Depression

Another reason why people are depressed is because of societal prejudice and the negative messages society conveys to people. Man seemingly has a native distrust of his own judgement, yielding readily under the weight of that of others. The tyranny of the collective over the individual is such that it extends into our very thoughts. Only under extreme stress and self-doubt do men exercise their autonomy from the group in intellectual and moral matters. This, of course, explains why so many victims of oppression come to align their own view of themselves with that of the society that oppresses them. As if by some inner compulsion, men defer to the judgements others have of them, and if others reflect back to them a negative image of themselves in their judgements, then self-loathing is assured, which, when it reaches a certain pitch, resolves itself into the extreme mental pain associated with severe depression, a state of mind in which suicidal desire flourishes.

Hi Cledwyn,

Yes. Contemplating the state of the world is a severe challenge to our feelings about ourselves.
Your observations and analysis are perceptive and admirably coherent.
Those who do not drink of this bitter knowledge are lesser beings for having abstained.

Bitter indeed, for willingly or not, we are participants in humanity,
and thus share some responsibility for the state of our species,
and for being helpless to prevent depredations by the rogues who dominate our collective destiny.

Just finished Nicholas Shaxon’s “Treasure Islands : Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World”.
A huge achievement of investigative journalism, that spells out the unspoken background
to the literally-incredible financial Religion of lunatics like Ronnie Reagan and Baroness Thatcher.

At last, I understand the machinery and personalities that underlie Chomsky’s heroic revelations.
Not an easy read, but the ancient truth “Know your Enemy” is perhaps worth the pain.

I was always averse to pain – it seems so pointless . . .
but the ugly circumstances of my life have educated me
into refusing to be intimidated by that horrible feeling,
educated me into maintaining the truth as the highest value,
a value to which pain is sometimes the gatekeeper.

Despite the ordeal of looking at the hidden ugliness of our purported leaders,
I reckon myself to be happy.

I found the definition “Happiness is the Absence of unHappiness” a useful weapon
in the fight against melancholia.

To spell it out, most people are under the misapprehension
that happiness and pleasure are synonymous, that comfort is a shield
against the gnawing pain of a frustrated Spirit.

In learning how to get rid of the causes of unHappiness,
there was a huge serendipitous payoff in knowledge and insight.

Not a small task. I still laugh at myself, when recollecting my guileless 20yo prediction
that I would be on top of it in 3months.

But persistent intent to be rid of toxic baggage has done the job,
and I have personally verified that Vernon Howard’s definition is both original and accurate.

Yes. I envisage a worthwhile purpose to the ordeals I have undertaken.
My sincere and questioning encounter with mankind’s best friend, Mescalito,
completely demolished my {relatively sophisticated 20yo} Reality-Map.

The old metaphor of up Shyte Creek in a Barbed Wire Canoe without a Paddle
poetically captures the depth of losing one’s conceptual shields.
I was facing my greatest fears, and my magnificent friend had broken my paddle.

Today I look back at that scariest month of my life
with wry appreciation, amusement even.
At Mescalito’s artfulness – giving me a shove that has kept me busy for over 40years.

Compulsively working on refining my reality map,
which I scrupulously started reBuilding from scratch,
accepting only concepts I have personally verified.
Discarding nonsense, but putting into the forensic archives
anything that does not fit.

Done it so long, my rigorous mapping almost runs itself.
Yet, it is an intriguing task, complex, dynamic, challenging.
I find sheer delight in a breakthrough in understanding.
Delight : something abstract I thought had been broken in my youth, has come back.

Not all the time, but enough to sweeten the orDeal to my satisfaction.

And there are other people setting superb examples,
demonstrating what a sincere awareness can achieve.
For example, I am currently reading a book by one of mankind’s most-important Leaders,
George Monbiot’s “Feral : Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of reWilding”.

George works as a columnist for the Guardian, and his importance to us all
is he is proposing WORKABLE Solutions to the urgent problems confronting us all collectively.

Not only to dethrone the Tyranny of Money,
but providing a strategy to evolve society by implementing competent management.

Examining our values and our thinking, pointing out the treacheries,
and proposing a workable agenda of reclaimation,
undertaking our responsibility as the most-influential species,
the moral responsibility to be Husbanding our living Earth.

Here, George is brilliantly acting out Chomsky’s prediction of grassroots activism,
of bringing Capital to its proper role as a service industry, a provider of prosperity and comfort.

Same machinery, with different programming, is what we Need
to navigate the restoration of our ecology, both internal and external ;
innovating an Egalitarian political ecology,
and responsible for an ecology outside society, as mature Earthlings in a vulnerable biosphere.

I reckon George Monbiot’s voice is extending mankind’s conceptual options for the future.
His ideas are reDefining my understanding of what our options are,
and my ideas of who gets to do the choosing.

Same problem that anguishes your decency . . . simply a different perspective.

The dynamics of awareness and mood are worth studying, and best of all,
putting our abilities to work for a worthy objective is not Prevented by Poverty.

George found his venue in investigative journalism.
My venue is applied science, questing for a revolution in technology.

Even if I fail, there is happiness, a joyous abandon,
to be had in defiantly striving to do the seemingly impossible.

Exercising a controlled folly, meticulously tailoring it to my natural proclivities,
a strategic folly which enacts the positive form of self-importance,
and opens doors to the engineering of “dark matter”

Such an ambition helps me to be comfortable with the limits that seem to surround us . . .

The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life.
I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy.
I mean that if you are happy you will be good.

. . . Bertrand Russell

an intuitive lack of faith in existence, a kind of sickness unto death.

Lack of faith in Existence. How Curious. See the Paradox ?
Our existence is Self-Evident, yet Somehow denied.

This is the corollary of my keenness for paradox, the Dark Side of paradox.

What is the “Somehow” that denies the self-evident ?
What is the thrust of the flavour ?
Why is it unReasonable ?
Why is it a “sickness unto Death” ? . . .

Consider, dear friend, the legitimacy of such an impulse unto mood.
Is it an Absolute truth, like gravity, or a punch in the nose ?
Is it a quirk you accepted whilst too inExperienced to discriminate ?

Or is it something purposeful, driven to re-occur relentlessly ?
tormenting the dignity of our Existence with toxic self-doubt . . .

A person as passionate and nuanced as Cledwin is wracked with unHappiness
by a question that many would regard as insignificant, irrelevant.
Wracked by a recurrent impulse – apparently not of your choosing.

An alternative hypothesis to being Milked by a mind-parasite would be Welcome,
if it were plausible, but there IS considerable correlation between this hypothesis,
and the moods and emotions that spur our exploration of the Meaning
of the Cruelties we witness being exchanged by our fellow-humans.

I am a seer, a healer, and I say unto thee :
Human Nature Is In Direct Contradiction To Destructive Cruelty.

We humans are Not defined by the travesties imposed on weak individuals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nonsense is the Enemy we should Fight and Vanquish,
not the original Sin described in Jehovah’s pompous book of Lies.

an External sin : a mind-poisoning parasite that bewilders our faculties of Morality and Reason.
a cold-blooded parasite that thrives on distress and suicide,
syphoning-off the intense emotions of inner and outer conflicts.

Heaps Easier to fight a transient venom from a feeble parasite than to re-invent ourselves entirely.
. . . { Cruxx is appealing to laziness here. Shamelessly.}
An hypothesis worthy of reSearch, which is Revolutionary in its implications.

As for skepticism, what could be more toxic to mental health ? than cynicism ?
For though they call it doubt and skepticism, the underlying behaviour is Cynicism.
No corporate scientist will consider the hypothesis of an adaptive dark-matter mind-parasite.
That’s not skepticism : that’s materialist ideology taking over control of the conversation.

The theology of materialist science is a fraud {like all theologies},
insofar as the believers disregard both witnesses and evidence . . .
based on a grotesquely-inadequate theology of Everything.

A theology so grotesque that the only way materialist science can explore the roots of matter
is with ever-higher-speed hammers at CERN.

Ask any scientist “What is the agglutinating force ?” . . .
Not on their reality map, yet they go looking for it with $7Billion particle-hammers.
Not skeptic – Truncated.

Scientific method is truncated by ideological Forbidden Knowledge,
posturing “scientific skepticism” as if it were the intellectual equivalent
of frilly knickers, pheromones and net stockings.

Evidence drives an investigation . . . whereas doubt cancels investigation.
Polar Opposites.

When we stop wasting our efforts on Doubt, and turn to whatever-works
our strategy becomes Dynamic, incisive.
Empiricism trumps theory - every time.

And believing in God absolutely positively does not work.
Kierkegaard was mistaken {or was he deliberately MisLed, like Saul ? }.

I’ll take the argument further : belief/faith is the polar OPPOSITE of Knowledge.

Belief PREVENTs investigation.
Why look for reality, when you already have the word of a Jewish zealot {Saul of Tarsus}?
The promise of absolution from a murdered heretic {Jesus}, whom Saul never met.
. . . deBunking religion is a CakeWalk.

God is a non-issue, a distraction from the reality of a universe that is unThinkably Diverse.

Not common knowledge these days, but a lot of people saw World War 2 coming.
There was a worldwide campaign of prayers for peace.
Hundreds of Millions of human beings prayed for Peace.
And BlitzKrieg was the outcome.

An outcome that suits a creature with a history of demanding blood-sacrifice
Between Kosher/Halal ritual slaughter, ceremonial magic,
and the industrial-scale Aztec sacred Flower Wars that fed ritual human sacrifice.
there is a common thread.

Fresh meat is a relatively expensive commodity,
especially when blowing a kiss is a more appropriate gesture of Thanks to the Creator.

The underlying theme of strategic bamboozlement is everywhere I have looked.

Clear thinking must look beyond appearances and obfuscating dogma,
to the underlying dynamics, to the outcomes.

Doubt has little practical value, but it paralyses the doubter. . .
. . . why investigate something,? when doubt offers an easy-seeming armchair-answer.
Because doubt is no more than an impulse in the mind – no evidence to assess, just an impulse. . .

In assessing the probabilities of fulfilment, doubt provides a null outcome, the born loser.

And each of us chooses : either a strategic controlled folly . . . or the defaults of Doubt.
Each human decides their destiny, either deliberately or by default.
I recommend against the default.

Best Regards, the Cruxx.

Thank you for these beautifully written and thoughtful texts, Cledwyn Bulbs. I’m looking forward to read more of them. I have to say I’ve been a little hesitant to comment on these, since they have a sense of soliloquy to them.

Just a few words...

The story goes that Wittgenstein thought of using a line from King Lear, ‘I’ll teach you differences,’ as the epigraph for his Philosophical Investigations. I think this would serve as a useful guideline for someone who was about to write a treatise on the philosophy of psychiatry, too. Namely, the way the language is used in psychiatry resembles the way it is used in other branches of medicine and this shared parlance hides the deeper disanalogy, those diverging features that separate psychiatry from other branches.

One divergent feature that you already referred to, and which might be the most important one, is the fact that the definitions of mental illnesses like depression are logically dependent on the symptomatic criteria. (This is not true of somatic illnesses.) The very notion of “symptomless depression” would seem to make a fine exemplar for a contradictio in adiecto. After noting this, one starts to wonder whether terms like “depression” are just names for conceptual constructions and have no real reference. The implications of this position for the whole concept of mental illness and for the legitimacy of the current psychiatric practice are profound.

Riccola wrote:My opinion is that if you give a person anti-depressants without a chemical imbalance you eventually create one. The brain is plastic, so it will adjust. When the medication is removed you will get withdrawal, even if it is just worsened depression, you end up right back on the drug.

Ding ding ding! Give this person a prize!

I find it very hard trying to explain to others that my depression is existential in nature. No one seems to understand it except, let's say, for a few Buddhists here and there that understand that life is all about suffering and everything borders on a nihilistic view if not careful. But I've tried Buddhism, too, and I fear that it's just made my depression even worse. Lots of politics and craziness there, too, believe it or not. So I've come to the conclusion that my original assessment was the right one: life is pointless. And if one more person tells me that I need to "get out of my head" or "focus on helping others" or "stop feeling sorry for myself," I am going to lose my s**t. Why? Because that is insinuating that my depression (as well as other peoples') is selfish. That it is baseless and childish. Have you ever thought that I am depressed for everybody, not just me? Have you ever considered that my depression is not just about my life and my problems, but the problems I see every day and the hopelessness and pointlessness that surrounds us all, and that fact that so many people are blind to the fact that they are living a lie? That's depression. That's true hopelessness. That's loneliness.

So if seeing the truth makes me selfish? Then I guess I'm selfish. But I will no longer play the game in order to make everyone else feel comfortable. I will no longer be led by that dangling carrot that things could possibly get better. No amount of money, no job, no kind act, no amount of mind-blowing sex, no promises of enlightenment, etc., will ever change the fact that this life is all a big, fat lie.

I envy the ignorant.

why are you allowing a big fat lie
. . . tell you how to feel.?

Are lies more powerfull than a thankyou ?

Our environment is a powerful thing. If those around us are sad we become sad too. If our basic needs aren't met to the fullest we become sad. Living a life we were meant to live differently makes us sad. Psychiatry fails to see situational depression. In today's stressful world full of material possessions and limited social contact depression is inevitable. Psychiatry calls this a chemical imbalance because the person has everything and should be happy. But truth is they don't have everything. Instead rather than finding a root cause medication is given to mask the symptoms.


Seeing truth is powerful, and based on what that truth is can make or breaker a person. Seeing others live a lie is heartbreaking. This is why I am such a fan of this forum because deep intellectual discussions can take place without oppression.


My 2 cents

Hi Riccola,
It surely is the case that those who are sad want us to be sad with them.
Agreeing to be sad with them is a socialised response, a self-inflicted injury.
Refusing to agree with their sadness [or their madness] can provide a positive jolt, a reality check.

Even if refusing to agree fails to break the vortex of misery,
at least we have not stepped on to the slippery slope of melancholia ourself.

My fondness for rebellion has spared me a lot of unNecessary grief, and many ugly entanglements.

Thanks for the reference to Rosenhan's work - not previously known.

Cruxx wrote:why are you allowing a big fat lie
. . . tell you how to feel.?

Are lies more powerfull than a thankyou ?

Anyway, if you think life is wonderful, that is great. I am happy for you. I do not get off on telling kids there is no Santa Claus, so why would I want to ruin life for you and try to convince you it sucks?

And whatever you do, don't take the red pill.

Anyway, if you think life is wonderful, that is great.

thankyou, It is dishonest to put your interpretation in my mouth,
Dumbing-Down the structured nuances of my understanding of Life.

If you love your Misery, be my guest.
You are free to be as intractable as you like.

Cledwyn :

lest they infect the happy, beautiful people, Fortune's favourites,

and

I think happiness, as an abiding state of bliss, is just a mirage in the desert of human suffering, a friar's lantern that retreats upon approach, that draws us deeper and deeper into the infernal nether-regions of human misery.

This is the christian concept of happiness.
No wonder you think you are less than happy, and believe that happiness is a Nonsense.
Your definition of happiness IS a Nonsense.
As absurd as the christian idea of Heaven . . . an endless unConsciousness of Reality.

The happy person has available to them the full range of the emotional spectrum.

Responsenses to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune are a passing Commentary
a commentary from yourself to yourself, on events as they unfold.

The fixating of the emotions in either mania or melancholia is an abberration.

Where the so-called depressive differs, is that they fortify their mind against diversity of feelings,
just as the Born-Again Nincompoop fortifies their reality-map with an idiotic idea of salvation.

Both are artificial, a misguided attempt to fit their mood to a misconception.
A misconception about our Relationship with reality,
an unRealistic expectation that they impose on themselves, and attempt to impose on Others
a Monoculture of Misery, or a monoculture of grovelling to a Pretentious Parasite.

The home ground of our emotions is Sobriety, not Happiness.
Happiness is the natural outcome of a healthy attitude,
a side-effect of the Absence of wallowing in outraged self-importance.

Your thoughts are powerful . . . Powerful enough to tell you how to Feel.
If you want freedom from endless misery, Get Your Thinking Straight.

Edit: Nevermind....