Is thinking too much about meaning and significance concerning aspects of existence, various motives in life, directly associated with a cause for unhappiness/depression? Should one be primarily concerned with focusing on the present rather than speculating potential changes? Is there such thing as thinking too much? Does "too much" imply it being a negative thing? Obviously over thinking isn't a bad thing but by definition, thinking too much about things suggests that otherwise you would just be thinking "the right amount"...
To me, all compulsive thought is too much, and keeps you sleepwalking through life instead of awakening. Here. Now. In thoughtless awareness, to me is the key to living the best life possible, and is one of the most important things to achieve on the path to enlightenment.
Quite the contrary.. excessive thought tends to lead to one's own personal enlightenment. I don't know about you but enlightenment and depression aren't exactly two words known for associating with each other (if you know what I mean).
It's supposedly a fact that highly intelligent people are A LOT more depressed than normal people. I know exactly what you mean though.. thinking too much leads to this understanding of the world, but sometimes its easier to be ignorant to all the bullshit and corruption that goes on. Not to mention the spiritual aspect of looking within and realizing people for what they truly are instead of the social bullshit that goes on.. In my opinion you should live in the present, and live for the present. Speculating is a fun game, but its all speculation. Investing too much emotion into a certain speculation is where trouble starts, especially if the speculation is something completely unprovable. For instance, I can't tell you how many years I spent trying to figure out 'the meaning of life' or 'how we got here' or the idea of 'god'. I wanted answers so bad that it was making me really unhappy. Once I got the point where I found answers within, rather than searching everywhere else, I felt a connectedness to every living thing.. I felt alive for the first time. This made it A LOT easier to speculate about anything and everything while knowing that it doesn't really matter. We are living.. we are here.. what may or may not happen is anyones guess, don't take any of it too seriously.
Exactly the point i'm making in this thread. http://forum.grasscity.com/spirituality-philosophy/307163-happiness-ignorance.html
when i was diagnosed with GAD and depression (just got a possible diagnoses of bi-polar today, we won't know until i try some medicine... ugh) i told my mom that i was almost certain its because i think too much, and im too smart for my own good. my doctor agreed that that deffinitely could be the case, as higher intelligent people tend to have a greater chance at developing mental illnesses... i ended up getting my IQ tested a bunch of times, which ranged from 125-155... i took 4 tests..., i only got 125 once, and all other times i was at least at 138. I hate being smart sometimes... i feel like i cant find a way to harness my intelligence in the way i want to. I want to spread ideas, not build computers or something... (i say this after i just switched from engineering to journalism lol) .... but regardless... i think a lot... too much, probably... which can be a good and bad thing. my intelligence sometimes leads me to seek drugs that calm my mind, even though i know i shouldnt (particularly klonopins... i love finally letting my mind be at ease, and turning into another dumb ignorant fuck... i've witnessed first hand how ignorance truly is bliss)
"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes. " "I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following. " Mohandas Gandhi
Wow dude.. i'm the same way. I usually use drugs to escape from my mind.. I always feel trapped when I start thinking too much. It's very difficult to rebalance yourself. I've learned to close my eyes and detach myself from the world, and then just let the positive energy flow, it helps a lot. But it's hard for me to focus enough to do it a lot of times. I feel ya though man, ignorance does seem like bliss.. But I wouldn't trade my mind/thoughts for anything.
Could you elaborate? I don't get what your saying about the depression, and I have no clue what your argument is behind 'excessive thought leads to enlightenment'. Excessive thought causes excessive suffering, living in the thought and not in reality. when you live in apparitions of your own creation, your not living in reality - in LIFE, your living in your thoughts, perspectives..how can you discover freedom from your own illusions by going further into them? Going further into excessive thought is what causes depression, and ultimately complete disconnection from reality - insanity.
Try to keep your thoughts pure man, don't see the negative in everything. See the potential of good in everything. It's like watching a high def big screen tv, while everyone else is watching a small black and white tv. You see a lot more clearly
True, depression has biological markers as well, but im willing to bet than when the understanding that thought is not you comes into mainstream science and relationships between thoughts vs awareness on general life start getting studied, that the biological markers have to do with excessive thought. Youll find most depressed people are depressed about something..or everything, they have deep deluded stories, caused by thought, about how the world hates them and they feel paranoid that theyre always been looked at and studied as much as they compulsively look and and study themselves. I'm sure that biological markers have some impact on well being of the consciousness, but thoughts are really the source of all suffering. Thoughts are essentially summarized, highly personalized, emotionally charged, complexly and highly altered perceptions of reality. The more of these there are, and the more one is unaware of ones ability to disconnect from them, and therefore the more one follows these thoughts without awareness, the more suffering, and eventually anxiety, depression, insanity (caused, not chronic/genetic) one falls into. The sufferings can be countered half-assedly by making "good" decisions and gaining wealth/fame/friends/family/american dream etc, but theyre always there, and at some point in most cases the external thing that they built their personalities and lives upon so far come out from under them (loss of job, loss of family, divorce, losing their name) the more hard they fall out of their long delusions and change who they are quite drastically to the next best summary of reality they can identify with comes along. None of all these personal, silly dramas filled with unrealistic fears and worries and unrealistic appraisals of opportunities vs risks due to fear would show up in any walk of life if people had more discipline over their minds and were more grounded in thoughtless awareness. One would be grounded to reality and realities within, that one can never lose, and externalities would make little difference to your sense of peace of mind , belonging, and freedom and bliss. One might have wealth and this, a great relationship and this, a be famous and this), but those will not form your false identity, and the constant suffering we have from reality not fitting in with our ridiculously small understanding and scope of view of reality will cease to exist.
I have recently changed my thinking to the present. I feel that I'm happier this way because I don't have to worry about the future, have doubts, wonder "what if", or get frustrated over not having a concrete answer. The present will always give a concrete answer. I used to think about why I would do certain things and what would result from my actions, a lot. Or think about other people's motives. It just got in the way of how I wanted to act. I think when it comes to thinking "too much" it is bad when applied to people and actions, but not necessarily bad when thinking about concepts, because that can help broaden the concept or present new ideas from yourself and others. If anyone feels that their thinking process is leading to unhappiness/depression due to over-thinking, then I'd suggest they lighten up and focus on the basics and what really matters.
much better response i wasnt doubting you, i just though it was a rather bold claim. but to be honest, i caompletely agree with you. the mroe you think about, the more idea's you have, which leads for a potential of having more worse idea's and thoughts than others... depression. but like Tonyizzle said, its really all about perspectiver and how you take and analyze your thoughts.
Analyzing your thoughts is thought itself, trying to analyze other thoughts! The analysis of the thought is as worthless as the thought itself, if not more!
this exactly. its not really the thinking "too much" as it is coming to the realization of how fucked up the world already is that contributes to the depression (i know this because ive been through it). people realize how fucked up the world is and then get depressed, but what if the world wasnt so fucked up?
absolutely not. a thought could be, "hey, i think i want to jump off a building." after further analysis of that thinking, you would realize "i dont think the consequences of that would be so good. nevermind then." while analyzing a thought is indeed thought itself, it is completely neccessary to distinguish the logic and reason behind your thoughts and how they are applicable to the real and physical world around you. its all about awareness, and often times that requires analysis... a thought
If you were thoughtless altogether, you wouldnt heed the first thought of "I wanna jump" in the first place. Where does the analysis end rationally and where does the silliness begin? If you are in the habit of giving any value whatsoever to your thoughts, how long before "Should I go out and have a good time" when your feeling down incurs the response 'no' from your analysis of what you deem is actually rational to the present moment and not related to thoughts of the past and the future that are essentially irrelevant to the moment? The response 'no' that is not actually grounded in reality but in a negative belief, because thought is emotionally charged, charged with stories from the past, deep seated stories that you might not be dwelling or crying about consciously, but that have become embedded wounds in the form of negative beliefs deep inside you, charged with the force of mood positive for positive reinforcement of thoughts, negative for negative moods, charged with illusary dreams of the future and attempting to make the future reality fit into your current idea of what you think your life should be, always charged by 'should bes' and 'shouldnt bes' that are ultimately very deep rooted. All thoughts stem from the same root of 'should be's that misalign with reality and 'shouldnt have beens' that for some reason feel that by crying about it they can alter what has already occured, which is obviously completely impossible. If there is no future, no past, no relating the situation in any way to the future or the past, what is is left? The Now. Thoughtless awareness. A cosmic intelligence far more intelligent, far more intuitive, far more wise, far more centered is then acting in your life.
and i;ve felt that. often. and its wonderful... but thats what makes us different from the animals... we think. so regardless, we are going to think, which is why analysis of our thoughts is entirely neccessary. though i agree with you, i wish we all acted more upon intuition. i know i have been lately... but that still doesnt stop the thoughts in my head
It's all an experience, right? No matter what. Just take your heart seriously. My heart's only advice. Not trying to be (hypo)critical, but I'm going to define you as a definer.