The Transcended Omniverse
Well-Known Member
People who say that depressed people are deserving of scorn and to be called selfish have no idea what they are talking about. There are two concepts here. One is the idea of something while the other is the experience. Someone can just simply look at the idea of a depressed person feeling that their lives are worthless and empty and tell them to just stop feeling sorry for themselves and move on.
However, these people are unaware of what this experience is like for this person. These people are simply doing nothing more than judging the person based on what they see and not what they experience for themselves. Even if this person claimed to have moved on and found worth/meaning in his/her life despite crippling depression, the fact is that his/her experience is different than this other person's and he/she cannot judge the other person based on his/her own experiences.
It is also a misconception to think that having worth, joy, and meaning in one's life is all just a matter of the way you think. It is more complicated than that. It is our brains that allow us to perceive meaning in our lives through our mental experiences. Our mental experiences allow us to perceive so many things including sight, hearing, smell, sound, and meaning.
But to think that meaning is solely tied and can always be achieved through one particular mental experience (thought), this is a big misconception. When I was depressed, my life and the relationship with my family seemed completely empty and everything seemed dead. Even while I truly thought to myself that my life still has meaning, it did nothing. It did not make my life actually seem filled with meaning or joy at all. It was just telling myself nothing more than a thought.
Everything just seemed like nothing more than empty shapes, sounds, etc. When I looked at my own family, I just perceived nothing more than empty meaningless shapes. It was not my way of thinking at all that did this. It was my depressed brain that took away the perception of meaning in my life. It was my depression itself that made everything seem like empty meaningless shapes.
So I can conclude here that having meaning in one's life for some people is a different mental state than our thinking. It is some sort of mental perception in which when we look at our family, they seem truly meaningful and alive in our lives. They are not perceived by our brains as being empty shapes. We need this mental perception to have meaning in our lives. Without that, then our way of thinking alone can do nothing for us.
This mental perception would be my good moods. When I am not depressed and I have my good moods (feelings of happiness which would be my feelings of pleasure), then this is an experience that completely fills my life with joy and meaning. Some people would say that pleasure is nothing more than some chemical feel-good sensation in the brain and that it is nothing important for this very reason.
But here again, these people are only looking at the idea of what pleasure is and failing to look at what the experience is like for me. In terms of the actual experience of pleasure, I would not even describe it as pleasure because to do so would imply that it is nothing more than some feel-good sensation in the brain. It is far more than that in terms of my experience of it. It is a divine surging life force that fills everything in my life.
So to call me selfish and frown upon me for thinking that my feelings of pleasure are the only things that can bring joy and meaning to my life is judging me based on your own brain (your own experiences). For me, my experience of pleasure really is the only thing that gives me that mental perception of meaning in my life. For this person, that mental perception can be achieved through his/her way of thinking alone even while he/she is depressed.
But for many people, this mental perception can only be achieved by the brain through being in a good mood. This mental perception resides in different experiences for different people. Like I said, for some it resides in their way of thinking alone so that even while they feel depressed, they are still able to perceive full joy and meaning in their lives just by truly thinking that they still have meaning and joy in their lives.
But for many people like me, this mental perception only resides in our feelings of pleasure. In other words, it is only our feelings of pleasure (our good moods) that can give meaning and joy to our lives since they are the only things that create that mental perception of joy and meaning in our lives. For us, this mental perception takes on a feeling/emotional form (a feeling/emotional experience of joy/meaning through our good feelings/emotions) while for others it takes on the form of thought alone. So you must understand here that the brain is a very complicated organ and so too is joy/meaning.
So for me, living an eternal blissful life of no more suffering is the only life that can ever bring joy/meaning to my life. It would be the afterlife. But I do not believe in it and I am living a depressed life here. So my life is truly meaningless and can never be meaningful ever again. This does not make me selfish or someone worthy of scorn. It is just how my brain is and this is just how it perceives joy/meaning.
However, these people are unaware of what this experience is like for this person. These people are simply doing nothing more than judging the person based on what they see and not what they experience for themselves. Even if this person claimed to have moved on and found worth/meaning in his/her life despite crippling depression, the fact is that his/her experience is different than this other person's and he/she cannot judge the other person based on his/her own experiences.
It is also a misconception to think that having worth, joy, and meaning in one's life is all just a matter of the way you think. It is more complicated than that. It is our brains that allow us to perceive meaning in our lives through our mental experiences. Our mental experiences allow us to perceive so many things including sight, hearing, smell, sound, and meaning.
But to think that meaning is solely tied and can always be achieved through one particular mental experience (thought), this is a big misconception. When I was depressed, my life and the relationship with my family seemed completely empty and everything seemed dead. Even while I truly thought to myself that my life still has meaning, it did nothing. It did not make my life actually seem filled with meaning or joy at all. It was just telling myself nothing more than a thought.
Everything just seemed like nothing more than empty shapes, sounds, etc. When I looked at my own family, I just perceived nothing more than empty meaningless shapes. It was not my way of thinking at all that did this. It was my depressed brain that took away the perception of meaning in my life. It was my depression itself that made everything seem like empty meaningless shapes.
So I can conclude here that having meaning in one's life for some people is a different mental state than our thinking. It is some sort of mental perception in which when we look at our family, they seem truly meaningful and alive in our lives. They are not perceived by our brains as being empty shapes. We need this mental perception to have meaning in our lives. Without that, then our way of thinking alone can do nothing for us.
This mental perception would be my good moods. When I am not depressed and I have my good moods (feelings of happiness which would be my feelings of pleasure), then this is an experience that completely fills my life with joy and meaning. Some people would say that pleasure is nothing more than some chemical feel-good sensation in the brain and that it is nothing important for this very reason.
But here again, these people are only looking at the idea of what pleasure is and failing to look at what the experience is like for me. In terms of the actual experience of pleasure, I would not even describe it as pleasure because to do so would imply that it is nothing more than some feel-good sensation in the brain. It is far more than that in terms of my experience of it. It is a divine surging life force that fills everything in my life.
So to call me selfish and frown upon me for thinking that my feelings of pleasure are the only things that can bring joy and meaning to my life is judging me based on your own brain (your own experiences). For me, my experience of pleasure really is the only thing that gives me that mental perception of meaning in my life. For this person, that mental perception can be achieved through his/her way of thinking alone even while he/she is depressed.
But for many people, this mental perception can only be achieved by the brain through being in a good mood. This mental perception resides in different experiences for different people. Like I said, for some it resides in their way of thinking alone so that even while they feel depressed, they are still able to perceive full joy and meaning in their lives just by truly thinking that they still have meaning and joy in their lives.
But for many people like me, this mental perception only resides in our feelings of pleasure. In other words, it is only our feelings of pleasure (our good moods) that can give meaning and joy to our lives since they are the only things that create that mental perception of joy and meaning in our lives. For us, this mental perception takes on a feeling/emotional form (a feeling/emotional experience of joy/meaning through our good feelings/emotions) while for others it takes on the form of thought alone. So you must understand here that the brain is a very complicated organ and so too is joy/meaning.
So for me, living an eternal blissful life of no more suffering is the only life that can ever bring joy/meaning to my life. It would be the afterlife. But I do not believe in it and I am living a depressed life here. So my life is truly meaningless and can never be meaningful ever again. This does not make me selfish or someone worthy of scorn. It is just how my brain is and this is just how it perceives joy/meaning.
