I obviously study historical and dialectical materialism, but there are some others I’m interested in. I want to try to get into secular Buddhism, stoicism, existentialism, and maybe absurdism. Does anyone have suggestions on any of these subjects? (I’m already intending to read Simone De Beauvoir, Jean Paul Sarte, and the book ‘capitalism- it’s nature and replacement’ which is a synthesis of Marxism and Buddhism, but the author’s a bit of a leftcom)
Not sure if it’s counted as a philosophy but I’ve followed a hippie ethos for a very long time. The whole ‘be free, love eachother and world peace’ persona. I toured with bands throughout the country and beyond. I dressed in non conventional clothes, had non conventional relationships and did everything to protest authority and the ‘mundane’ life. I was also greatly into the mysticism and religions, which I tried to discover through reading books (like the Bible and the Koran) but also by reading books on alchemists and stuff. Also, drugs.
I come from a poor working class city with a lot of narrow minded people, so I guess it was a way for me to go against the mainstream in the city since I always felt a need to do my own thing, which wasn’t always acceptable.
I turned the hippie life down a notch in recent years and started looking for ideologies that could contribute to a better world in a more effective way. Eventually I found communism. But I do have some aspects of the hippie life in my current life. I’m a really open minded person in a lot of ways (love, nudity, drugs, being who you want to be etc., I still dress in a sort of hippie fashion most of the times and I try to have an appearance that I like, rather than having one that fits in (I have tattoos, a moustache and an earring for example). It’s a cool lifestyle and it has brought me great memories, but I eventually needed to find a more effective way to contribute to world peace and equality.
Not exactly what I was looking for, but interesting. I’ve been kind of interested in other religions besides Christianity, that’s why I mentioned Buddhism, I might read the Koran or something.
It’s an interesting thing to do even if you’re not religious. They are books that inspire billions of people throughout the world, and it gives a perspective on how they look at life.
Plus, I can now say that Christianity and Islam are not my thing. But I know that because I’ve read the books instead of some bigoted reason.