Errors in thinking

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Kharma

Well-Known Member
#1
As bad as it seems at the time, it can get better.

Sounds like good news, does it not? Too bad it's only half of the whole truth: it can also get worse.

Which brings me to my question:

We are told that it is often errors in thinking that lead to depression and other maladies. If that is true, then it is also true that errors in thinking could lead to happiness. Given these two things as facts, is it not possible that those of us who have a ROYAL hate on for existance are the ones who are right?
 

TheLoneWolf

Well-Known Member
#2
It can always get worse. 'Rock bottom' is a concept, we like to think that we've reached the lowest possible point that we could ever reach, but the truth is that things can ALWAYS get worse. And, yes, they can also get better. We can argue all day over whether or not the glass is half full or half empty - the truth is that it is both.

I've often wondered if the concept of 'happiness' is a false one, that happiness for most people is little more than a temporary state of mind that wears off over time. For some people, this happiness almost seems like a permanent state, and I would argue that their constant happiness is just as unnatural as somebody else's constant depression. I remember the George Carlin routine on everyday expressions... he mentions the expression "more than happy", and notes that it sounds like a dangerous mental condition. I do believe that excessive happiness is a form of mental illness - i.e., mania.

Suffering is a normal part of the human condition. Everybody is supposed to have ups and downs. We're supposed to feel happy when good things happen to us, and sad when bad things happen to us. There are several perfectly valid reasons to feel depressed about life. Life is hard. Life is painful. Life isn't fair. Bad things happen to us. People get sick. People get into accidents. Sometimes they end up disabled. Sometimes they're born disabled. People die. People get teased, bullied, intimidated, exploited, abused and ignored. People are rude and hateful towards one another. People lose friends, they lose lovers, they get cheated on, betrayed, lied to. There are a million things that can go wrong at any given time. On the other hand, there are precious few things in life that make us happy. For some of us, there are only one or two things that will make us happy, and oftentimes the things that we want most are the things that we cannot have.

Life is not supposed to be happy. Anyone who tells you it is, is either delusional or a liar. Yes, there are things in this world worth living for. Yes, it is possible for people to feel happy. Yes, sometimes good things do happen to us, usually only as a result of good luck and/or hard work on our parts, but they can happen nonetheless. As for who's wrong and who's right, what's normal and what's not, who is mentally ill versus who is sane, for the most part this is all subjective. Especially when we're dealing with matters of emotion - which is what depression and happiness really are, emotions. They aren't always rational. There is no right or wrong way to feel... we feel however we feel as a natural reaction to the things that happen to us. Some people take things better than others. It doesn't mean that one person's thinking is erroneous and the other person's is not; we're talking about emotions here.

True, society has created social norms for what it considers to be "normal thinking" versus "abnormal thinking", and depression is generally frowned upon, probably because it's contagious and it hinders productivity. So you have a lot of people walking around pretending to be happy when in reality they are suffering in silence, trying to be strong only to save face. Then you have these other types who actually are "happy" much of the time, most likely because they have found a way to emotionally disconnect themselves from the realities of life - or as they might say, "good coping skills". I don't know whether it's healthier to experience pain or to cut yourself off from it. I do know that, in my case at least, I could never really know happiness without first knowing suffering. Happiness is like a drug; if you get too much of it, you build up a tolerance to it over time and eventually it doesn't work any more. Sometimes you need to come down and experience those withdrawl symptoms in order to truly appreciate happiness.
 

yep

Well-Known Member
#3
Agree, it can get better. Getting worse is too a possibility but is not about what might hapen, as I think things happen very much because of our input rather by luck or destiny.
If we only apply the principle that you can only get better if you are alive, then death is not a good option as once you are death you not only end suffering but end the possibility of recovering at any time soon.
Errors in thinking? Yes we all do that from time to time because sense of hoppelesness and worthlesness and many other "lessness". Though once we discover these are just thoughts and no facts, it becomes easier to challenge these.
 

Kharma

Well-Known Member
#4
To paraphrase you here:

"...once we discover these are just thoughts and no facts..."

Give me the legal freedom, and I'll prove to whoever convinced you of THAT there is a point at which hopelessness is a FACT, and not a thought.
 

Aurelia

🔥 A Fire Inside 🔥
SF Supporter
#5
As bad as it seems at the time, it can get better.

Sounds like good news, does it not? Too bad it's only half of the whole truth: it can also get worse.

Which brings me to my question:

We are told that it is often errors in thinking that lead to depression and other maladies. If that is true, then it is also true that errors in thinking could lead to happiness. Given these two things as facts, is it not possible that those of us who have a ROYAL hate on for existance are the ones who are right?
Would you rather be right or be happy?
 

Kharma

Well-Known Member
#6
Would you rather win a game, or lose?

Of course I want to be right. Wouldn't pay any kind of respect to creation to see it other than it is.

Besides - at the pearly gates I can stare in at you through the bars, all living in paradise, stick out my tounge to give you a juicey "thhhhbbbbppppttt" and say: "Na-na-na-na-boo-boo. I was right."

;)
 
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