Messages, Insights and Wisdom

by Per-Erik Larsson

My conclusion is that mankind suffers from delusions. Schizophrenics suffers to a lesser extent of this. The basic idea is that man wants a good life, or happiness, and this is what we strive for all our lives. My reasoning is as follows:

What would characterize a group of people suffering from delusions? Their ideas would not be founded on logic and real needs, which causes them to always come up with new ways of doing things, which they believe are better. Test and evaluate the new ideas on the group, who also suffers from delusions, and see what they say. We all suffer from the delusion that the majority knows what's best. This leads to progress as we know it.

From a historical perspective society has always been in a state of change (progress). Societies that stagnate are overtaken by more dynamic societies. This doesn't mean people in the more dynamic society are happier than the ones in the stagnant society. Buddhism teaches that everything is in a state of constant change, which obviously applies to societies every where, as can be seen from our history. Which makes one wonder if anything we do ever will be good enough to be considered final. The dominant belief is that there is no end to progress. Progress is something good never ending.

Look at the concept of democracy. The crown jewel of progress, based on the idea that the majority knows what's best. Now look at environmental issues. The majority thinks it good to care about the environment as long as it doesn't effect them financially. Wouldn't it be smarter to let environmental experts unite around a decision on what to do. If we do away with political parties and let specialists deal with issues they are competent to solve, than we would have a new system, specialist democracy. The way things are looking we will soon be there. The only thing that will differentiate parties will be the view on the individual. Delusions in this area are quite widespread, which is obvious from all different existing philosophies.

We suffer from the delusion that progress is good. What's the result of progress? Never have so many people been sick from work, or been excluded from the labor market. Obesity, which I see as an mental imbalance, is at an all time high, and rising. Everybody complains there is not enough time. They are stressed out. There are two things that have become better the last fifty years, health care, and private finances. Progress in the area of health care has obviously improved living conditions for a lot of people. Better private finances come at the price of above mentioned arguments. Were we not better off fifty years ago, with the exception of the health care. I say we were, which in that case proves that progress is not all good. Which proves progress is founded on illogic development and the satisfaction of needs that are created. What is the logic in creating a need where none exist? It's illogic. Therefore are progress based on that we all suffer from delusions.

Finally, I must say there is no cure for delusions. Psychiatry says anti-psychotics cure it, but that's yet another delusion. Our only possibility is to use logical reasoning as much as possible.

My theory for the cause of delusions is that we suffer from self-hatred. According to this theory self-hatred arises about the age of two years. The child immediately represses this emotion so it becomes buried deep in the sub-conscious. Later in life this expresses itself in the ability to feel hatred and envy. Both of these feelings make us feel bad, which can be seen as an confirmation that they come from self-hatred. There is actually no reason why hatred and envy make us feel bad. If it's not to deter us, but than nature might as well not have given us these emotions, which is the case with people suffering from schizophrenia.

The repressed self-hatred lays as a gravitational center in the sub-conscious. The sub-conscious thoughts are drawn in and bent around this center. Our instincts that are sublimated to needs in the sub-conscious are bent by the center, hence our inability to satisfy our needs. Since the needs are distortions of the underlying instincts it becomes impossible to achieve need satisfaction. This is the reason why we create new needs in the hunt for lasting well-being. This inability to identify our needs correctly put us in a constant search to satisfy ourselves with different substitutes. This is the foundation for progress as we know it.

This is interesting from a Buddhist point of view since it explains why life is suffering, it's simply because of our inability to identify our needs. Therefore life is an endless search and each new need we acquire increases our suffering.

--Per-Erik Larsson
Read more writings by Per-Erik at: http://user.tninet.se/~yge389p/

top

Disclaimer: Material found on the Successful Schizophrenia website is for your information only. We are not able dispense specific advice for your situation. If you are under a doctor's care, you should talk with him or her about your mental health goals and if they are not on the same page as you, ask for a referral to a doctor or counselor who is. It may mean interviewing several. If you are on your own, you may wish to contact your local county mental health department to ask for local resources. Our site exists to show people that there are all varieties of mental states and assessments of those states; that sometimes 'mental health' is in the eye of the beholder; and that the mental health profession needs to continue to open itself up to the new paradigm ... progress is being made!

Mankind Suffers from Delusions

by Per-Erik Larsson

http://user.tninet.se/~yge389p/