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"Depression is the flaw in love. To be creatures who love, we must be creatures who can despair at what we lose, and depression is the mechanism of that despair. When it comes, it degrades one's self and ultimately eclipses the capacity to give or receive affection. It is the aloneness within us made manifest, and it destroys not only connection to others but also the ability to be peacefully alone with oneself.
Love, though it is no prophylactic against depression, is what cushions the mind and protects it from itself. Medications and psychotherapy can renew that protection, making it easier to love and be loved, and that is why they work. In good spirits, some love themselves and some love others and some love work and some love God: any of these passions can furnish that vital sense of purpose that is the opposite of depression. Love forsakes us from time to time, and we forsake love. In depression, the meaninglessness of every enterprise and every emotion, the meaninglessness of life itself, becomes self-evident. The only feeling left in this loveless state is insignificance."
-- Andrew Soloman
Our intelligence requires a reason for us to go on from day to day. It's a little scary how hard that can be sometimes. You have to sort of pump yourself up for life. In my own case, for instance, I usually think that literature is enough for me, so long as I continue to have the sense and wit and comfort to read and write it, but there are times when all the words seem as lifeless on the page as rotting bones in the grave, and then I am horrified to think that I could have ever believed this could be the passion of my life - what a pathetic joke! Fortunately, this has never lasted more than a few days, and I just do more chores, maybe go out on walks, and spend more quality time with my pets, with pets also being a source of love-energy for me, and I write my way through the mood, describing it and wondering what I am going to do with myself, if anything. Like I said, I always come out of it, but when you are in that emotional quicksand, you cannot be certain that you will indeed come back out this time.
Love, though it is no prophylactic against depression, is what cushions the mind and protects it from itself. Medications and psychotherapy can renew that protection, making it easier to love and be loved, and that is why they work. In good spirits, some love themselves and some love others and some love work and some love God: any of these passions can furnish that vital sense of purpose that is the opposite of depression. Love forsakes us from time to time, and we forsake love. In depression, the meaninglessness of every enterprise and every emotion, the meaninglessness of life itself, becomes self-evident. The only feeling left in this loveless state is insignificance."
-- Andrew Soloman
Our intelligence requires a reason for us to go on from day to day. It's a little scary how hard that can be sometimes. You have to sort of pump yourself up for life. In my own case, for instance, I usually think that literature is enough for me, so long as I continue to have the sense and wit and comfort to read and write it, but there are times when all the words seem as lifeless on the page as rotting bones in the grave, and then I am horrified to think that I could have ever believed this could be the passion of my life - what a pathetic joke! Fortunately, this has never lasted more than a few days, and I just do more chores, maybe go out on walks, and spend more quality time with my pets, with pets also being a source of love-energy for me, and I write my way through the mood, describing it and wondering what I am going to do with myself, if anything. Like I said, I always come out of it, but when you are in that emotional quicksand, you cannot be certain that you will indeed come back out this time.
