Ok.Like I said, I know childless couples who are happy. They don't need your church's approval to live their lives.
Ok.Like I said, I know childless couples who are happy. They don't need your church's approval to live their lives.
Ah, so wanting companionship and intimacy-- or, you know, falling in love-- are not the right motivation. And you know it'll lead to misery, even though it demonstrably doesn't in billions of cases, because you know these people better than they know themselves.Because their motivation to want those things determines whether wanting those things will lead them to something worth having. Do you not see all the people pursuing vain, shallow relationships that end in bitter fallout?
I am the only one here not loathing.What I don't do is exhibit such universal loathing that I use those instances to tar an entire species.
I am the only one here not loathing.
Wanting people to be happy is not hate. I want you to be happy. I think most of you are actively advocating for things that make people unhappy (the brief bit about pot in particular), but I'm not pretending you're doing so out of hate. I think you're misguided, you think I want to cause people pain.
You're insisting that everyone who wants a relationship, companionship and intimacy, but isn't pursuing the specific purpose your Church envisages for them, is just imitating your own conception of marriage and on the road to misery. The drivel you've come out with in this thread alone-- "shallow imitation", in defence of a letter calling billions of happy relationships an "intrinsic moral evil"-- is some of the most condescending, arrogant, and misanthropic stuff I've read on here.
Something doesn't cease being hateful just because you call it love. You're still preaching the illegitimacy and "evil" of any loving relationship that doesn't fit your mould. And that's hate.
If you believe relationships without children always make people unhappy, and that enforced solitude (under penalty of censure from the Church) always makes people happy, and that this one-size-fits-all proscription is so solid as to be applied to the species as a whole, you're absolutely hopelessly deluded. That would be one of the most extreme positions I've ever heard, and a complete rejection of billions of lived experiences.Wanting people to be happy is not hate. I want you to be happy. I think most of you are actively advocating for things that make people unhappy (the brief bit about pot in particular), but I'm not pretending you're doing so out of hate. I think you're misguided, you think I want to cause people pain.
And you, in all your magnanimous wisdom, have decided what would make all the various peoples of the world happy, and that is of course to live how you do.Wanting people to be happy is not hate. I want you to be happy.
Ah, the Christian concept of love. One of the many reasons I became an atheist.Wanting people to be happy is not hate. I want you to be happy. I think most of you are actively advocating for things that make people unhappy (the brief bit about pot in particular), but I'm not pretending you're doing so out of hate. I think you're misguided, you think I want to cause people pain.
Imagine telling someone with an obvious physical disability that nothing in the world can take mobility away from them..You convince yourself that you need things beyond your control to attain happiness so that you don't have to take any responsibility. But no amount of the world around you is ever going to make you happy, nor can it take joy away from you.
As long as I have very small amounts of amphetamines in my system, yes.You are in control of yourself.
If you want those things, then they matter. Pretending they don't isn't joy, it's denial.People indulge in things under the delusion that they will find happiness from the outside, but that's not where you find happiness. Real joy can only come from within.
Name some.I don't know what mental gymnastics you're doing to imagine that's a Calvinist idea, as though dozens of religions, philosophers, and psychologists have independently reached that same simple conclusion.
The fact that you imagine any of this is me looking down on myself is honestly quite revealing.I'm not looking down on you. You're looking down on yourself.
Those religions, philosophers, and psychologists had no idea how brain chemistry works and that happiness is just a chemical in your brain.Real joy can only come from within. I don't know what mental gymnastics you're doing to imagine that's a Calvinist idea, as though dozens of religions, philosophers, and psychologists have independently reached that same simple conclusion.
An awful lot of chemicals, technically. Happiness could be viewed as a composite of multiple things with multiple pathways involving almost the whole kit and kaboodle: 5-HT (serotonin), noradrenaline, dopamine, glutamate, GABA, BDNF, cortisol, and many, many others.Those religions, philosophers, and psychologists had no idea how brain chemistry works and that happiness is just a chemical in your brain.
That's actually a major problem with psychiatry these days: if your anxiety is caused by struggling to pay the rent, pills don't do a whole hell of a lotAn awful lot of chemicals, technically. Happiness could be viewed as a composite of multiple things with multiple pathways involving almost the whole kit and kaboodle: 5-HT (serotonin), noradrenaline, dopamine, glutamate, GABA, BDNF, cortisol, and many, many others.
Also, I'd have to point out that I'm not sure all the chemicals in the world will do you much you good if your life is resoundingly shit, because if your brain chemicals are out of alignment, it's usually as a reaction to what you experience and feel.
My impression, beyond that, is that psychiatry often tends to "individualize" issues that are mostly social, cultural, political. They make it a "you" problem (learn to cope with it, the suffering is in your brain, take a pill and tell yourself the story that makes you feel better, solve "yourself") instead of facing the "us" problem (how we collectively build the conditions of that suffering, how we should solve our society). In that sense, it's the science of the neocapitalist world. The most status-quo preserving, individualist approach to mental suffering.That's actually a major problem with psychiatry these days: if your anxiety is caused by struggling to pay the rent, pills don't do a whole hell of a lot
It's not so much a problem with psychiatry, but society. The healthcare profession can't do much more than mitigate the symptoms.That's actually a major problem with psychiatry these days: if your anxiety is caused by struggling to pay the rent, pills don't do a whole hell of a lot
I don't particularly agree with this.My impression, beyond that, is that psychiatry often tends to "individualize" issues that are mostly social, cultural, political. They make it a "you" problem (learn to cope with it, the suffering is in your brain, take a pill and tell yourself the story that makes you feel better, solve "yourself") instead of facing the "us" problem (how we collectively build the conditions of that suffering, how we should solve our society). In that sense, it's the science of the neocapitalist world. The most status-quo preserving, individualist approach to mental suffering.
Sure, but on the other hand, you could have everything going for you in life and still be miserable enough to kill yourself. Let us not forget that Anthony Bourdain, a rich, famous, successful, handsome man, who women loved, and who had the best possible job (travel the world and eat awesome food) hanged himself. It goes to show that no matter how good your life is, if the little chemicals in your brain aren't cooperating you're fucked.Also, I'd have to point out that I'm not sure all the chemicals in the world will do you much you good if your life is resoundingly shit, because if your brain chemicals are out of alignment, it's usually as a reaction to what you experience and feel.
See also, Robin Williams, may he rest in hilarious shoes.Sure, but on the other hand, you could have everything going for you in life and still be miserable enough to kill yourself. Let us not forget that Anthony Bourdain, a rich, famous, successful, handsome man, who women loved, and who had the best possible job (travel the world and eat awesome food) hanged himself. It goes to show that no matter how good your life is, if the little chemicals in your brain aren't cooperating you're fucked.
Chris Cornell, Chester Bennington, Kurt CobainSee also, Robin Williams, may he rest in hilarious shoes.
Well, about a quarter of cases of unipolar depression are genetic - people prone to depressive episodes without any apparent triggers. That's certainly a thing.Sure, but on the other hand, you could have everything going for you in life and still be miserable enough to kill yourself. Let us not forget that Anthony Bourdain, a rich, famous, successful, handsome man, who women loved, and who had the best possible job (travel the world and eat awesome food) hanged himself. It goes to show that no matter how good your life is, if the little chemicals in your brain aren't cooperating you're fucked.