Why is legitimate Existential Crisis confused with depression ?

[Mike]

No, we were talking specifically about how the purposelessness of life causes depression, and now I'm being called smug for explaining how i deal with life not having purpose. But it's not that anymore. Now it's no matter what, you're going to be depressed because you have to be depressed.

Fine. Just don't drag me into a conversation where you're forcing me to be and then blaming me for being "smug".

I'm just trying to get you to grasp the fact that people that are depressed aren't actively making a choice to be depressed. That shit is ultra smug. You'll note I have not said life is pointless, or we'll just be sad no matter what so there's no point. I have not given up, if I had I wouldn't be having this conversation because I'd be dead.


Telling depressed people to just cheer up or any version of that is completely pointless, that's not how it works. If it makes you feel good to say it then cool. Just don't be under the illusion that it's EVER in any way helpful at all. We're depressed not retarded. Not being depressed or finding the joy in various things has occurred to us. It would be sort of silly if it hadn't.

 

[Guestx]

No, we were talking specifically about how the meaninglessness of life causes depression, and now I'm being called smug for explaining how i deal with life not having purpose. But it's not that anymore. Now it's no matter what, you're going to be depressed because you have to be depressed.

Fine. Just don't drag me into a conversation where you're forcing me to be and then blaming me for being "smug".

My only issue with anything that you've said is that you seem to feel like your viewpoint is the only legitimate viewpoint. If someone doesn't feel like you do, then they're just not trying hard enough.

There are many worldviews out there, and even those that don't conform to yours can be legitimate.

 

[Mike]

My only issue with anything that you've said is that you seem to feel like your viewpoint is the only legitimate viewpoint. If someone doesn't feel like you do, then they're just not trying hard enough.

There are many worldviews out there, and even those that don't conform to yours can be legitimate.

Bingo.

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

My only issue with anything that you've said is that you seem to feel like your viewpoint is the only legitimate viewpoint. If someone doesn't feel like you do, then they're just not trying hard enough.

There are many worldviews out there, and even those that don't conform to yours can be legitimate.

Yes, self-destructive nihilism is legitimate. Killing yourself is an option. What's the point in encouraging those?

 

[ocean size]

"I must find a truth which is true for me. A truth for which I can live and die."

-- Soren Kierkegaard

I have mixed feelings on the quote. On the one hand I think one must find their place without needing to take life so seriously... Steppenwolf style. On the other it would be nice to have something so engrossing to live for. But what happens when you lose that thing? I never agreed with the Nietzcheian "if you can't live proudly die proudly" reasoning. The quote is certainly something to think on.

 

[Harmonica]

On the real though I think drugs could be potentially problem solving to depressed people. Not abusing but like tripping with the intention of confronting yourself.

Good point. It all comes down to what will motivates a person to do something. A will that negates is never a solution. It must be an affirmative one.

 

[Guestx]

Yes, self-destructive nihilism is legitimate. Killing yourself is an option. What's the point in encouraging those?

As I hinted at in an earlier post, sometimes comfort and healing is best brought about by simple understanding rather than being told how you need to just chin up and get your shit together.

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

I'm just trying to get you to grasp the fact that people that are depressed aren't actively making a choice to be depressed. That shit is ultra smug. You'll note I have not said life is pointless, or we'll just be sad no matter what so there's no point. I have not given up, if I had I wouldn't be having this conversation because I'd be dead.


Telling depressed people to just cheer up or any version of that is completely pointless, that's not how it works. If it makes you feel good to say it then cool. Just don't be under the illusion that it's EVER in any way helpful at all. We're depressed not retarded. Not being depressed or finding the joy in various things has occurred to us. It would be sort of silly if it hadn't.

You're merely upset because i don't have good advice for you when no good advice exists. The mere attempt to be encouraging is smug.

Do you see the predicament?

 

[Harmonica]

Yeah I sort of already reached that conclusion as well. I'm working on getting an education and trying to improve my life. Maybe some day I'll put it all together and feel better. We'll see.

People radiate what they carry inside them and it attracts people that are alike. That's why you should never trust relationships and friendships that were born during dark eras of your life.

I have never suffered from depression but I experienced two existential crisis in my lifetime. The first was in high school and the second one was when my father died. Needless to say, I beat the shit out of them on both occasions, but it was a prolonged and hard struggle.

 

[ocean size]

"Everyone" certainly doesn't think that. Maybe when you're 17. Most depressed people I've ever known grasp it's an issue with their outlook and the way they think. It just isn't easy to fix any of that. Many people die trying.

I figured it would be fully evident "Everyone" was exaggeration. I was just responding to the OP.

 

[Guestx]

I have mixed feelings on the quote. On the one hand I think one must find their place without needing to take life so seriously... Steppenwolf style. On the other it would be nice to have something so engrossing to live for. But what happens when you lose that thing? I never agreed with the Nietzcheian "if you can't live proudly die proudly" reasoning. The quote is certainly something to think on.

It probably is only appropriate for certain people, and certain personality types. I have always, at least to some minor extent, been a bit of an extremist so it resonates with me. I can't see how others wouldn't quite relate to it though.

If you're not familiar with Kierkegaard, you should read up on him. Fascinating human being.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Søren_Kierkegaard

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

As I hinted at in an earlier post, sometimes comfort and healing is best brought about by simple understanding rather than being told how you need to just chin up and get your shit together.

People don't like to give comfort by telling people it's okay to accept despair and end their lives. You should understand that about them.

I don't mean that to be snide. I was doing my best. I'm not going to guess you wanted me to validate the gloomiest perspective, and i don't think many others would either.

 

[Guestx]

People don't like to give comfort by telling people it's okay to accept despair and end their lives. You should understand that about them.

It's paradoxical, but sometimes understanding--legitimate understanding--can make someone feel less alone and more positive. Whereas people coming from a totally different perspective just makes that same person feel more alone.

In any case, I'm not trying to disparage your efforts to be encouraging. I know they come from a good place.

 

[Harmonica]

But what happens when you lose that thing?

Existential crisis ensues. How do you beat it? The answer lies within this quote:

"Unspoken and unrealised hath my highest hope remained! And there have perished for me all the visions and consolations of my youth!

How did I ever bear it? How did I survive and surmount such wounds? How did my soul rise again out of those sepulchres?

Yes, something invulnerable, unburiable is with me, something that would rend rocks asunder: it is called my Will. Silently doth it proceed, and unchanged throughout the years. Its course will it go upon my feet, mine old Will; hard of heart is its nature and invulnerable. Invulnerable am I only in my heel. Ever livest thou there, and art like thyself, thou most patient one! Ever hast thou burst all shackles of the tomb! In thee still liveth also the unrealisedness of my youth; and as life and youth sittest thou here hopeful on the yellow ruins of graves. Yea, thou art still for me the demolisher of all graves: Hail to thee, my Will! And only where there are graves are there resurrections."

 

[ocean size]

It probably is only appropriate for certain people, and certain personality types. I have always, at least to some minor extent, been a bit of an extremist so it resonates with me. I can't see how others wouldn't quite relate to it though.

If you're not familiar with Kierkegaard, you should read up on him. Fascinating human being.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Søren_Kierkegaard

Yeah maybe it's a hedgehog vs fox thing. I see in shades of grey to the point I'm ambivalent about nearly everything. Even if I had the one great cause I would constantly see reasons to doubt it and find it in a grey area of truth. On the other hand I can see some truth in anything which is probably why I find nihilism is freeing and liberating - we can find our own meaning however we want.

I will read more about the guy. He's in that 19th century generation of philosophers that influenced modern thought but I wish I knew more about.

 

[ocean size]

Existential crisis ensues.

Well losing the cause was in regards to having found it as an answer to the existential condition, so attaching ones will to seeking another cause to fight for strikes me as asking for a vicious cycle, which is kind of what I was getting at. But I understand how it could work for some.

 

[Harmonica]

Well losing the cause was in regards to having found it as an answer to the existential condition, so attaching ones will to seeking another cause to fight for strikes me as asking for a vicious cycle, which is kind of what I was getting at. But I understand how it could work for some.

The only constant is will to power. Everything else is subject to change. Thus spoke Zarathustra.

 

[Harmonica]

If you're not familiar with Kierkegaard, you should read up on him. Fascinating human being.

“He who wills repetition is a man, and the more emphatically he is able to realize it, the more profound a human being he is."

 

[ocean size]

The only constant is will to power. Everything else is subject to change. Thus spoke Zarathustra.

Also spake the unibomber.

 

[Harmonica]

Also spake the unibomber.

You know who else drank water? Hitler, that's who!