NeverarGreat said:
Mike O said:
DuracellEnergizer said:
I learned to avoid most on-line religious debates a long time ago. Sometimes you get respectful dialogues between the different parties, but most of the time it’s just a bunch of uncouth jackasses tossing insults and strawman arguments back-and-forth.
I learned this a long, long, long time ago. I stuck to it for many years (though it was largely pre YouTube, which has made even more chaos). For some fucking reason, I broke my own rule and now I’m in this mess. I wish I knew why this shit was lingering and bothering me so much. I hear these kinds of things (frequently more well-written) on House, True Detective, and Bones, among countless others, literally hundreds of times. I wish I could figure it why this was happening to my brain. The SSRIs worked for 15+ years. I keep thinking that I’ve chosen an impossible question related to the meaning of life and impossible questions precisely because my demented OCD brain knows that’s a perfect way to trap itself.
If I may be so bold, what is the impossible question you have chosen?
I ask because I grappled with depression and the impossible question: ‘why is there something rather than nothing’ for years before understanding that the question was wrong. The question should be ‘IS there something rather than nothing’, and this can be meaningfully answered. The ramifications of this answer now form the basis of my life philosophy.
I’m sorry that you’re dealing with this right now. PM if you’d like to talk about it.
Short version: I was brought up Catholic. Certainly not extremist, but 16 years of Catholic school. I got a top-quality education, a good sense of community, a solid moral grounding, and a lot of good things from it. My parents weren’t progressive, but they never said “Don’t watch a movie because it’s evil” or any such nonsense, and were always willing to take me to therapists and doctors, and did frequently. Were very pro-science, and weren’t Carrie’s mom by any means. Got a lot of it, but wasn’t rammed too far down my throat. Overall, I drifted from some of it, but liked it. Definitely came to disagree with a lot of the politics, but had pretty positive experiences overall. I’ve read some things here and there on the various atheist debates, etc, and basically came to make up my mind that I was sticking with a lot of it culturally because I’d had good experiences, and had a very live-and-let-live policy as regarded people’s religious beliefs. I have friends with a variety of them, and we’ve never had problems. One told me he was an agnostic, we shrugged and haven’t ever needed to discuss the topic again. It’s a non-issue. I never have or will forced any of my beliefs on anyone, and stopped being judgmental long ago. My faith is shaken, but largely still there. It’s not a huge part of my life. But I was comfortable with my live-and-let policy, and still am, and live in a culture where it isn’t super theocratic. Everything I’ve read in the thread which bothered me so much is same arguments that have been made hundreds of times in various places, and the same kind of stuff I heard on Bones, House, True Detective, and countless other places. Everything should’ve been totally fine. I don’t know why I was so bothered by it, much less obsessively keep returning to it. It’s frustrating given that I had other problems and didn’t really need this stupid OCD loop about something I made my mind up about long ago.
Sorry that was so long.
I think for many people with depression, the question is more “Is something enough?” In my case, I have a lot to be grateful for, for which I am very thankful. My life is good, and I shouldn’t be as obsessive as I am about things.
