From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Sat Jun 15 2002 - 19:01:00 MDT
John Grigg wrote:
> John W Haggerty wrote:
> I believe that there are fates that are worse than death or poverty.
> Emotional misery can be much worse
> (end)
>
And yet emotional misery is to some extent directly addressable
by ourselves. We bring no little misery on ourselves by our own
attitudes, fixations and fears. Patterns of thinking,feeling,
doing can self-reinforce to our own misery. They can be
difficult to notice and even more difficult to break. But it
can be done even without taking anti-depressants in many, many
cases.
While I don't doubt anti-depressants are right for some I don't
feel at all comfortable with the millions of people in the US
that take them in order to get through their day. Something is
wrong when the use is that wide-spread. Something is wrong with
all too often no or little therapy to get at the psychological
knots and tensions also being prescribed. I have seen people
saved from suicide. I have seen other people who had much of
their creativity, energy, sex life and ability to get at the
meat of their problems medicated away along with their blues.
> To an extent, I agree with you. There are for instance very poor people in the third world who are relatively happy with their lives. But I think in these cases they generally have enough to eat and a place to lay their head. And perhaps a medical clinic within walking distance, too!
>
> I think that emotional misery could potentially be much worse there than in the developed western world because in most of the third world it is not simply a matter of getting "motivated" to get a better education and job going. Many of these disadvantaged souls are to a large part locked in to their fate. So if you are dealing with emotional misery, try to do it as a citizen of the western world!! I forget who made the famous quote "money may not buy happiness, but I at least want to be miserable in comfort!"
>
There is nothing more miserable than a person in the "developed"
world who has bought into the programming that all she has is
never ever enough and that more and ever more is requried for
her to be of worth! There is nothing more miserable than
slaving away to "get ahead" when the bar, even the bar of what
his parents wanted, continues to be priced higher and higher.
What is more miserable than having to choose between being with
one's children (if that is your deep desire) or to do the work
one most believes is one's calling and deep desire and making
enough money to pay the every growing bills? The notion we just
have to get motivated and get a better education and job is
clearer not sufficient to acheiving happiness or even
comparatively less misery. We auger in more expensively but all
too often we still auger in.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:48 MST