WARNING: MAY BE TRIGGERING!!!

This life is unfair and does not give us what we want. It takes away from those people who have problems in life and gives to those who have nice happy lives. We who never wanted to have depression have depression and are forced to live with it due to this life being unfair. Yet we think that this life will give us who are depressed and/or have anhedonia (emotional numbness) at least some fair advantage through inspiring mesages from others such as that we are strong, courageous, and better people for having suffered from depression and for moving forward in life despite of it. But that, to me, is something not true at all. The truth is that we want something fair given to us through inspiring messages such as these, but this life is unfair and, for that very reason, messages such as these are not true at all and is something this unfair life won't give to us. Inspiring messages such as these are delusional. We as human beings are always looking for positive things in life and even invent inspiring messages and such to give us false hopes and a false sense of moving forward in life. For example, people have invented religion and say that there is a God and a heaven. But I am an atheist and know that this is not true and don't believe in such superstition.

So these inspiring messages and inspiring philosophies that say we are stronger and such for having problems in life, this is yet another one of those concocted beliefs I don't believe in. Now if you are going to say something such as that depression has inspired you to help more people suffering and in pushing and striving more in life to get more things done and such, the truth is that you can help others and push and strive and do great things in life just as good as (and even better) through living nice happy lives than those people who do through their life of suffering and despair. This can be done through living a nice happy life under the right circumstances. Therefore, our suffering and despair is truly pointless and we are not better or stronger people for having gone through it and for moving forward in life despite of it. Although some forms of struggle do have a benefit such as becoming more physically fit through hard training in the military which would be the "no pain, no gain" mentality in having gained something that living a nice happy live couldn't achieve, there are forms of struggle in this life that are truly pointless. Depression as well as anhedonia is one of these pointless struggles and is nothing but pointless misery (especially for those who can't gain any betterment from their suffering and are doomed to an entire life of suffering).

Depression and anhedonia do not offer any greater benefit than living a nice happy life. Therefore, we are all instead inferior as opposed to who we would be through living nice happy lives and opposed to those people who live nice happy lives. So happy people with nice lives are truly the better and stronger people with the better lives compared to us. Now some scientific studies show that people who went through trauma and depression become more compassionate, understanding, caring, and become better leaders and such that living a nice happy life could never achieve. Although this might hold true for some people, this does not hold true for everyone and is not a proven scientific fact. There are many other scientific studies indicating the opposite and I have every reason to instead believe these scientific studies. I have every reason to instead believe that you can be the better compassionate/understanding person and better in other ways as well under the right circumstances through living a nice happy life. For example, anyone can be a better compassionate/understanding person by changing his/her attitude as well as through other things in life. Another example would be that you can be the more intelligent person and help others suffering through your intelligence by reading and studying up on things. In other words, you do not have to suffer in order to be a better/smarter/more creative person.

Some would say that we are heroes for our depression and anhedonia by saying something such as that "A hero is an ordinary person who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." But this "heroic" meaning or any other positive meaning for that matter would be the weaker and lesser meaning compared to how much stronger and better we would be through living nice happy lives based on my arguments in my post. It would be irrational to think that this "heroic" meaning is somehow better. It would be irrational in terms of science and would be irrational in terms of philosophy. It would also be irrational based on everything I'm saying in my writing.

Now here's another thing I would like to say which is that who you are as a person is all things about you (your thoughts, knowledge, personality, attitude, your pleasure and other emotions, etc.). Therefore, to lose your ability to experience pleasure or other emotions due to depression or anhedonia (emotional numbness) would make you a lesser person. Also, it's the people who don't accept a lifelong depression or anhedonia that are at least the better people because they are more compassionate in telling others to try and live your life all you can to recover your ability to experience pleasure.

This is a topic on this forum that shows an example of what I mean:

*mod edit - link to external forum removed*

There is a user named *mod edit* who realizes that there are people who can never accept living a life of depression or anhedonia and are on the brink of either suicide or homicide because of this. For the sake of these very types of people, *mod edit* does not tell anyone to accept a lifelong depression or anhednoia that might never get better. Instead, he encourages these people to keep trying all they can to recover their ability to experience pleasure. So this is the reason why people such as *mod edit* are better compassionate people as opposed to those people who live by philosophies and such that encourage acceptance of living an entire life of suffering and despair. People with acceptance of living an entire life of depression or anhedonia that might never get better or fully recover are the lesser people and are less compassionate because they instead tell others to accept a lifelong depression or anhedonia and even tell this to the faces of those who are on the brink of suicide or homicide. People such as *mod edit* are also the better people because they never give up on trying to recover their pleasure and instead inspire others to not give up on this either. But people with acceptance are discouraging and will drive people to suicide or homicide.

Finally, I believe in evolution and that our sole purpose is to survive. In other words, the phrase "survival of the fittest" is our motto in life and is our only purpose in living. Those with anhedonia and depression as well as other major problems are the most unfit for survival (the weakest) while those with nice happy lives are the most fit for survival (the strongest) and that is what makes these happy people superior. We are nothing special or strong for having suffered and for moving forward in life despite our suffering because we would still be unfit for survival (weak). Strong (in terms of science) is when you gain something. For example, if you are strong from working out, that would mean you have gained muscles. Weak would then be the opposite. So it's as simple as losing a part of you through depression or anhedonia (which would be your pleasure and/or other emotions) would make you weaker. But any other meaning we give to words such as "strong" or "weak" besides what they are in terms of science, those types of meanings would be irrational and false since there is nothing beyond science. Also, as I said before, any gains we obtain from suffering and despair are gains we can achieve just as good (and even better) through living nice happy lives and that is what makes us lesser and weak compared to who we would be through living nice happy lives and in comparison to those who do live nice happy lives.

You say there is nothing beyond science, but that's patently untrue - and any scientist will tell you that. Science is merely a means of determining factual information. It is not meant - nor can it - assign value to a given thing. That's not it's function, and it's the mistake eugenics and the Social Darwinists made.

Science can tell you how a human variation came to be. It can't tell you whether that variation is "good" or "bad" or "better" or "worse". It may be able to tell predict (to some degree) what the impact of a variation will be on the individual's survival or reproduction. It can't tell you whether survival or reproduction is the gauge you should use to judge individual worth. Those are philosophic questions, not scientific ones.

I personally don't often use lifespan or reproduction to value individuals. And nothing - including science - obligates me to. Instead I look at how kind and compassionate a person is, how unique and authentic, how thoughtful, and so on.

And even if I decided - for whatever reason - to use lifespan and reproduction as my gauge. Science tells us that the diversity of a species - including diversity in mood and temperment - is critical to the survival of the species. That's probably why depression exists - because it serves a purpose I the survival of the species. And it's unlikely that humans would exist or have progressed so far if everyone were in a good mood all the time.