Auto-SummaryThis forum post critiques a statement that attributes depression to self-serving behavior, arguing that such a perspective is unqualified and dismissive of the lived experience of depression. The author emphasizes that depression is a genuine, natural aspect of human sensitivity, not a mental distortion or a result of denial. They highlight Cognitive_Shift's (CS) observations as objective and valid, given his empathetic and caring nature. The post encourages CS to recognize his own goodness and resilience, suggesting that his suffering is evidence of his virtuous nature. Ultimately, it posits that acknowledging the depth of despair can lead to profound spiritual insight and healing, portraying despair as a testament to human virtue amidst a flawed world.
>> It's self serving behaviour, same as how you describe the world.
This is the sort of statement that comes from people who have no experience with depression, or are in a bound state of powerful denial about their own depression. Such people are either extremely fortunate as to not suffer spiritually with depression in the way such people actually do, or they are extremely unfortunate in that they are very far away from coming to terms with it. I sincerely hope this statement comes from the former category.
Depression is painful; it is not something people inflict on themselves absent of some tangible schism. To declare it as self-serving behaviour is like telling a lesbian she's just going through an experimental phase. It is an arbitrary assessment of the depth of someone else's felt experience. Our assessment may or may not be true, but either way it's not an assessment we're qualified to make, as we ourself cannot be the occupant of another person's subjective experience.
In contrast, Cognitive_Shift is an occupant of the human experience, and as such he is qualified to come upon objective observations about that experience. The observations he has made are legitimate, his opinions valid. Our civilization is stratified, pyramidal, and exploitative, and our species' relationship with the planet is parasitic, bearing many of the same characteristics as a disease process. Such observations are supported by evidence, and therefore qualify as objective.
Some people are especially sensitive to these realities. For such people, depression is not a property of some mental distortion, nor is an improper focus a prerequisite for their mood to be affected by what they see. The phenomenon of depression for them is in fact a function of their sensitivity, it is as natural to them as the phenomenon of climate change. It is not optional; there is no off switch; it simply happens as a consequence of coalescent conditions. It is an inescapable reality.
Realizing this is not a cop-out, nor does it constitute giving up or caving in. In fact, it's just the opposite. It takes a great deal of courage to be still with such a pain-filled truth. This is just the tip of what is actually an iceberg of virtue, it's true berth hidden beneath the turbulence of deep spiritual waters.
If we accept that CS comes by his feelings honestly (it makes sense to accept this until there is evidence to the contrary), he would not be feeling the way he does if he were not a good-hearted, empathetic, caring human being. If he did not bear these traits earnestly, he would not have cause to feel so alienated. If it were not for his capacity to bear witness to that tranquility which is so wondrous, and of such profound, shatteringly beautiful depth, he would not have the sensation that something is amiss, nor he would be able to recognize and be horrified by brutality and chaos. There would be no reason to cry out. And so it is in fact the very tragedy of this human world which informs him of his own good nature, and consequently awakens him, you, and all of us to the mere existence of such irrevocable benevolence.
Cognitive_Shift, consider this carefully. Let these words penetrate your understandable anger and frustration. You are living proof of the human capacity for seraphic ardor. You yourself are the evidence. It doesn't get any more conclusive than that, my friend. Find your solace there. Take refuge in it. Give yourself permission to pause from attending to the world, and devote your entire perceptive faculty to the magnificent, blameless, truthful benevolence that is you. Its brilliance is like the sound of an exquisite bell. Let it permeate everywhere. And then brace yourself, because the anguish of the world will again overwhelm you with its howl. But this time, its duration and severity will be slightly less, and each time thereafter your resilience will become slightly more. And then suddenly you'll find yourself helping to heal the world that has shattered you so, having lived up to your own chosen pseudonym.
Sometimes, people flounder in dismay about the human condition because it confers upon them an exaggerated sense of their own nobility. Seen insincerely like that, it appears as though they're merely compensating for low self-esteem. Even if this is the case, it is entirely irrelevant, because such low self-esteem is only the inverse of this same felt chasm between oneself and the identifiable hostilities found within the surrounding world. This forces us into the same conclusion: that the felt condition of despair is itself evidence of indestructible virtue. Whereupon a person wholly comes to terms with their poisoned state of despair, it is the recognition of this indestructible virtue that is antidotal and naturally arising.
The eye that sees the light is blinded by it: there arises darkness. The heart that feels the bliss is crushed beneath it: there arises sorrow. By the same, within interminable darkness all things are actualized, and through sorrow all bliss thus eternally so. The world we inhabit is one rotating whole, dawning in perpetual glory as it is relentlessly plunged into never-ending darkness: this is as true spiritually as it is physically.
Edited by Ped (12/31/12 12:40 PM)
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