Alright.
But you make a good point; if you think about it, it's almost impossible to practice what you preach. Remember however that drug-users want drugs legalized because they think it will get rid of the war on drugs (it won't).
So, how do you guys deal with existential panic?
Like Adam's spoiler in his sig.
What exactly is existential panic?
Most people will define it as worrying about what there is after death, if life has a purpose, so on and so forth.
It's been far worse for me in the past (we're talking I physically felt it), but I often go into relapses. I tend to over-analyze everything and the lack of answers literally freaks me out and I go into crisis mode. For example, I've been worrying whether I can be a good person or not, because I've noticed that morality is not knowable, and that there are no inherently good or bad actions, for every bad action holds some good and every good action holds some bad. I only want to do good, but there's a fault in the system, as a good action will always inadvertently bring a negative, no matter how infinitesimally small.
I worry about other people as well. I'm starting to see backstabbers and selfish people literally everywhere, as well as neurotic and abnormal people; essentially, I always see the bad sides of people and it kinda "ruins" them for me, even though it shouldn't (and these are for the most part subjective beliefs). I feel like everyone I know, there is something I can criticize them for, according to my subjective beliefs or hunches. I'm starting to get clinical paranoia, so to speak. Don't feel concerned because everyone is like this to me, even my best friends.
I'm truly afraid of relationships with other people in terms of who they really are. In other words, people change, and who's to say that the person I've known for ten years truly is, deep down, the person I KNOW? This is one reason I have no faith in romantic relationships (at least ones that last) because I see them failing left and right and see that people lose interest in each other or go crazy and become completely different from the person their significant other fell in love with in the first place. Same can be said about friendships.
I worry about everything, period, and have been since around September. Before that I had absolutely no problems. I swear, all my independent problems came to me at the same time, which only feeds my philosophical crises (why would that happen? Is there something controlling these problems? Why do some days I feel paranoid and confused whereas on others, I'm fine?).
When you'll go on an existential crisis, you'll notice, and it's not at all fun in the slightest.
I went to a psychologist once, and he told me that I need to spend less time thinking, and more time just doing things. I often feel very alienated from people, and sometimes I feel like I'm a hollow emotionless robot, which is why I went to see him in the first place. It was good for me to hear what he said, because now I know not to dwell on it. Whenever I start feeling like that, I just tell myself to stop thinking about it, and I move on to something else, and I try to do something to take my mind of it.
I know what you mean about knowing who people really are, I have that trouble a lot with my long distance semi-lady friend. I've learned to just not worry about it though, because we always work well together when we're in person, which is what counts.
You see however, what if "not worrying about it" is immoral, as if finding the truth was the moral thing to do? That's the killer. If I hadn't thought about that I'm sure this would be easier for me. At this point I sure could use some help from above.
As for the other thing, I recently was contacted by my friend (didn't think she'd want to talk to me since the last thing I said to her which was "who are you??") and she said that she was going through tough times at the time (and I knew she was). I had said "who are you??" because she told me she'd said many things in the past just to be nice and didn't mean them. The other day when she contacted me again, she told me that she didn't mean THAT, and recognized how much she'd fucked up in saying that. This, of course, naturally, didn't recover my trust in her. Now we seem to have reconciled, but I warned her that I can't trust her anymore, at least not for now. I'm not sure if I'm happy or not, everything is a shot in the dark at this point.
I dunno, just do your best to make the world a better place, and don't do anything that makes it worse. Thats pretty much what I go by. Also stick with your gut. If you care you probably have a gut sense of whats right or wrong. And always remember to love people. Not like be in love with people, but show the world a little love now and again. Little things, or big things, whatever works for you. You shouldn't have to worry about it. And like I said, do stuff. Thats the only way to keep sane, and to move ahead in life.
Huh, well thats good that she talked to you. Hopefully you can get things straightened out. Reminds me of when my friends parents were going through a really rough divorce in middle school, he took it out on me by throwing basketballs at my head every day during PE. Worst year of my life. Probably his too though.
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate thread to get into this discussion but wot eva m8.
(03-26-2013, 10:54 PM)Danjo Wrote: [ -> ]I dunno, just do your best to make the world a better place, and don't do anything that makes it worse. Thats pretty much what I go by. Also stick with your gut. If you care you probably have a gut sense of whats right or wrong. And always remember to love people. Not like be in love with people, but show the world a little love now and again. Little things, or big things, whatever works for you. You shouldn't have to worry about it. And like I said, do stuff. Thats the only way to keep sane, and to move ahead in life.
Of course. I try to do
subjectively good actions for the sake of good every day (especially considering that I gain benefit from it, enjoying altruism and gaining a sense of accomplishment doing good actions). Hell, I donated blood for the first time on a whim a couple months ago (ooh, I'll be allowed to donate again in two days
). Thing is, just because I believe something is good doesn't mean it is, especially if there is a moral lawgiver out there. This is the least of my concerns now though, but it's true. I cannot think of a single good action that doesn't bring a little negative and a single evil action that doesn't bring a little positive.
The yin-yang is an excellent symbol to represent this. The evil in good, the good in evil. Heck, the tests conducted at Auschwitz and the likes brought upon scientific advancement and the Holocaust led to the formation of Israel, if my knowledge of history isn't too shabby. Probably not worth it, but you get my point.
Thanks though. I feel better right now, but I think it's a psychological defense. It happens sometimes that I suddenly feel better after this kind of mental stress.
(03-26-2013, 10:54 PM)Danjo Wrote: [ -> ]Huh, well thats good that she talked to you. Hopefully you can get things straightened out. Reminds me of when my friends parents were going through a really rough divorce in middle school, he took it out on me by throwing basketballs at my head every day during PE. Worst year of my life. Probably his too though.
Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised. That's the problem with people that are depressed or have gone through some trauma like that. They lash out at innocent people, usually those they care about the most. It's the neurosis possessing them, so it's kind of a gray area to get mad at the person hurting you. You know what they say; those who deserve love the least are the ones that need it the most.
As for my situation: which testicle would I give in order for her to have lived closer to me though? Things would have been so much more simple if she didn't live a province away and was a friend in person :\