The fact of commonplace depression within a society shows that there is something wrong in it’s approach. There are two basic reasons for this problem. The first is that of high idealism, and the second is that of having goals which don’t really take anybody anywhere.
The high idealism is a form of living in a fantasy which cannot be attained in the end. One is constantly striving for what isn’t really there. At times it may seem that the person is on their way to achieving their end, but the vividness and richness of real life is too strong and awesome for that “seeming”ness to last too long. I once heard a famous saying in the name of a mystic: A man can fast all week long, but at the end of that week he must still relieve himself. The wonderful power of our minds and hearts sometimes create such powerful yearnings for the unattainable we crash within our own vacuums of disappointment.
So too, when we pretend to not be what we really are, when we don’t struggle to break ourselves out of our immediate shells and beyond our immediate abilities, when we ignore the fact that we are storehouses of potential rather than warehouses of ability. And yet, the world passes us by. It develops, and seeks constantly for new development. It improves itself, and builds constantly upon those improvements. And these abilities that society at large is founded on remains out of touch for he that won’t try. Such a person perceives himself as an outsider to the strange and wondrous world around him. And so, it remains seemingly out of reach.
I think that just as these two attitudes result in the same problem, depression, so too they share a common cure. People should focus on those goals that must be sought after but are not unattainable. The universe is enormous and no matter how much we think we know of it, how we think we have mastered it, it always yields new surprises. Understanding the universe is not a realistic goal. On the other hand, look at how much within the human oriented universe we do understand. And not just medically, but in all the different forms of knowledge that man has developed and is still developing since the beginning of time, and by whom these developments are being achieved. And maybe most importantly, how these were achieved. Normal people awakening themselves to the romance of real life instead of burying themselves in the dreams of “if only”. If life and living were beyond the ability of all but the most gifted, then all but the most gifted wouldn’t have been born. We should teach people to learn how to see within their own human universes and to to develop that universe to the greatest extent that they can in as productive and positive a manner that they can. This, I believe to be the goal of man.
