POLL: What is your religious faith?

[bluud]

Quote from MajorUrsa:

Nobody wants to be rational all the time, but when you could, you wouldn't be so miserable. That's why I asked you to answer Hansel's question. If you do decide not to be rational about your distorted views, then you choose to accept them and the misery that follows is your own choice. Do you want to be happy, if you had the choice?

shouldn't you be happy that you are living a happier life than me, so why try to advise?

anyhow I don't expect you to answer my question, it somehow made time pass posting on this thread, but now it doesn't, I'm assuming the purpose was fulfilled, whatever it was, now I don't even feel like replying to any posts more than this

 

[Hansel H]

Quote from MajorUrsa:

Nobody wants to be rational all the time, but when you could, you wouldn't be so miserable. That's why I asked you to answer Hansel's question. If you do decide not to be rational about your distorted views, then you choose to accept them and the misery that follows is your own choice. Do you want to be happy, if you had the choice?

Greetings, Ursa. Here's my 2 cents worth:

It's not so easy to change one's own mood because with every mood there comes an associated worldview. If a person is severely depressed s/he may not feel that there's any value in happiness; happiness is painted with the same gloomy brush everything else is and is dismissed as just another deception or illusion or whatever.

Also, misery can serve a purpose - for instance as a way of atoning for some real or imagined guilt. A person using her/his misery in this manner can value happiness but refuse to pursue it.

In either case the person feeling miserable may be irritated by rational discussion of her/his situation because the sufferer feels that the other party to the discussion 'just doesn't understand' the essence of the sufferer's experience.

There are other possible ways of interpreting a given situation, of course.

Hans

 

[MajorUrsa]

Quote from Hansel H:

Greetings, Ursa. Here's my 2 cents worth:

It's not so easy to change one's own mood because with every mood there comes an associated worldview. If a person is severely depressed s/he may not feel that there's any value in happiness; happiness is painted with the same gloomy brush everything else is and is dismissed as just another deception or illusion or whatever.

Also, misery can serve a purpose - for instance as a way of atoning for some real or imagined guilt. A person using her/his misery in this manner can value happiness but refuse to pursue it.

In either case the person feeling miserable may be irritated by rational discussion of her/his situation because the sufferer feels that the other party to the discussion 'just doesn't understand' the essence of the sufferer's experience.

Good summary and very well put. I agree with all of it and I know what you mean, from experience.
The biggest hurdle is for the person to recognize and admit that the situation is out of the ordinary and the cause (and solution) lie within that person. After that it can be a relieve to know that it is 'just' an ailment of the brain that can easily be cured with medicine and/or therapy.

That said, it is every ones right of course to ignore helpful hints and stay in their own world. In this specific case of bluud it just struck me how extremely negative yet intelligent his comments were. It seems like such a waste so I thought just to mention this, not to offend him.

To bluud I would say, trying to get out of the misery is a highly unpredictable venue and lead to unexpected new experiences. It might just relieve your boredom. It did with me.

Ursa..

 

[Hansel H]

Quote from MajorUrsa:

Good summary and very well put. I agree with all of it and I know what you mean, from experience.
The biggest hurdle is for the person to recognize and admit that the situation is out of the ordinary and the cause (and solution) lie within that person. After that it can be a relieve to know that it is 'just' an ailment of the brain that can easily be cured with medicine and/or therapy.

That said, it is every ones right of course to ignore helpful hints and stay in their own world. In this specific case of bluud it just struck me how extremely negative yet intelligent his comments were. It seems like such a waste so I thought just to mention this, not to offend him.

To bluud I would say, trying to get out of the misery is a highly unpredictable venue and lead to unexpected new experiences. It might just relieve your boredom. It did with me.

Ursa..

Insight and intelligence are indispensable to uncovering one's own truth but, then again, intelligence can sabotage the sufferer because s/he is more able to concoct rationalizations and more able to counter logical arguments against her/his attitudes.

It seems that we can get trapped within out own loops and sometimes need some outside influence to force us out of our unhappiness. Drugs can often be effective as a short-term solution but a policy of balanced involvement in the world outside the self I think is better in the long run.

But it's never easy, is it? Often one's environment truly is screwed up and involvement in it can make matters even worse. Even those who truly love us can unintentionally exacerbate our misery.

(sigh)

Hans