Best Of
Re: Accentuate the Positive or Eliminate the Negative?
@IdleChater said:
@person said:
Is one way more beneficial such that we are justified in advocating generalized advice to adopt one over the other?Why do either? Anything, you do, like accentuate, or eliminate, gives rise to karma. Karma results in suffering and rebirth.
Why not the cultivation of equanimity instead?
Really I'm about synthesis and balance. My predisposition is from one direction more than the other. One I think its important to acknowledge where your bias is and two, in the world of the pointing finger, precision of language and ideas helps point us in the right direction. Maybe it isn't helpful for everyone but I find juxtaposing the poles helps me find the place of integration.
And yes, ultimately transcendence of the dichotomy is the goal.
person
Re: Accentuate the Positive or Eliminate the Negative?
@marcitko said:
However, working simultaneously on eliminating one negative thing and accentuating one positive thing seems to also work for me - maybe the positive thing gets positively fuelled by the released/alchemized energy of the eliminated negative thing?
I like that, it kind of help solidify a related thought I'd had. In my experience a focus on the positive leads to a wasting away and eventually a falling off of the negative. I imagine the reverse might also be true, by unraveling the negative it stops acting as a mental drag and gives more energy to the positive?
person
Re: The Medical Model of Mental Illness
Absolutely. Do you know the website Mad in America? There are a lot saner perspectives on mental health out there, rather than what psychiatrists are taught as medical doctors.
Also I’d point out that the “chemical imbalance” theory of mental illness has long since been disproved — basically when you ask a specialist whether they have ever found the chemical that is imbalanced, they end up admitting that no, actually they didn’t find that. It is just a short explanation that survives because it’s easy.
Again, diagnosis is just a shorthand for a bunch of symptoms. For a lot of mental health issues it is much more relevant to ask a patient about what happened to them. The story of what affected someone’s life can be much more revealing than just a list of symptoms.
Jeroen
The Medical Model of Mental Illness
I came across this video describing the way we've moved to a medical model of mental illness and how, though well intentioned, is showing down sides. I think I've been having this sense that the way I hear many people talking about mental illness these days that something was off. I've now spent more than half my life meandering along a spiritual path and learned time tested Buddhist approaches to addressing issues of mental health before being introduced to western psychological thinking.
Anyway, like the video, I'm not outright negating all of western psychology in its current forms. Its just saying that we're still learning and there is an unintended consequence of learned helplessness in the way people are relating to their mental illnesses. Rather than say you have depression or are depressed, say you are experiencing depression. The last option holds out the possibility for change and allows for positive growth.
person
Re: All things Sport(s)
Dutch football’s classic match between Ajax and Feyenoord was abandoned a little after the halfway point when fans started throwing fireworks onto the pitch… Feyenoord were leading 3-0 at the time. I’m sure Ajax will get some repercussions from this, and they were already having one of the poorest starts to a season in living memory.
Jeroen
Re: Letting go of games
More questions?
Is life not like an Adventure game itself? Were we not all originally born with a blank mind? Is not the object of life to acquire the knowledge so that all of what we do and what we say is successful, works for us. When things work well are we not rewarded with feel good? And when we fail, and our doings and sayings are not working for us, are we not punished with feel bad? Is the object of life not to get passed failures and turn those into successes? Are there not winners and losers in this game?
If life is a game itself and games are fun, why not just play that one?
Pete.
Re: Distress vs Eustress
Comfort zone - the realm of the Gods: enlightenment is not possible.
Panic zone - the hell realms: enlightenment is not possible.
Learning zone - the middle way and the rocky path to enlightenment.
Fosdick
Re: Letting go of games
I’ve just been revisiting this thread, there are a lot of good posts in it. It surprises me that it just took an invitation from my cousin to turn all the talk of game ethics on its head and suck me back in… Phew, close call.
I think you’re right though @person when you talk about the dangers of disaffected males. Society is not well structured as it is, I’ve just read Gabor Maté’s book The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture in which he talks about some of these things.
@FleaMarket said:
Here in much of the US people are not looked upon by leaders and peers in a positive way. We are often referred to by our own government as consumers, by our own bosses as liabilities and expenses, and the depth of our connection to friends is measured based on what value we can provide to them.
I think in a way those disaffected people still find much value in games, where they can be heroes and saviours of the common people. It’s one of the good things that games are still doing for society, keeping things from boiling over.
The thing is, does it turn into gaming addiction, with a lot of the accompanying symptoms of social isolation, long hours behind screens, poor diet and physical problems? That is also not an ideal way to live, and only a short distance to an opioid addiction.
The only option I keep returning to which holds any real value is going forth.
For me it is what connects me to the spiritual path. The pursuit of truth, freedom and happiness is ultimately much more important than games. And even now, twelve years later, I still feel the effects of my breakdown back then, I’m not as healed as I thought, still more sensitive to a lot of things than I was when I was thirty.
Jeroen
Re: Letting go of games
I think a major reason I did gravitate towards D&D was that, like you, I have a craving for some sort of game play. And playing computer games like WoW or Diablo create an addictive, isolating feeling inside. Its engrossing and rewarding while engaged but left me feeling worse.
D&D is an open, creative, social game, that lets you express whatever you like. I don't like the power fantasy, or wanton destruction. In the game I want to be able to explore and express parts of my own psychology I generally can't in the real world. Or try to get into the head of a psychology different than my own. In a more meta way, I wanted to socialize more, and doing so over an activity I feel comfortable with and people who share similar interests is more enjoyable than entering a space that I'm unfamiliar, disinterested in, or dislike because someone told me its superior. It allows me to engage with that interest in a way that is positive and additive to my life rather than subtractive.
Unlike other immersive games, you make of it what you want, you bring the goals and desires to the game, rather than it dictating them to you. You want to accumulate wealth and power, the game allows for that. You want to help make the game world a better place, the game allows for that too.
person