|
The Inspired Change C-3 B-2a (日: Enemy of the Ego Part 1)
The first sign of an emotion thatch in play is the upsurge of “inertia” – a strong resistance to change – every time you wish to uplift your life; even simple wishes – such as keeping fit, changing to a healthier diet, or opening to a new idea – seemed like high hopes.
Initially, it is a ding-dong battle -- win whenever you receive a positive vibe from the outside (the natural guà, the upper trigram of a hexagram, is coming to your aid), and lose whenever your mood takes over (the man-made guà, the lower trigram of a hexagram, is boxing you in).
At this juncture, there is no joy in winning, nor sadness when losing. What it does bring is regrets -- for wasting time and energy fighting the many, meaningless battles; and losing opportunity due to slow responses.
But, it is a different story if you are losing all the time. It means that a “depression” -- a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondent lack of activity – has set in.
The slump tells of the further hardening of the thatch, solid enough to cut off the outside supply that nourishes the inside. Over time, the isolation will degenerate into desolation – a marshy existence, devoid of vegetation (no growth), carpeted by mosses (trivialities) and walled by volatile emotion that fuels erratic behaviours.
If isolation is indeed the cause of depression, then calming the erratic behaviours by drugging the depressed could be suicidal. Because it addresses only the symptom (calming the behaviour by numbing the senses), but not the cause (calming the inside by neutralizing the extremes), with a dire consequence – numbing of the sixth sense meant for communicating with the natural world outside.
If the marshy condition is left to deteriorate further, the next worst thing is “compulsion” – the irrepressible urge to do something that you know you shouldn’t – driving ugly, vicious behaviours that plague the internet with cyber bullying, highways with road rage, or society at large with harassment.
In a way, a bully is a victim themselves; falling prey to a fast growing mass of trapped negatives that pressure cooks the inside into a live volcano; out bursting violently to release the escalating pressure; and spurring poisonous thoughts and vulgarities onto whoever and whatever blocking the way, to sooth the inner turmoil with pleasure derived from dispensing the pains.
Some might not give a damn being labelled a bully; but they would be hard-pressed for ignoring the deadly consequences that descend together with the next round of degeneration.
|