From what I can tell, my framing depends upon my emotions more than the reverse, though there’s a bit of a feedback cycle as well.
That is to say, if I am feeling happy on a sunny day, I will say that the amazing universe is carrying me along a bright path of sunshine and joy, providing light to dark places, and friendly faces to accompany me, and holy crap that sunlight’s passing millions of miles to warm our lives, how awesome is that?
But if I am feeling depressed on that very same day, I will say that the sun’s radiation is slowly breaking down the atoms of my weak flesh on the path toward decay and death while all energy slips into entropy and… well, who really cares, anyway?
The art of not being perverse consists in seeing the same reality as others and agreeing about facts, but perceiving more in an aesthetic sense.
If emotions drive the words, as I feel they do, then this statement, while true, comes from the bright side: “Say happy things, look at the world in a happy way, and you, too, will be happy!”
My dark side disagrees: “There’s yet another happy person telling me I shouldn’t be depressed, because they’re not, and it’s not so hard, is it? Great. Thanks for all your help. ”
If emotions drive the words, as I feel they do, then this statement, while true, comes from the bright side: “Say happy things, look at the world in a happy way, and you, too, will be happy!”
My dark side disagrees: “There’s yet another happy person telling me I shouldn’t be depressed, because they’re not, and it’s not so hard, is it? Great. Thanks for all your help. ”
I understand how it might sound like that. Of course a sunny disposish is not always possible or even desirable—cheeriness can be equally self-indulgent, and in many ways nature really is trying to kill us.
But there are some fact questions that people feel bad about quite gratuitously. That’s what I would like to change. These are the obstacles to human contentedness that people only encounter if they actually go out looking for obstacles, looking for something to feel bad about.
There’s lots to legitimately be upset about in this world, lots of suffering endured by people not unlike us. We don’t need extra suffering contrived ex nihilo by our minds.
From what I can tell, my framing depends upon my emotions more than the reverse, though there’s a bit of a feedback cycle as well.
That is to say, if I am feeling happy on a sunny day, I will say that the amazing universe is carrying me along a bright path of sunshine and joy, providing light to dark places, and friendly faces to accompany me, and holy crap that sunlight’s passing millions of miles to warm our lives, how awesome is that?
But if I am feeling depressed on that very same day, I will say that the sun’s radiation is slowly breaking down the atoms of my weak flesh on the path toward decay and death while all energy slips into entropy and… well, who really cares, anyway?
If emotions drive the words, as I feel they do, then this statement, while true, comes from the bright side: “Say happy things, look at the world in a happy way, and you, too, will be happy!”
My dark side disagrees: “There’s yet another happy person telling me I shouldn’t be depressed, because they’re not, and it’s not so hard, is it? Great. Thanks for all your help. ”
I understand how it might sound like that. Of course a sunny disposish is not always possible or even desirable—cheeriness can be equally self-indulgent, and in many ways nature really is trying to kill us.
But there are some fact questions that people feel bad about quite gratuitously. That’s what I would like to change. These are the obstacles to human contentedness that people only encounter if they actually go out looking for obstacles, looking for something to feel bad about.
There’s lots to legitimately be upset about in this world, lots of suffering endured by people not unlike us. We don’t need extra suffering contrived ex nihilo by our minds.