Science, Religion, Politics and in the pursuit of truth – HappyPsychotic

The Depression Cure

// September 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // GlenncloseAuthor: Glenn Name: Glenn C
Email: happypsychotic@gmail.com
Site: http://www.happypsychotic.com
About: Glenn is 36 years old and now lives in a small town in Northern Ontario with his wife of 13 years and 2 kids. He has been a foster parent for 10 years in 3 different cities. He graduated from Radio College of Canada (Toronto) in 1993 as an Electronic Engineering Technologist and has been working in the electronics industry ever since with companies like Nortel. Glenn does a good amount of reading, studying and thinking about such topics as philosophy, psychology, physics (Quantum Mechanics), religion and science. Glenn does have an I.Q. of > 140 (as does Chris) which is categorized as genius but hasn't bothered joining any I.Q. type clubs. He is very logical and analytical and always looking for a way to make a better world - primarily through self-improvement and in helping others to improve themselves. Most importantly, he constantly re-evaluates his priorities and ensures his time is spent wisely - like working on this site.See Authors Posts (92)

I just read about a fascinating study done on depression.  This study had a number of really interesting insights that I had never considered but seem to make perfect logical sense to me (which is always what I strive for!).  Here are the links…

To begin with, many studies of depression have shown that it is most often caused by an important and complex problem that can only be solved with intense thinking.  The more important the problem, the more focused the person needs to be on solving it, which causes the person to minimize other distractions and become “withdrawn from life”.  Think of times when you, or somebody you know has been depressed – have you noticed how they seem to be “in their own world” a lot and are just not interested in doing anything interesting?  This could be because they need to focus all their energy on finding the solution to their problem.

Now, another interesting thought here is whether or not it is beneficial to help a depressive person by forcing them to do interesting things again to get them out of their depression.  The studies here have shown that people can “escape” from their depression by keeping active and doing many interesting things, thus ignoring the “big problem”.  The downside here is that unless the “big problem” is inadvertently solved by all these activities, it will eventually be brought back to the forefront and the depression will begin again.  In fact, these distractions actually cause the depression to last longer by delaying the problem solving.

So, for me, the advice here is that whenever I feel any type of depressive type feelings, I should work hard at identifying the “big problem” and spend as much time and effort as possible on dealing with that problem, instead of trying to avoid it.  Of course, if the “big problem” can’t be solved (I hope that’s not a possibility!), I suppose that depression will be hanging on for a while, and maybe it would be better to ignore it and get on with life as much as I can.

Pleasure and Pain

// September 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // GlenncloseAuthor: Glenn Name: Glenn C
Email: happypsychotic@gmail.com
Site: http://www.happypsychotic.com
About: Glenn is 36 years old and now lives in a small town in Northern Ontario with his wife of 13 years and 2 kids. He has been a foster parent for 10 years in 3 different cities. He graduated from Radio College of Canada (Toronto) in 1993 as an Electronic Engineering Technologist and has been working in the electronics industry ever since with companies like Nortel. Glenn does a good amount of reading, studying and thinking about such topics as philosophy, psychology, physics (Quantum Mechanics), religion and science. Glenn does have an I.Q. of > 140 (as does Chris) which is categorized as genius but hasn't bothered joining any I.Q. type clubs. He is very logical and analytical and always looking for a way to make a better world - primarily through self-improvement and in helping others to improve themselves. Most importantly, he constantly re-evaluates his priorities and ensures his time is spent wisely - like working on this site.See Authors Posts (92)

Shouldn’t the universe have created a balance between pleasure and pain, both physically and mentally?  Maybe there is a balance…

How easy is it to create physical pain?  You can easily hurt yourself by striking or cutting yourself – the pain will slowly fade and your body will slowly heal.  How easy is it to create physical pleasure?  You can easily take a drug or pleasure yourself sexually – the pleasure will slowly fade as the drug wears off or you stop your other actions.  Is this equal?  It seems that the physical pain is easier to inflict and longer lasting…and that any drug you take will have a negative side effect which often causes pain.

How easy is it to create mental pain?  I suppose it’s not easy to create, if you hurt someone you love that will cause mental pain, but by the fact that you were able to hurt someone you love on purpose, means that it wasn’t that hard to do so you couldn’t have loved them all that much right?  So I’m not sure how to actually create mental pain.  Of course, you could already by suffering from mental pain that you didn’t choose to create, and many people find this a crippling illness that they can never be cured of.  How easy is it to create mental pleasure?  I suppose you go out and do the stuff you like, you spend time with the ones you love, you do the activities you enjoy.  I believe these pleasures are also temporary but they do work.

But why should the universe have balance here?  Why should the universe balance anything?  Maybe we should be shocked that these comparisons are as close to equal as they appear.  Maybe they are actually in perfect balance but I am unable to see it.

The Babel Effect

// July 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // GlenncloseAuthor: Glenn Name: Glenn C
Email: happypsychotic@gmail.com
Site: http://www.happypsychotic.com
About: Glenn is 36 years old and now lives in a small town in Northern Ontario with his wife of 13 years and 2 kids. He has been a foster parent for 10 years in 3 different cities. He graduated from Radio College of Canada (Toronto) in 1993 as an Electronic Engineering Technologist and has been working in the electronics industry ever since with companies like Nortel. Glenn does a good amount of reading, studying and thinking about such topics as philosophy, psychology, physics (Quantum Mechanics), religion and science. Glenn does have an I.Q. of > 140 (as does Chris) which is categorized as genius but hasn't bothered joining any I.Q. type clubs. He is very logical and analytical and always looking for a way to make a better world - primarily through self-improvement and in helping others to improve themselves. Most importantly, he constantly re-evaluates his priorities and ensures his time is spent wisely - like working on this site.See Authors Posts (92)

I found another good book called “The Babel Effect“, after giving up on the last 2 books I started because I found them pointless and boring.

I suppose what I find most interesting about this book is how it makes me think about the causes of good and evil.  In the book, there are 2 half brothers who are very different – one is on death row because he is a mass murderer, the other has declined to accept honours from various groups that he has helped over the years including risking his life to save Jews during WWII, even though he had no personal connection with any Jews.  So the main character is trying to determine if there are any reasons behind why one person is “evil” and another is “good”.  Is there a genetic reason?  Is it due to environment?  Is it due to parental upbringing?  Is it a disease that you catch?

And the characters also struggle with the profound consequences of what the world would be like if one of these reasons were proven to be true.  For instance, if an “evil gene” was discovered, we shouldn’t incarcerate criminals, we should give them medical treatment, and we could screen everyone in the world to determine if they are good or evil and immediately segregate them until (or if) they are cured.  Another consequence would be the loss of “free will” – if you knew you were “evil”, you would probably get pretty depressed as you resigned yourself to a life in prison, or in a hospital or whatever, waiting to be cured.

Due to the fact that as far as I know, there have been no scientific discoveries as simple as “I found the gene that does X”, it is unlikely that we will find a “good” or “evil” gene.  And also due to the fact that we humans really do feel like we make our own choices in life (however illogical that may actually be), I’m thinking that all these things (genetics, environment, upbringing etc.) have an affect but are not ultimately responsible for our choices in life.  But I really don’t know why I (for instance) have a strong desire to help people that appear to need help, while others appear to think very little of others, and seem to only care about themselves.

Escape from Reality

// March 18th, 2009 // No Comments » // GlenncloseAuthor: Glenn Name: Glenn C
Email: happypsychotic@gmail.com
Site: http://www.happypsychotic.com
About: Glenn is 36 years old and now lives in a small town in Northern Ontario with his wife of 13 years and 2 kids. He has been a foster parent for 10 years in 3 different cities. He graduated from Radio College of Canada (Toronto) in 1993 as an Electronic Engineering Technologist and has been working in the electronics industry ever since with companies like Nortel. Glenn does a good amount of reading, studying and thinking about such topics as philosophy, psychology, physics (Quantum Mechanics), religion and science. Glenn does have an I.Q. of > 140 (as does Chris) which is categorized as genius but hasn't bothered joining any I.Q. type clubs. He is very logical and analytical and always looking for a way to make a better world - primarily through self-improvement and in helping others to improve themselves. Most importantly, he constantly re-evaluates his priorities and ensures his time is spent wisely - like working on this site.See Authors Posts (92)

Have you ever read a book that so captivates your imagination that you don’t want to leave it and return to the real world? One that shocks you when you look up at the clock and see how much time has past? I’m not talking about an “interesting” story of mystery of fantasy, I’m talking about a story that makes you strive to comprehend, that confuses, that puzzles, that draws deep emotions by its imagery. I picked up this book called “The Child Garden” by Geoff Ryman from a church book sale for the price of “a plastic bag full of books for $6”.

I’ve pretty much given up trying to find a good book by browsing the best sellers list (I guess I don’t normally like what “the crowd” likes), or by carefully analyzing book covers and reading random pages. I’ve found most of my favourite books by dumb luck. My current process is to start at the bargain bins and just read the cover enough to ensure it’s not another “murder mystery”, “romance”, or “big court case”. (I’ve read enough of those to need a break for 10 years or so) After that, the strategy is volume – just pick up books, give them a chance, and don’t be afraid to stop reading it, if it’s boring.

“The Child Garden” has grabbed me completely. I haven’t even read a quarter of the book yet and I’m loving it so much I’m already worried the rest of the book won’t be as good as what I’ve read so far. (is that the pessimist in me?)

Anyways, what can I say about the story so far? It’s based in the future, and most every human illness and frailty has been cured by injections of types of a “virus”. People have a virus injected which them everything they need to know instantly so even toddlers are as smart as an adult from today. But the problem is that since people don’t need to “learn” anything anymore, life is very static and boring (although most people can’t even see that). The main character (a girl) meets some sort of genetically engineered polar bear person that doesn’t use any virus so still knows how to create and enjoy music and life. This causes the girl to fall in love with this bear and begin to see her world in a completely different way.

Why do I like this story? Because it’s so weird I don’t know what will happen next? Because I have a desire to break out of my static and boring world? I don’t know. And maybe the best thing is that I don’t care if this story wraps up nicely in the end, it’s already served its purpose for me.

Choose Happiness

// January 27th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // GlenncloseAuthor: Glenn Name: Glenn C
Email: happypsychotic@gmail.com
Site: http://www.happypsychotic.com
About: Glenn is 36 years old and now lives in a small town in Northern Ontario with his wife of 13 years and 2 kids. He has been a foster parent for 10 years in 3 different cities. He graduated from Radio College of Canada (Toronto) in 1993 as an Electronic Engineering Technologist and has been working in the electronics industry ever since with companies like Nortel. Glenn does a good amount of reading, studying and thinking about such topics as philosophy, psychology, physics (Quantum Mechanics), religion and science. Glenn does have an I.Q. of > 140 (as does Chris) which is categorized as genius but hasn't bothered joining any I.Q. type clubs. He is very logical and analytical and always looking for a way to make a better world - primarily through self-improvement and in helping others to improve themselves. Most importantly, he constantly re-evaluates his priorities and ensures his time is spent wisely - like working on this site.See Authors Posts (92)

Most of you have been taught never to say “He makes me so mad!” because you shouldn’t allow a person to have such control over your life.  When somebody behaves in a way that you find annoying, you can choose to get angry about it, or you can choose to deal with the situation in a number of different ways, many of them calmly and rationally.  I first learned this about 15 years ago when studying “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“, and it has served me well over the years.

Now please keep in mind that I am not talking about suppressing my anger like Kramer’s “Serenity now” bit on Seinfeld, but actually changing my thinking about a situation so that I don’t get angered at all.

So I got to thinking lately, that this same principle may also be used in an opposite manner regarding happiness.  It seems to me that the great majority of us are only happy when external events dictate it.  i.e. When something “good” happens to us, it causes us to be happy.  So I’m wondering if we really need to wait for these “good” things to happen before we get happy.  Can’t we choose happiness?

This idea can be approached in many different ways – I’ll start by talking about brain chemicals.  If you look at feelings in a strictly analytical way, you could say that you feel a certain way because your brain has created a certain chemical reaction that has produced this feeling.  And by taking one step further back in time, you can say that your brain did this because of the way it interpreted its inputs from the world. (sights, sounds etc.)  So it seems straightforward that you can change your feelings simply by changing the way your brain interprets its inputs.  For example, when someone close to you dies, you can be extremely distraught, sad and upset, or, if you believe they are experiencing intense joy in heaven, you can feel happy – it’s all in how your brain interprets the world around you.

Another interesting fact about the brain is that as its neural pathways are used more often, these paths get stronger, bigger and faster.  (this is why it gets easier and easier to perform a task the more often you practice it, and why it’s so hard to break habits)  To apply this idea to this topic, I am thinking about choosing happiness when you are feeling normal, and causing this happiness feeling to become strengthened and therefore more common and easier to achieve.

If you’re wondering how to “choose happiness”, the answer is simple:  just remember something or some time when you felt happy, and dwell on it.  The longer you can hold on to that happy feeling, the more that neural connection will be strengthened and the more common it will become.

I’m going to make some somewhat cynical predictions about this advice:

1. Most people can’t be bothered to read something this long.
2. Of those that read this, most have a hard time comprehending what I’m saying so will forget it shortly.
3. For that extremely small percentage that have read and understood, (congratulations!) some disagree, (I would love to hear from you because I want to learn!), some agree but can’t be bothered (usually because you are “too busy” or say you “don’t need it” – cop out), and the last of you will hopefully improve your lives with this idea as I hope I am.