic attacks, let them come. Go into them, towards them, never run away in fear, this only further increases tension and adrenaline. Examine and analyze the physical feeling when it strikes and let it sweep right over you. Realize it is only a physical feeling.

Realize everything that is happening to you is just because of thoughts in your mind. That's it. All of it is just a thought. Why be frightened by a thought? Let it come.

You are doing this to yourself by flogging yourself with despair and fear.

I recommend Self help for your Nerves by Dr. Claire Weekes

I only have a physical copy so I'm not sure if it is available in any digital format ☹️

Bought it from Amazon

I disagree, respectfully. Don't study philosophy at all at 14. And with Buddhism, it would be only with amazing luck that one would stumble upon sources that unpack features of "no-self", "impermanence", "suffering", and "liberation" in a way that is not confusing nor (potentially) damaging. And even further luck that any such presentation would not be misinterpreted.

I would suggest instead enjoying something like Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Especially for a teenager already embroiled in concepts beyond the ken of (even) many adults.

Anything by Albert Camus. The Stranger is a good starting point and his essays are also good.

Jean-Paul Sartre - Nausea

Check out Søren Kierkegaard and Nietzsche as well. This book is written by a philosophy professor who gives a good introduction to existentialist concepts, with a heavy focus on Kierkegaard. Happy exploring, and supplement your existential reading with other types of philosophy, I find too big of existentialism empties out some space in my thoughts that should be supplemented with other ideologies or constructive philosophy rather than just obsessing over "life has no meaning, you have to make your own" which can get overwhelming at points.

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Happy reading!

To further this line of thinking, Bertrand Russell notes that there is no way of "vividly and clearly" perceiving the world (in the words of Descartes), because not only is every sense filtered, it's actively interpreted by our minds. Therefore, we cannot say a table exists simply because we see it, as it could easily just be a trick of our minds interpretation.

His solution, which I personally ascribe to, is to say that we can't truly know that said table exists, but it's quite effective if we assume it does, as the sensory feedback we get is consistent with its existence (i.e. if you assume it's fake and kick at it, you'll hurt your foot quite badly in all likelihood).

He obviously goes much more in depth in his actual lecture, which I highly reccomend, found here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2529/2529-h/2529-h.htm#link2H_4_0008

I'm particularly interested in this because that name is new to me and sounds like it's exactly what I'm looking for! Thanks

Edit - For anyone who sees this and want's to check it out - Audiobook

Sartre's Existentialism is a humanism is a fantastic short essay to read and is equally engaging as any novel/play.

You could also watch Sartre's No Exit as a film adaptation (this is a good version Jean-Paul Sartre’s "No Exit": A BBC Adaptation Starring Harold Pinter (1964))

There is also a great lecture course by Robert Solomon called No excuses it's in various places online.

I've been thinking really seriously about doing this with Foucault's Discipline and Punish, I am going to do it with this,

https://www.amazon.com/Society-Pelican-Original-Kenneth-Fletcher/dp/B000UJJEZI

I think that this moment offer us an opportunity to start other people teaching themselves, and each other, somewhat, because a lot of people lack the confidence to begin reading something that hasn't been instructed, in this country, and especially something that's supposed to be. "adult level difficult," but everybody can listen, and I think it's really,

I think that by, like, Human-Talking through stuff, "this is what I think," you know, or, "What, That Is Not What I thought was going to be..." it's probably a feasible-kinda-thing to teach people how to talk to themselves about this stuff, which, meine freunde, that ghost?

It's in the discourse.

Anyway; Good Job!

I haven't seen it yet, but, know that I care; I do, I do care that you've done this and I do intend to Bear Witness to it!

Jonathan Fox

Ideas, morals, truth statements, and "the right way to live" are all concepts, too. As are the (so called) stages of development. These concepts will vary from culture to culture and time and to time.

I might argue that few people are "okay living in this world of uncertainty" which is why there are so many ways to solve the problems of existence. Consider how nearly 50% of Americans take antidepressants.

What you seem to be groping at is a RIGHT meaning. This is the problem of meaning for you (or plague, as you might have it). What if you were to let go of the RIGHT part of that, and just focus on meaning. Everyone finds themselves within a structure of meaning that organizes their existence. This is cultural, temporal, social, embodied, and so forth.

I will soon have an existential developmental psychology book that looks at the various problems that mark growing up (at least in the West). But Richard Knowles has something like this from the year I was born: https://www.amazon.com/Human-Development-Possibility-Erikson-Heidegger/dp/0819149934

Nothing really, you can go right to it. But it's not light reading and might not resolve your concerns, especially if Man's Search for Meaning didn't immediately help. What Frankl offers in that book is basically a patronus. Not that Harry Potter isn't a way of life but it's not a rigorous framework either. It's a charm in your pocket, if you can find one that's strong enough to withstand scrutiny and repeated use.

Because of your other questions The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. It gets to the heart of the question.

r/existentialsupport

Are there any books / articles you'd recommend outside of Wiki? Or is it worth following the sources at the bottom?

A quick Amazon search brought this up, would you or anyone else recommend it? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Existentialism-Dostoyevsky-Sartre-Meridian-Kaufmann/dp/0452009308/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1516022856&sr=8-2&keywords=existentialism

My pleasure. I've thought of another book I enjoy. Viktor Frankl "Man's Search for Meaning". Again, he didn't set out to be a philosopher. Neurologist/psychiatrist that landed in Nazi concentration camp.

Dharmaseed.org is a wonderful source on buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness. You can search for Jack Kornfield lectures or anyone else you're interested in. I haven't read his books yet, I'm more into listening to his talks but i have read,"Wherever You Go, There You Are," on mindfulness by Jon Kabat Zinn. I'd recommened, as well.

The day long meditation was a mixture of meditation and lecture. I went to see Jack Kornfield at his center in Marin, I'm fortunte I live so close by. But he would lecture on the principles of buddhism or mindfulness then we would practice for 20 minutes or so. That would repeat for 5/6 times or so. Good job on 2 whole hours of meditation though! 2 hours of meditation is difficult, my longest was about 1 hour and I was pullling out my hair by then lol. Check out Jack Kornfield but if he is too cheesy for you then I'd recommend Jon Kabat zinn and lastly I just stumbled upon a book on spirituality by Sam Harris. Sam Harris talks about buddhism and mindfulness but he is a scientific skeptic and an athiest. Just pick your flavor.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. This one goes heavily into Frankl's existential psychology method, logotherapy, in the second part of the book. However the first part of the book is just amazing because it's about a man's personal experiences in a concentration camp.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is another I really enjoyed. The main character goes through a series of transformations, from being an ascetic to being a wealthy merchant.

this is the first book I picked up. I liked that it read like a college class, although the highly intellectual style of writing made it a more difficult read. but it explored and compared many different basics of existentialism and helped me define terms i wasn't comfortable with.

Why not start with the #1 NY Times best seller for non-fiction for 2016: At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails. https://www.amazon.com/Existentialist-Caf%C3%A9-Cocktails-Jean-Paul-Merleau-Ponty/dp/1590514882/.

I read it an loved it.

Another good place to start is Robert Solomon's lecture series: No Excuses No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life http://www.audible.com/pd/Nonfiction/No-Excuses-Existentialism-and-the-Meaning-of-Life-Audiobook/B00DDY7SWS

I read that book a few years ago. I can't remember it all now, but I remember it being like a mix of self-help and existentialism. I also remember it focusing almost exclusively on Sartrean existentialism.

I started reading this one recently: http://www.amazon.com/Understand-Existentialism-Teach-Yourself-Thompson/dp/1444110624.

It gives more of an introductory overview on the actual philosophy, and the various philosophers that contributed to existentialism, including, but also beyond Sartre. Definitely a good book if you want to start diving deeper into existentialism.

I heard about it in my Ethics course in college, we covered lots of different philosophies but I'd always been sort of a thinker on why people do the things they do growing up. I went to a catholic school and sort of stopped considering myself christian in 6th grade. I'd just always had these thoughts and then in college, listening to different facets of existentialism, it really worked well in my mind. I'm no philosopher, but things like how I always had these daydream/worries of like, "Wow, I could throw myself out this window right now and it wouldn't matter," terrified me. I'll post a link to a part where they touch on this, namely that

>Now, think about Sartre when he talks about the experience of vertigo: the fear is that I might be blown off a cliff – Anxiety is the realisation that I could throw myself off that cliff and nothing is stopping me from doing that. It’s that response to the horror of freedom – that’s anxiety.

TL;DR, I'd had anxiety about heights and a fascination with suicide when growing up because it scared me a lot and made me question why it was even in my head since I didn't necessarily feel suicidal the way people seemed to. In college, I heard about existentialism in a class and it sort of made a lot of things make more sense to me.

Also, I recommend A Happy Death by Camus. It's not so much academic as it is a novel about what it means to be happy and how that isn't necessarily what you "are supposed to like". Sorry this was super long!

Robert Solomon's 'No Excuses' is quite good, but it's not free AFAIK. Don't bother with the DVD, it adds little over the audio only, it's 98% just him talking near his desk, with the occasional picture thrown in.