Dostoevsky's Warning to Lovers | White Nights
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2024
- Dostoevsky is one of the greatest writers in history. And one of his earliest stories is White Nights. Often framed as a romance novel I think it is a deeply insightful warning to the lovers inside all of us. It follows a protagonist who becomes lost in his own dreams of romance, and as a result becomes a broken man when he is rejected by his love interest, despite the fact they had only met a few days beforehand.
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Article I found that expands on some of my ideas here in a better way than I do: www.jstor.org/stable/306699
00:00 White Nights
01:42 The Danger of Narrative
05:08 Great (but false) Expectations
08:14 The Dangers of Imagination
12:02 Ego, Romance, and Suffering
15:21 The Over-focus on Romantic Love
Film Background footage from Videvo.com
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what's yr insta ?
I don't have one, but I should really get on that
@@unsolicitedadvice9198one what?
Thanks for the info !! Your advice is greatly appreciated and your videos are really informative and intriguing and would like to ask where is your accent from it’s British right
just found out the channel, its amazing .is there any way that I can get access to the previous newsletters? feels like I've missed so much
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." T.E. Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia
uncharted 3 ❤❤
Rather interesting
real
Bars
Thinking supplemented by actions.
"Babe hes just a friend"
The friend: waiting for you to upset her
Exactly
It’s so interesting how we think of ourselves as “sane”, but when we let imagination run free, we become delusional and as crazy as it can be.
Because a level of insanity and creativity are directly related.
Love did conquer all and waiting patiently did pay off. For her, the narrator isn't the protagonist of that story. He was simply the narrator.
I had not thought of it that way! This really made me stop and think
@@unsolicitedadvice9198 thanks for your videos, they are condescending down books for me I currently don't have the time to read. I'm very excited to read them for myself when I have more free time.
@@nothomelessonyoutube she was lucky her lover returned. if love conquer all things, the protagonist should ve been loved by her. the reality is that love inst fair, to be a winner someone must lose, her lover is the winner, the narrator is the loser. maybe the narrator can be the winner someday, maybe not, he must live and discover this by himself.
@@ark_artemis6557 what no one lost in this story. The lady and her love are together, and our narrator hopefully learns how to become loved by a woman in the same way. He didn't lose he should realize this woman wasn't for him. She wanted to be with her lover. The narrator needs to go find his lover.
Oof, that slaps.
Basically the idea of the lone viewer in the theater that tricked himself into thinking he was part of the movie he was watching.
your videos are poetry in themselves 👏🏾👏🏼👏🏿👏🏽👏🏻
Hi youtube
Thank you! I am glad you like them!
The physical manifestation of RUclips itself
An ai made this comment donțt get your hopes up
RUclips watching a video about Dostoevsky is megabased
I felt sorry for myself after reading this novel. He is literally me.
You aren't alone, man. It's a great wakeup call though.
I’m 46, and I’ve been this. At one point, I gave up on this type of fantasy love and I found something real and we’ve been together for 15 years. I’ve been having 2nd thoughts lately though. I believe I made the mistake of not having found a version of the fantasy which could have worked. I know I didn’t try hard enough or try to meet someone else with whom I felt those specific kinds of feelings. So my warning to the warning is to be sure you haven’t left something unresolved when you do decide to be more realistic. Now I feel like I might be taking my regrets to heaven with me.
@@SoulfulJim1 that’s actually really sad. I’m much younger than you, but somehow both me and my ex partner have already ruined our marriage for the same reason. I’m still not sure if I’ll ever achieve this dream of mine, if achieving it will ever worth it or if I won’t be lonely and heartbroken for the rest of my life, but I know one thing for sure: you either have to go for your dream or totally forget about it. Both choices can possibly make you happy, but staying in this limbo of regrets and inaction absolutely can’t. I don’t know if my choice was right - maybe I should’ve stayed and learned to be happy with what I already have - but it’s definitely better than living a life full of regrets.
@@SoulfulJim1hey it's never too late. The only thing constant in life is change. I'm still trying to find someone I can share philosophical conversations with and hopefully not watch any football. That's a difficult thing to find but I'm going to keep trying. I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and I might not live a long life. But I'm not going to live a boring life and I'm not going to give up. You shouldn't either. Good luck.
@@LilyFlowers-hh3sc Thanks Lily. I haven’t given up. I just keep having a back and forth thing going on and sometimes it feels like everything is wrong and fixing it is nearly impossible. Other times I’m extremely grateful for the way things are. Things are changing every day because I haven’t given up. That means I’ll figure things out (in the best way I can) eventually. I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for. I guess the home stretch (if I dare use a sports analogy) is what really matters for all of us anyway.
During the video, I was reminded of something GSP said (legendary ufc fighter, if you don't know), it was about how he's very scared of how the fights going to turn out in the days leading to a fight. He was talking about how one way he'd be able to calm himself was to just drive around the city and watch ordinary people. Like this elderly woman who's buying her groceries has no idea who he is and probably doesn't care whether he wins or loses and he uses things like that to remind himself he's just a person like anyone and that winning or losing this fight doesn't really have huge consequences or significance. He made sure to at least tame his ego basically.
That’s really interesting! I’ll have to look him up
Thats a true embodiment of humility
You should probably try typing out the guys full name. Or does he not deserve that much respect from you?
@@tendiesoffmyplate9085 He's very often referred to as GSP.
Georges St-Pierre
I would say that the main difference between the imagination that Dostoevsky uses to weave these stories compared to the fantasies of the narrator is that Dostoesky does not engage in creating escapist fantasies but rather engages to reader to see a less illustrious version of life that is more akin to reality. I believe that the story is describing the danger of escapist fantasy, as we can often use our imagination to help get through difficult situations in life rather than using to for pure escape. We must be weary of escapist fantasies and daydreaming and instead engage in the real world.
I love this train of thought! I think you make a wonderful distinction there
And if the world itself is but a fantasy, an illusion, what then?
@@dontforget3113If you think that you are r-tarded.
@@dontforget3113that purely depends on the individual how to percieve the world; as a fantasy or as something real and solid that can cause you great pain if not taken seriously. A fantasy does not have the power to ruin you but the real world does.
@@sharanvaid9840 And yet, if the real world is a fantasy, then by the logic you just stated here, it does not have the power to ruin you in any meaningful way. And this is precisely what many religions claim: do not fear that which destroys the body, but fear only that which destroys the immortal soul. Or perhaps you are more familiar with where your treasure is there your heart will be also? A great many individuals agree that the world is an illusion, but as many others or more insist that it is not. The problem is, frankly, that these two sides cannot coexist peacefully, because there is absolutely no reconciliation between these two ideals. Live at let live doesn't work. It's not a real solution. It's apathy.
White Nights is my favourite novel to ever exist. I think that although yes, it’s a warning to not dwell in your dreams, it’s also a story of completely unconditional love. The Dreamer wished love and happiness to Nastenka, even when his narrative was shattered completely at the end. He is a good and pure heart.
It's deeply beautiful and heart shatteringly painful story, yet it's 1 of the most human experiences I've ever had while reading it. Unconditional love is such a dangerous thing, with how core it is to the human experience it also rips the air out of your lungs and leaves you on a bed of sand, slowly sinking into a hole of your dreams and aspirations. Drowning so peacefully and solemnly that you never even realize it till you're burried under the weight of your own emotions.
As a recently limmerent maladaptive daydreamer this really speaks to me. It’s crazy to think people even back then were going through the same things I am that I never even hear people talk about now, let alone in popular media.
I almost feel this book was writtin about my simpin ass 💀
Bro💀
Same. I’ve been avoiding reading this book because I think it’ll be far too confronting
Pick up this book today, and finish it in the same sitting. And i felt like dostoyevsky decided to wake up and hurt me.
@@knoledge_186im too scared tbh 😭
Don't simp. Never simp.
When I read that novel, I recognized much of myself within the narrator. I found that his developing love for Nastenka and the outlook of their shared life began to draw him out of himself, opened a door for him to lead an actually real life. I was rooting for him.
I think even though the end is heartbreaking in the sense that his hopes got destroyed, I thought of his reaction as the best one possible, showing a genuine love. He let her go. And with her his fantasies about their life. Nastenka left, but she also left him with something concrete in his life: love in the proper sense that wills the good of the other. He found love at the loss of Nastenka.
No flashy cuts, no rumming around. Just a man with thick eyebrows providing helpful advice. Keep up the great work.
Man. This just blew my mind. It's speaking to the exactly the problem I had as a teenager. I spend years obsessing over a idea of a girl and living in my imagination. It almost destroyed my life. Thank you very much. I love your Videos ❤
Thank you! I am so glad they are helpful!
elaborate?
how did it go since I'm in that phase
@@M.Ghilas Well it wasn‘t a nice time for me. I was doing worse and worse and couldn‘t stop thinking about her. Living in my dream world like we were lovers, but I have never talked to her really and didn‘t know her. I was so afraid to be a creep and try to get to know her, that I became a creep, who would look at her all the time. It became a self fulfilling anxiety. My mental health was decreasing to the point I had suicidal thoughts. A vicious cycle I felt like I couldn’t escape. Anyways after like 4 years of not telling anyone, it came out and I went to therapy. Now I am better😁 But for me to finally move on from her took me a long time. This is what made my school life suck, but I have learned so much in this time.
@@hubertknapheide6329 so you made an imaginary friend in your head that you wanted to be real? if yes then how did you not know the imaginary friend? arent you supposed to make a personality for them?
also what did the therapist do or say?
I love your channel name because it immediately shows that you know that some people don’t want/need your advice and immediately sets you apart from the plague of gurus online that scam people. Which in a part of youtube like this is really important
Ah thank you! That was actually my intention behind the name. I always wanted to make it clear that I don't think I know better than anyone else, and that no one has asked for any of this. I am just talking about things I find interesting
@@unsolicitedadvice9198allow my unsolicited opinion but i think you would look absolutely fabulous with a mustache
@@human-127 He will look like young Nietzsche
@@deepaksingh0777 isnt that cool
@@human-127 yes it is cool
I remember I burst out laughing when I read the end of the book, he's such a tool he reminded me of myself. Great video as always, keep it up!
Thank you! And he definitely reminds me of myself as well. It is a cracking book
Also hilarious that modern men who Romanticize female virtues and constantly jump to their defense are often referred to as “white knights”. 😂
If I had watched this video 25 yrs ago (which was not possible bc it was not created) I could have saved myself a few million dollars and two marriages. We are brought up in a world constructed of layers of lies and wishful thinking, and this is all institutionalized and celebrated generations upon generations to be encoded into our mental framework. Thanks for the good work.
Bummer about those lost years tho right recently divorced myself
All the 30 and 20yr olds are being redpilled at rapid rate- hopefully catch enough in time to save them from the marriage death trap... Though, one of my bestfriends (mid 30s), whom I grew up with, was in a shitshow of a marriage for handful of years... Luckily he got a divorce, with no incurring lawyer/alimony/child support (for kids who weren't even his) fees..... I beat myself up for not knowing this Redpill stuff years ago... could've saved him a ton of headache.
I found this video yesterday and got intrigued by the title and the thumbnail especially that i myself a dreamer so before you delved into anything i took the chance to read "white nights" first and dear lord!
I AM THE NARRATOR! I'm exactly as delusional as him and now that i've finished your video i'm deeply disturbed and i don't know what to do
It's sufficient to say that i've started escaping into the world of fantasy when i was very young because i've had a very strict mother but i've never grown out of it even though i'm in my mid twenties now
A few days ago i realized that i only believe my narrative and ignore the reality of things, i've always thought that i'm lonely and no one really understands me but that's false i've many friends and even if they don't quite understand me _well mainly because i'm delusional and my expectations aren't even real therefore i'm always disappointed_ they still love me and care for me unlike me who is so indulgent in fantasies that i forget to live
Recently i've realized that i'm strikingly similar to Mr. Bennet from "Pride & Prejudice"
God... I'm sad but i don't know how to stop and start actually living life. Thank you for such an eye opening video, it's my first time seeing you but definitely won't be the last
The ego is the enemy of love and happiness. ❤ Really nice video.
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it
Actually the ego is a requirement for both love and happiness. You can't have either without a "you".
When I was 12 my grandmother died of cancer. It was excruciating because I had to watch her perish away for over a year. I loved her deeply, she has always been my female role model.
For years afterwards every single night I dreamed she was still alive, I will let you imagine how it felt to wake up every single day to the realization of the cold hard truth.
After some time the dreams stopped but the traume remained dormant below the surface and manifested itself again, stronger than ever before, when I suffered another loss. At that point I was crushed under the pain and it took some time for me to get on my feet again, thankfully by that point I was more mature and better suited to handle hardship than my 12 year old self.
I’ve never been able to put this pattern into words. It was like that quote from the matrix, “you can feel something is wrong, but you have no way of telling. You can’t see it”. Yet this video perfectly described my condition in the past few years. I feel stuck in a loop. Like being thrown around a washing machine with no way out. Repeating my mistakes in a blind circle.
As a maladaptive daydreamer, this book was a wake-up call for me.
How narratives guide our actions/decisions is brilliant
Your videos, specifically the Nietzsche ones, got me to start reading philosophy again after a long semester of psych studies. They’re always in-depth and easily digestible at the same time. Tysm for putting out quality essays like these for free 🙏🙏🙏
Ah thank you so much! I’m really glad it’s helped rekindle your love for philosophy
Philosophy…You just can’t get enough of it 💭
It's true
I am so glad I found this video. I think you just saved me from a potential misery and despair. Thank you!
Mate, you are getting way too real with this one. I just went through the exact same thing this protagonist went through just two days ago. I needed this.
Just recently read this short novel, and this observation hits hard!
I envy your friends who can have those philosophical conversations on a daily basis lol
I was about to go down the same path. I've done over and over again. Everything about the narrator made me realise he's present day me. The only difference is that I don't dream. I use video games as my escape from my own reality. In my room alone, instead of being grateful for what im getting.
Omg this is so good! It's like learning about complex story literatures at the same time learning about real life philosophy, thank you so much
White Nights is such a beautiful and tragic story.
I usually hate these types of stories to be honest, but White Nights managed to bring me to tears, as it is such a relatable story for anyone that has ever lost someone they imagined a future with
It's scarily accurate how White Nights depicts inaction in love, cause of anxiety or fear of rejection etc. One of the main things I took from the book is to show and tell how you feel, to not be afraid to feel cause we're human in doing so. In our dreams everything feels easy and comprehensible, you picture things as you want them to be - but to put them to reality, is a thing on its own. This book actually made me feel uneasy after reading it, I felt so sorry for the protagonist, as if I never in my life want to become like this, it's self-destructive on a whole another level.
Your channel is a hidden gem, my friend. And this might be one of your best videos.
Keep doing your amazing work. It's poetry for the soul.
As a Russian, I feel so grateful for being able to read Dostoevsky and other incredible Russian classics in its original language❤ thank you for this wonderful video!
Wow, what a great video. Can't helt but relate in so many ways, it's crazy. Keep it up man!
Such a great work man. Only now I could realize all the lessons the book holds . thanks a lot ❤
What’s great video!! I really appreciated the connection and overlap references you made from all sorts of philosophical perspectives. Really brings some clarity to your arguments 👏🏻
my heart hasn't related to something so deeply in such a long time, this is such an incredible video❤
I can’t believe that White Knight was used in today’s context over a century ago. I know it’s always meant “good guy” vs Black Knight, but the context of a friend-zone nice guy trying to nice his way into a woman’s heart.
We have in Poland novel „Lalka” about romantic man over 40 from nuvorich class trying to win a heart of a coldhearted noble woman.
What an amazing video. Thank you so much! I just finished reading White Nights and had trouble understanding this book as well as finding its analysis online. Thank you, now I finally grasp the idea behind this novel!!!
Thank you! I am glad it was helpful! Though this is just my interpretation. I make no claims about it being the correct one :)
Very interesting. Obsession with a romantic love narrative can be a poison. I of course speak from experience.
Expectations lead to disappointments.
This stuck with me ever since when my friend said it, I misunderstood at the time but years passed and that sentence grew onto me.
If you never expect anything, you will never be disappointed at anything. Only give yourself standards, not expectations. Standards of what your man/woman would be, be it they should hold the door for you or listen to your ramblings etc. not an expectation that they would do it. You actively find someone with your standards NOT someone you daydream about/ expect something of them.
I introduced my friend who learned English as a second language and he thinks you speak fast but said your pace on Thoreau’s video How to be happy was better and all of the words sank in ,but appreciated inclusion of subtitles since it makes things easier.I told him you speak normal with excellent articulation and I have encountered by far people who speak at an accelerating pace than this ,as usual I understand everything and adore your elocution ,keep it up.
Great video and insight that's truly original & very well presented.
For a channel that's a few weeks short of a year old, you're doing a great job growing. Keep the great content coming.
Thank you! Looking forward to keeping it running this year!
Dostoevsky is an incredible writer. His style of written proses really catch your attention and you strive to constantly search for every single hidden meaning this has. Overall, great video.
Hi, I'm just a mere 17yo frm India but this is so relatable ... Lockdown has played a major role in all our lives and in mine by not letting me experience the real world .. I had lost 2 yrs old my life even though it was lockdown i could've been so productive as I skipped entire 8th and 9th grade without studying at all but instead i read romance novels and different such fantasy genres and escaped time.. i didn't know what was happening around me with my family I just simply felt as if time was ticking too fast and here I am i messed up my 10th grade board exams grades even though I got 85% ik i could've gotten 98 and now I'm in 11th and have stem subjects but even a little lack of motivation pushes me to read romance and dream of an impossible reality.. I might be a science student but I write poetry and love Literature and history but reality is that stem is the future and if I want to contribute in this next generation of digital revolution then physics will have to be my literature and maths my poetry... I do still maintain a notebook to write down my thoughts and poetry randomly .
I hope you're doing okay. I can relate to some of the stuff you're saying, I like to write in my free time so that I can escape from this reality.
Thank you so much, bro, cuz you use transcriptions in your videos. I'm trying to learn english and this help me a lot. I watch, read and listen to online things that i like to know about. Literature and Dostoyevsky is a simple exemple. My english is beginner to intermediate, but my goal is to be fluence in two or three years. I just study russian cuz i love russian literature, specially Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov. If someone here wants to talk in english about universal literature with a brazilian guy, i'm here, guys! I would love practice my speaking habilities with those who also love literature. Thanks a lot! Very good video!
This analysis was so beautiful. I have been a dreamer my whole life, so when I learned to love myself during the last relationship I had, it took a toll on me after it ended. It felt like I lost a huge part of me. Watching this made so much sense to me, giving me a huge insight. I will not stop no love myself regardless, even after a great, and the best relationship I had. Bring forth what I already have, and learn to love new things about me. And see the love my friends and family already have.
It fills me with such joy, that I see more and more people interested in great writers! And more specifically in one of my favorite novels!
Very appreciated for this video. Great explanation. I just read this a couple months ago. This really helped me understand it. Great presentation and production quality.
I've literally just read the novel yesterday, thanks for the video
Thank you for watching!
This hit home in a terrifying manner
Quite a fresh and productive video, my fellow. Congratulations on doing such a good work. You have my admiration
Your way of describing is mesmerizing! Honestly, it's inspiring and beautiful! Bravo!
I just love your work, man. Hope your channel blows up.
Thank you! Glad you like it
I am thoroughly convinced reading Dostoyevsky might be the antidote to my problems
His writings and worldview were highly influenced by Orthodoxy ☦️ I highly recommend his major novels, Notes From the Underground and his later short stories, most especially Dream of a Ridiculous Man.
Literally had this thought a few days ago wtf
That ending frustrates me so much for some reason. The protag clearly wasn't in a good place for a relationship but he got used and discarded and he didn't realize it, instead being 'happy' for her and not learning anything.
Being happy for those we love and harbouring no resentment for their betrayal is quite a strong positive thing and underrated...
thank god i found your channel today. now it would be more effective to read philosophy as your interpreations are amazing
you are a godsend 😩 thank you! i've only ever read crime and punishment and karamazov. I never knew dostoevsky has written something describing most of my life. Thank you! will get a copy immediately!
Every second of this video was truly profound and insightful. So many of these ideas coincided with my resolves, but perhaps I couldn't word these concepts in such an amazing manner. There is something I'd like to add on to this concept and it's possibly linked to quantum mechanics: "Reality is manifested as the opposite of what is percieved". Even if not the opposite, it does not match with perception.
I love this. I just finished reading this book and you put all the thoughts I had in an orderly fashion. I am really enjoying your videos. Thanks. 😊
Thank you for watching! I’m really glad you like the videos
In the french language, une nuit blanche is a sleepless night. I can't help but wonder how this concept might change the interpretation. Must pick up a copy to read myself. Thanx for the recommendation.
Your channel is one of the most valuable on RUclips.
Thank you! That’s very kind of you to say
Really liked this novel, I even knew where this was going even before getting to the end because I am a dreamer.
ALOT of people would benefit from hearing this
I really thank you, you helped me a great deal to get my ideas around and your insight was sure a useful one, I'll be sure to credit you in my essay ( ofc the essay will be my opinion but none the less you assured me that I was on the right road )
You've said everything that I have thought about. I've read it after finishing Notes from Underground and I haven't assimilated all of its meaning truly, at that moment being. A few weeks ago I got friendzoned, it was devastating for me but at the same time, if I really think about it, it has done more good to me. I've went back to White Nights, "meditating" on its meanings, completing my essaya with its contrast, the Eternal Husband. Your video presented in such a beautiful way what I learned from it, what emotions it made me feel. Although I am a theist, waiting to be accepted in the Catholic Church, due to multiple reasons I don't want to elaborate on RUclips, publicly, I wanted to say that yoy are a brilliant person. God bless you, may beauty save the world.
Wow what a great take. Thanks for sharing
Exceptional presentation. Standing Ovation.
your explination is in a another level , “I used to imagine (a real, not fantasy) dreams about a boy, yet when he married another person it was .. since then i stoped dreaming
This is a good thought experiment, the conclusion I arrived at a while ago is to integrate your dreams into reality. To dispense ideals leads to hopelessness, and to apply them in reality has the capacity of slowly liberate your own potential. You should definitely set expectations for your aspirations though so you are able to discard a bad deal that looks good.
You are doing a great job. Your videos contain important and interesting knowledge. I am also grateful that you dont use easy words but those which are "for more intelligent people", so i can improve my English
Thank you! This was very helpful ❤️
You, my guy, deserve much more than 77k subs, I’ll add one to them but that’s about what I can do. Best of luck on yt journey 👋🏼
wonerfull, thank you for your content. being intrigued by philosophy it clicks with me and helps me personally.
Thank you for watching! I’m so glad the videos are helpful
Damn this video really got me thinkin’, thank you for makin it!
Connected to this i think the passages of Fernando Pessoa that persuade the opposite. Those passages motivating one to live in and to escape into the fantasies and dreams of imagination.
Amazing critique. Thank you very much…
The stories we tell ourselves about the world, define our life to be either enriching, or pure misery.
Im currently at minute 10 and I have to go do something but I feel like missing something if I dont end this video. Keep it up you make awesome content
Sometimes i‘m not sure if I really want to watch one of your videos because the title isn‘t really attracting me. But everytime I get struck by it. Thanks for your work
Ah thank you! I’m glad you are liking the videos
@@unsolicitedadvice9198 i really do. You have a big impact on me recently
Thank you!!! Great content!!!
Very good! Valuable insight!
Great video. Gave me some self reflection.
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it
Bro good shit ! This video describes where I am in my love life right now
I have been engrossed in Dostoevsky's works lately and this came in timely in my recommendations which lead me to subscribing, I like how white nights has been discussed here concisely. I agree with how you interpeted the message that this story implies and we have some similar takeaways on it. Thanks for posting this as I think works like this is a remarkable deed for art, looking forward to the next videos.
Thank you for watching! And I am definitely picking him up more than normal at the moment
This video has a healing effect
I think this is my favorite video of all time
Excellent video! Subscribed
Thank you!
Another 🔥 video thank you !
Thank you for watching! I am glad you enjoyed it
great to hear about this novel that I have never read. Can't help but think about how things have changed: people can monetize fantasy now or share it in a way to create mass fantasy about a shared world, which takes the isolation and uselessness out of dreaming. there are fantasy games with economies bigger than small countries! But you have to create a fantasy others can share in, not one centered entirely on yourself like the protagonist is doing. Even back then if you can generalize then pining can become poetry and songs others can relate to and you can make some career out of.
I guess my point is: The market for fantasy has grown and continues to grow, so it might not be as destructive and negative as white nights insinuates.
wonderful and thought provocking explanation..
sad when even book characters should better be prepared for disappointment. great vid as always, thanks
P.S. YT has never recommended this channel to me, brought in after installing TikTok
Amazing video!
I read this novel some years ago, but I could not delve so deep in it back then, so that I am grateful for this in-depth analysis. We could actually have all expectations we want, but without clinging and feeling any attachment to them, so that no inner harm will come out of them failing to get fulfilled. However, I think that expectations arise out of us actually expecting aka wishing/awaiting/hoping for something to happen or materialize, so it may be hardly arguable that clinging to them is actually an organic part of the expectations itself, and expectations devoid of any clinging could perhaps hardly be considered as expectations at all, but just as some kind of future we imagine for ourselves just because we need to do so, the other option being that of ceasing to exist. This is absolutely open to debate, though. As for imagination, well, I am also a great dreamer, bust most of times I would not want those dreams to actually become real, for they would not be as perfect as they are in the mind. There's certainly some kind of escape from reality to that, but it is strictly confined to certain periods of time during the night, so that when morning comes, reality is dealt with, leaving fantasy completely aside for the next night, a fantasy that is good as it is, that is, a pure fantasy which cannot in any way be tainted by reality. And that is fine. And if one cannot find love outside, then better look for in inside. You are the only one person in the world who cannot betray or leave yourself. People are in general too fallible and instable to entrust them with our innermost romantic feelings, that is a very risky business which can end up causing much pain and despair in the end. Most of us truly pine for it, that's granted, but it has to be understood that enormous risks come as collateral elements for those who are not aware of how instable all this construct is, and romantic feelings - at least according to personal experience - may also be strongly linked to the notion of ego (yet another key Buddhist concept), so this may be the reason why humans are the only animals that can profess them. What is told at 12:31 may be a poignant example for this in the sense that the influence of the ego can have a plethora of adverse effects. That individual was probably unable to love his own self, which would have spared him infinite stresses and misery. Same applies to "incels" (me actually being de facto one of them) and those who complain about how hopelessly spoiled sentimental relations have become. Loving oneself truly spares one tons of suffering.
PS. - Has 'The Underground Man", "Poor Folk" or "A Nasty Story" already been discussed in this channel? Man, those are superb writings indeed... Great Dostoevsky fan here.
Have you read The Dream of a Ridiculous Man? It goes into the major themes Dostoevsky wrote about in his later novels and condenses them into about 25 pages. It's about a man who decides to self non-alive because he thinks life isn't worth living. While heading home he runs into a little girl asking for her mother. It bothers him but he doesn't know why. He falls asleep before he can self non-alive but dreams he does it anyway and then has a dream where he's transported into another world where he makes a discovery about himself and the meaning of life. I highly recommend it.
@@ElonMuskrat-my8jy Well I had knowledge of that novel, but the storms of life kept my attention diverted from further exploring Dostoevsky's literary universe. Thanks for the reminder, though, I'll see whether I can put myself in a proper internal disposition so as to calmly read it, for I do indeed have it in my collection of his complete works, but it is not easy to concentrate while being amidst substantial existential problems.
@@Nedmar There's audiobooks on RUclips for it if you're pressed for time. It's like 45 minutes or so.
So he was more focused on his ideals of her and not her herself. Also if he were introduced or practiced in more platonic friendships the mans value of another human would have changed I believe. Besides those thoughts, very eye opening especially in reality and dreaming. It is like he was maladaptive day dreaming but actively in the real world, just in VR mode
This analysis is so good it changed my rating for this book 😂💖
Amazing video. Thank you.
Thank you for watching!
Imagination is a tool like any other, it's not dangerous as long as you don't let it control you.