Posted by Camille Dumont on December 29, 2003, at 0:21:18
In reply to Re: How do you escape this mental trap? » Camille Dumont, posted by Ilene on December 27, 2003, at 23:00:56
> > The more I twist and turn ideas in my head, the more hopeless it seems.
> >
> > I've asked myself millions of times "what's the meaning of life?" and come up with no satisfactory answer.
> >
>
> There is no answer. It's like asking, "What is the meaning of a fish?" Fish are alive, after all. Forget about the question.
>Well, I've prutty much given up on finding an aswer to that although I choose to think that it doesn't mean that there isn't one ... only that I'm not equipped with the right tools to find it at this time.
> > Yet, everybody around me seems to be utterly certain that life is a preferable state to death. How so? How can society as a whole compare something with something else that is totally unknown.
> >
>
> Most people enjoy themselves, if not all the time, then often enough so that they have other things with which to occupy themselves than "what is the meaning of life".
>
> About the unknown--read Hamlet's soliloquy.See, this is where I have a problem with life. So ok being occupied and happy might make you forget about all those questions, but does it make them less important? I mean is it rationally better to simply "distract yourself" while your existence unfolds so as to avoid all those nasty interrogations? Especially since those interrogations concern your existence.
>
> > Is the bias "genetically-inherent" as in its built into us to want to live ... and if so, is it possible that mine might be a bit damaged?
> >
>
> Yes, and yes.
>
> > If we afford animals (and some people) the dignity of a painless end when they are phisically terminally ill or when their quality of life is almost nil and won't improve, why is it that death must be avoided at all costs when it comes to psychological illness that just won't go away? Why can't we benefit from the same compassion?
> >
>
> I'm with you there.
>
> > And given that I can't find a way to rationalize the fact that life is inherently better than death, isn't normal that if I'm not well I'm looking to the only alternate state to life? If so, why does everybody around me seem to disapprove and / or convince me that they "know better" and that once I'm "cured", somehow I'll "get it" and want to live?
>
> I think it's normal. About "getting it": suicidal people are usually depressed, so if you are not depressed you are not likely to be suicidal. It just won't occur to you because you'll be busy with life.
>This is interesting though. Right now I wouldn't say that I'm suicidal. I mean I'm not in a crisis, I don't have things getting at me ... I'm not backed up in a corner with nowhere else to go. I'd say that I'm actually very "neutral" these days and yet death simply refuses to leave my head. Just as another option ... kind of the same level of decision as say, changing career might be.
> Most people can't accept the thought that someone gets so little from life that ending it is a good idea.
>
> Your social life will improve if you stop talking about it, because people around you will be more comfortable.
>When I said "people around me" I meant more healthcare-type people. I don't like to bother friends / family with ideas like that. I get that most likely my thoughts are somehow distorted and so if I told friends they simply might not understand. Plus there is always the rumor mill ... and things you say tend to get totally distorted and exagerated.
> > Is there something I don't get? Am I missing a few screws or something?
>
> If you weren't missing a few screws, would you be posting here?
>Touche ... point taken.
> Ilene
>
poster:Camille Dumont
thread:293866
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20031217/msgs/294210.html