Hello everyone, I am Anthony
Welcome to my channel
This video
I want to talk about the most important topic of our channel.
that is
How to deal with depression caused by a sense of meaninglessness
Why is this topic important?
From my contact
Friends who have been watching our channel for a long time
In terms of perception and reflection
They are far above average.
That is
Ability to withdraw from worldly life
Examine the meaning of your current life
This also means
At a certain stage in life
Will inevitably fall into a crisis of meaning
In my chats with many friends
This question is raised quite frequently.
Especially in China
This crisis may become more prominent and serious
Because the common meanings of life in Chinese society
There is a great lack of ultimate concern for individual souls
Failure to provide a systematic and lasting sense of meaning
thus
When a person's self-awareness awakens
It is easier to fall into this kind of suspicion
and depression
certainly
This can also be said to be an eternal topic
Like death, freedom, love
So we will discuss this frequently in the future.
Before the video starts, let me say
If you have anything you want to discuss with me
and consulting questions
You can contact my email to make an appointment
So
Let’s get back to our topic today.
We say that this crisis of the meaning of life
Can be described as
A state where the sense of meaning is completely shaken
I thought of a friend I talked to a few days ago.
She experienced a lot of constraints, pain and misfortune in China
This gave her a strong
The desire to escape from China
Now she has successfully come to North America
Can live for a long time
But she felt more and more meaningless
This is a feeling that the system of meaning has been completely shaken.
She might have thought
China is not free in many ways
Then you can successfully go overseas or get permanent residence
It has become a new pursuit and meaning
However
She soon discovered
The goal of permanent residence
It seems that I can't live for myself
Provides sufficient power
When she talked to other immigrants from Asia
She found
Their life goal is undoubtedly to obtain permanent residency.
But she didn't have that kind of inner sense of identity
and a sense of belonging
It made her feel so unique and alone
It seems that any given pursuit
Whether Chinese or Western
None of them could satisfy her deepest questions and doubts.
This looks like depression.
However, when we carefully analyze this process
You will find
This depression is deep.
It's very different from normal depression.
I call this a kind of philosophical depression
General depression
Often caused by specific external events
or situation-induced
Such as unemployment, breakup, relationship breakdown, illness,
Huge work pressure
Or other blows
The person is depressed
There are often more specific events
Despite this low mood
It will also spread to other areas
But the starting point is relatively clear.
As long as the situation or event is improved
Depression can be greatly improved and relieved
The parties involved may not necessarily understand the meaning of all life.
A rational suspicion
But the kind of philosophical depression we are talking about
It is not or is not primarily due to a worsening of life
Or got hit
On the contrary, to some extent
Precisely because the life of the person concerned has become better
That is, after getting rid of the old constraints and pressures
The parties felt that they could finally
Break away from the original value system
This creates a huge psychological vacuum.
Raise doubts about the deep meaning of life
Therefore, this melancholy mood
The core is not sadness and loss
But confusion and nothingness
It's not easy either
Relieve by solving a specific problem
This kind of melancholy
Usually accompanied by a lot of introspection
and highly developed rational thinking
Showing suspicion of everything in daily life
More than just work and money
Even basic needs like eating and sleeping
Its significance will also be shaken and challenged
Although the parties still eat every day
However
The sense of certainty and necessity about eating
But disappeared
Some people might say
Things like eating
Is there anything to doubt?
This is animal instinct
If you don't eat, you will die.
Attribute eating to animal instinct
This looks
Provides a meal
Absolute necessity and significance
But if you think about it carefully, it doesn't hold true
Although all animals need to eat
However, human eating behavior
It has long gone beyond simple physiological needs.
and has complex psychological and cultural significance
for example
When animals are hungry
When you see food, you will rush over without hesitation.
But few people are hungry.
Like an animal
He might consider other people's perspectives.
Consider your image
Concerned about the impact of doing so, etc.
This can't be explained by instinct.
If humans eat
If you can rely on animal instincts to guarantee
It cannot explain why there are anorexia and hunger strikers.
certainly
More importantly
When we consciously place some of our desires
When it comes down to biological instinct
It is no longer instinct.
It is the result of your conscious free choice.
because
If it's purely instinctive
Then you should understand the significance of this matter
Unaware and unaware
There is no need to invent a language
To rationalize it
Or when you realize this problem
And take the initiative to find a basis for eating
You can't deny
Biological Instinct
This reason has lost its necessity.
Because you know
There is a possibility that you may not eat.
Although you still eat
But when you realize that you have the possibility of not eating
Regardless of this possibility
How ridiculous and disrespectful it seems.
At least it has become less inevitable.
You still can't escape the question of free will
Even if you think you have no free will
It's all instinct
But it's still your free will.
I freely chose this interpretation
Sartre believes
Once people realize their existence
You will never be able to get rid of the burden of freedom
Why is freedom heavy?
Let’s take another example
For example, when I was making this video
I go out for a walk
I saw a lot of cars moving fast on the street.
I'm in a good mood
I am satisfied with my life
But at this moment I suddenly thought of a terrible thing
If I run quickly to the middle of the road
My beautiful life is over.
Of course, some friends may say after listening to this
Your life is obviously good.
There's no reason to do this
This is totally untrue to psychology.
Or the laws of sociology
But
Whether it is biological instinct or psychological law
Or some other external necessity?
I can't justify my behavior
Provides a rigid and absolute guarantee
I also know that this kind of thinking and behavior is ridiculous
But just realizing that there is such a possibility
It is enough to make us feel the weight of freedom
For example
When I cut vegetables with a knife
I suddenly feel anxious
Because I realized
I now have the ability to hurt others
Or hurt yourself
Even though I have absolutely no such desire
But this awareness itself is enough to make people terrified
Because if I really did
I will bear the consequences of all this.
In short, when we become aware of free will
You will find
There is actually nothing
I can ensure that you will never do bad things.
Whether it is God, fate, or social rules
Or personal past history
Even if you have been doing good things since your birth
Never did a bad thing
But you will still find
You always have a potential possibility
This will strengthen our self-awareness
Let us be more alert
Realize that you are responsible for yourself
Make rational decisions on a continuous basis
Prevent yourself from making choices you will regret
Then this heavy freedom
Does it have anything to do with feelings of meaninglessness?
Through the above discussion
We will find
The awakening of free will is self-reinforcing.
Features of infinite loop
It's becoming more and more likely
When you start to realize
Something that was supposed to be inevitable
Not necessarily
Such as eating, work, marriage, success
You will be more sensitive to
Similar possibilities in other areas
As a result, the more alert you are
The stronger the feeling of freedom
Slowly you will find
Almost all meaning structures in life
It's no longer absolute
It is relative and questionable
At this time
You will fall into philosophical depression.
You will find
Eating, working, and being successful are good things.
But what does this have to do with me?
To what extent do they represent the real me?
For example
You work hard every day
Then I watched the money in my account grow
You think this is very meaningful
But one day you suddenly found
This account does not necessarily belong to you.
Then no matter how much money is in the account
It seems to have nothing to do with you.
Everything that seems to exist objectively and need not be questioned
The reason why it is meaningful
Because we defaulted
It is connected to a stable subject called me.
If this connection is unstable
Or if my self itself is fragmented
Not uniform, not continuous
So
The parties involved do not actually own them.
Depression
It is the constant doubt and confirmation of one's own existence.
therefore
We say that this kind of philosophical depression is very advanced.
Because of the huge pressure of life
It will give your actions unquestionable meaning
Your energy
Have to use it to cope with external pressure
Or survive
There is no spare energy for this kind of reflection.
This philosophical depression
It requires strong reflective ability
and a relatively relaxed environment
thus
Many thoughtful people have gone through this stage.
for example
Tolstoy
In his confessions
Recording my delicate psychological feelings
As a Russian aristocratic intellectual
Tolstoy had great wealth and status
His work has been widely praised
However, at the age of 51,
But he is increasingly falling into a psychological illness
He said:
"Five years ago,
A very strange thing happened
I was confused at first
I feel like I have reached a bottleneck in my life.
I don't seem to know how I should live.
What should be done
These bottlenecks in life
Often expressed as the same question:
What is the purpose of life?
"
At first I thought these were all aimless,
Irrelevant issues
These issues are well known
If I start to solve
It shouldn't be that troublesome.
I just don't have time now.
But as long as I want
I can find the answer
But they keep reappearing.
More and more eager to get answers
These unanswered questions are like countless dots
Gather in one place
Condensed into a black stain
This happened
Just like everyone with a terminal illness
First, there were some subtle signs.
Patients usually don't pay attention to these symptoms
Then mild discomfort recurs frequently
Eventually, it converges into the patient's uninterrupted pain."
Tolstoy's words
It describes the melancholy mood quite accurately.
It was not caused by a single event.
It is gradual
It is accumulated from tiny doubts.
Eventually, it became impossible to ignore
A huge sense of emptiness and depression
Of course, this sense of nothingness is not without trace.
It comes from the parties' understanding of social culture.
System Reflection
In the Imperial Russian Era of Tolstoy's Life
Orthodoxy for every Russian
Provides unquestionable meaning and faith in life
The Orthodox Church claims
I hold the only truth
Faith and love can unite people
Including those who err in matters of faith
Misguided people
However, the church also believes
To those heretical ideas that will mislead people
Should be eliminated and cleared
Whatever the priests say
How I sympathize with those who are lost
How to Pray for Them
But in order to complete worldly affairs
Will still use violence
But
Tolstoy realized
Why the truth is not in Catholicism, Lutheranism
And why is it in the Orthodox Church?
although
The ways of making the sign of the cross and pilgrimage in different religious sects
Wait for the rules and regulations
All very different
But this difference is after all a minor detail.
It was accidental
However, people rely on these accidental things
Hatred and struggle
As Tolstoy said
Russians kill in the name of Christian love
People in the church pray for victory for the Russian army
However
For a pursuit of faith
For those who have the power of life
Differences and struggles among these sects
Does it really matter?
Tolstoy was not simply against the Orthodox Church
Instead, we become suspicious of all tangible institutions.
He vaguely realized
There is a transcendence in reality
On specific religions
Invisible religion
It can really bring everyone together
This religion no longer dwells on the details of its doctrines.
It's about the value of life itself
and the most universal truth
certainly
This opposition between visible and invisible religions
In fact, it exists in every society.
Although Christianity is not the mainstream culture in China
But similar to the Orthodox
The tangible social norms of Chinese society
The significance
It is also accidental, superficial
It can also be said to be against human nature and unnatural
So this philosophical melancholy seems painful
But it can make people get rid of the false meaning structure
Wake up
This is also
A necessary step towards a deeper meaning of life
We will continue to discuss this topic in the next video
That's all for today's video.
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