"Depth analysts pay close attention to dreams...The psyche uses depression to get our attention, to show that something is profoundly wrong. once we understand its therapeutic value and follow its Ariadne string through our private labyrinth, then depression can even seem a friend of sorts. After all, if we had not hurt so, the psyche would have already been dead. The hurt, the suffering, is a sign that something vital is still there, awaiting our invitation to come back into the world.
In every swampland state, then, is a task. it takes great courage to value depression, to respect it, not to try and medicate it away or distract ourselves from its misery. Down there is potential meaning, split off from consciousness but alive, dynamic. Although a depression robs conscious life of energy, that energy is not gone. it is in the underworld, and like Orpheus who goes down there to confront, perhaps to charm, the lower powers, so we too are obliged to go down into the depression and find our soul's greatest treasure"
James Hollis 'Swamplands of the Soul'
"The ultimate purpose of psychotherapy is not so much the archeological exploration of infantile sentiments as it is learning gradually and with much effort to accept our own limits and to carry the weight of suffering on our own shoulders for the rest of our lives. Psychological work, instead of providing liberation from the cause of serious discomfort, increases it, teaching the patient to become adult and, for the first time in his life, actively face the feeling of being alone with his pain and abandoned by the world."
Aldo Carotenuto 'The Difficult Art'
In every swampland state, then, is a task. it takes great courage to value depression, to respect it, not to try and medicate it away or distract ourselves from its misery. Down there is potential meaning, split off from consciousness but alive, dynamic. Although a depression robs conscious life of energy, that energy is not gone. it is in the underworld, and like Orpheus who goes down there to confront, perhaps to charm, the lower powers, so we too are obliged to go down into the depression and find our soul's greatest treasure"
James Hollis 'Swamplands of the Soul'
"The ultimate purpose of psychotherapy is not so much the archeological exploration of infantile sentiments as it is learning gradually and with much effort to accept our own limits and to carry the weight of suffering on our own shoulders for the rest of our lives. Psychological work, instead of providing liberation from the cause of serious discomfort, increases it, teaching the patient to become adult and, for the first time in his life, actively face the feeling of being alone with his pain and abandoned by the world."
Aldo Carotenuto 'The Difficult Art'
Michael Politz
What happens after having moved through that feeling of abandonment ?
Yesterday at 7:55pm · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
there leaves just you to love
Yesterday at 8:02pm · Delete
Ducks Fly Moon
perhaps none of us will ever truly know....i certainly don't proclaim to have achieved such a sublime state...i suspect we may only ever be able to glimpse it for a moment before it disappears again...but its a poetic endeavour through and through
Yesterday at 8:47pm · Delete
Michael Politz
my experience has been that when you fully experience any emotion you realize you are not your emotions or thoughts.
Pain is in the perception of an event, not the event
Pain is in the perception of an event, not the event
Yesterday at 9:42pm · Delete
Lindsay Cummings
i agree that overcoming depression needs to address the pain, not avoid it. but doing so without judgment. we also need to change the knee-jerk perception that all pain is inherently bad and therefore we need to fight it off or get away from it as quickly as possible. this flight or flight reaction doesn't help most people with serious depression; it just makes things worse. as we try to examine why we feel so bad, we fail most of the time to find a good answer and the downward cycle begins of self-blame, harsh doubt, and the inability to see a way out. it can be so hard to see the benefits that depression can have when you are in the midst of it. i think that being really caring towards ourselves and non-judgmental is a good way to start.
Yesterday at 10:22pm · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
In my experience there are many degrees of depression. It is important to take responsibility for having it share your space. To make it welcome and comfortable so a communication may exist where by understanding will feel invited. Depression may believe it'self to have a reason to be though without fully knowing of it's true purpose. I think it visits us to gain a better understanding of itself. How we choose to respond is part of this mutual endevour to understand.
Yesterday at 10:32pm · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
We are always able to exercise the ability of giving nothing which is non resistive, thus whatever we have allowed to come into being disperses.
Yesterday at 11:47pm · Delete
Michael Politz
can u give an example
23 hours ago · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
For example think of something negative, perhaps a memory. When you have it hold it there whilst consciously giving it nothing. Be aware that giving nothing is not running away from confronting. By giving nothing you are taking responsibility for it rather than becoming the effect. It's useful to practice such a principle regularly in life. Have faith x
23 hours ago · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
Now you are giving something the right to be
23 hours ago · Delete
Michael Politz
so you mean to observe the feeling around the issue
23 hours ago · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
Kind of. Really it's observing something in it's own space from your own space without giving anything like considerations, disagreement, many things we give to a space which in turn affects our own. By giving nothing what you receive is nothing which is harmless!
23 hours ago · Delete
Michael Politz
its observing without moving through the problem, in the end (which will never happen in this instance) you still have the issue
22 hours ago · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
By applying the principle you will realize there is no problem or issue but the ones you willingly hold on to.
22 hours ago · Delete
Michael Politz
yes & no; you will know that your holding on to the issue is silly but because you don't want to experience the emotion the issue will come back.
until you fully experience the issue, you will recreate it
until you fully experience the issue, you will recreate it
21 hours ago · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
That is why it is important to welcome whatever it is so you can then let it be to let it go.
21 hours ago · Delete
Michael Politz
i think we're talking about the same thing
21 hours ago · Delete
Horacio Toulouse la Maga
Well that's ok! Nice speaking with you x
21 hours ago · Delete
Michael Politz
likewise!
21 hours ago · Delete
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