Depression Cured

A Cure for Depressive Illness

 

 

"Perfection of work is man's greatest reward. When a man sees his work perfected and this perfection is the result of incessant labor and application he is the happiest man in the world. Work is the source of human happiness." (`Abdu'l-Baha, SW, Vol. 13, p. 152)

 

By popular request, I am beginning a series on the above quote, which has inspired me for decades. First, before getting into new material, I will repost some of what has already been featured on the Badi’ Blog, starting with this:

 

Work and Happiness

p18wri 2007 July 14; Baha'i Mention, and Other Mentions

Revised and reposted, May 2012

 

 

Work and Happiness

 

Back on the 20th of September, 2002 I wrote an essay called, "On the Parable of the Talents; Ethical Economics, Part IV" where I did a detailed analysis of the implications of the following reported statement by the Master:

 

"Perfection of work is man's greatest reward. When a man sees his work perfected and this perfection is the result of incessant labor and application he is the happiest man in the world. Work is the source of human happiness." (SW, Vol. 13, p. 152)

 

It turns out that scientists and medical experts have been making discoveries confirming this wisdom, according to the following report in a local newspaper.

 

"Want to be happier? Work longer hours," by Joanna Frketich

 

"You're in early. You stay late. The hours are piling up. Congratulations! Workaholics are less likely to suffer from depression. Statistics Canada reports that those working fewer than 30 hours a week suffered more depression than workers clocking more than 40 hours. Though nobody is quite sure why. Maybe because workaholics don't have time.

 

"People working 40 hours meet the norms and expectations of society and feel they're doing something useful said Vish Baba, professor of management at McMaster University.”If I'm, working less hours, my sense of self worth is threatened. I might feel the skills I have are not wanted.

 

"Others suggest it has more to do with being passionate enough about your work to put in the extra time. They have a strong sense of mission to their work:' said Peter Bieling, manager of the mood disorders program at St. Joseph's Healthcare. "It's work that matters to them. Then again, the answer could be simply that people suffering from depression can't work as many hours. "Someone who is healthy is more likely to work longer hours," said Heather Gilmour, analyst in the health statistics division of Statistics Canada." (Hamilton Spectator, A1, 13 Jan, 2007)

 

Such is the problem with scientific confirmations, you never know if people are happier because they are working, or whether they are working because they are happier. There is an element of faith in both, in being happy and in working, which is why they are of such benefit. As Paul said, "Every man's work shall be made manifest." (1 Corinthians iii. 13)

Rewards of Contentment vs. Commercial Corruption

From the Banquet of Xenophon

The following dialog is thought to be based on a conversation that actually took place. It struck me as apposite to several sayings of Baha'u'llah in the Words of Wisdom and the Seven Valleys about the importance of contentment.

From: Xenophon: Memorabilia, Oeconomicus, Symposium, Apologia, Loeb Classical Library, by Xenophon (Author), E. C. Marchant (Translator), O. J. Todd (Translator) 1923, 279-282

Then Socrates turning to Antisthenes; "And what reason have you," said he, "who have very little or no money, to value yourself upon wealth?"

Antisthenes: "Because I am of opinion, gentlemen, that poverty and wealth are not in the coffers of those we call rich or poor, but in the heart only. For I see numbers of very rich men, who believe themselves poor; nor is there any peril or labour they would not expose themselves to, to acquire more wealth.

"I knew two brothers, the other day, who shared equally their father's estate. The first had enough, and something to spare; the other wanted every thing. I have heard likewise of some princes so greedy of wealth, that they were more notoriously criminal in the search of it than private men. For though the latter may sometimes steal, break houses, and sell free persons to slavery, to support the necessities of life, yet those do much worse. They ravage whole countries, put nations to the sword, enslave free states, and all this for the sake of money, and to fill the coffers of their treasury. The truth is, I have a great deal of compassion for these men, when I consider the distemper that afflicts them.

"Is it not an unhappy condition to have a great deal to eat, to eat a great deal, and yet never be satisfied?

"For my part, though I confess I have no money at home, yet I want none because I never eat but just as much as will satisfy my hunger, nor drink but to quench my thirst. I clothe myself in such manner that I am as warm abroad as Callias, with all his great abundance. And when I am at home, the floor and the wall, without mats or tapestry, make my chamber warm enough for me.

"And as for my bed, such as it is, I find it more difficult to awake than to fall asleep in it. ... But don't mistake me, gentlemen, for governing my passion in this as in other things; I am so far from desiring to have more pleasure in the enjoyment, that I wish it less, because, upon due consideration, I find those pleasures that touch us in the most sensible manner deserve not to be esteemed the most worthy of us. But observe the chief advantage I reap from my poverty; it is, that in case the little I have should be taken entirely from me, there is no occupation so poor, no employment in life so barren, but would maintain me without the least uneasiness, and afford me a dinner without any trouble.

"For if I have an inclination at any time to regale myself and indulge my appetite, I can do it easily; it is but going to market, not to buy dainties (they are too dear), but my temperance gives that quality to the most common food, and, by that means, the contentedness of my mind supplies me with delicacies, that are wanting in the meat itself.

"Now, it is not the excessive price of what we eat that gives it a relish, but it is necessity and appetite. Of this I have experience just now, while I am speaking; for this generous wine of Thasos, (the noblest vines, that grew in one of the Grecian islands) that I am now drinking, the exquisite flavour of it is the occasion that I drink it now, without thirst, and consequently without pleasure. Besides all this, I find it is necessary to live thus, in order to live honestly.

"For he that is content with what he has, will never covet what is his neighbour's. Further, it is certain the wealth I am speaking of makes men liberal. For Socrates, from whom I have all mine, never gave it me by number or weight, but whenever I was willing to receive, he loads me always with as much as I can carry. I do the same by my friends; I never conceal my plenty. On the contrary, I show them all I have, and at the same time I let them share with me.

"It is from this, likewise, I am become master of one of the most delightful things in the world. I mean, that soft and charming leisure that permits me to see everything that is worthy to be seen, and to hear every thing that is worthy to be heard. It is, in one word, that which affords me the happiness of hearing Socrates from morning to night, for he having no great veneration for those that can only count vast sums of gold and silver converses only with them who he finds are agreeable to him and deserve his company."

"Truly," said Callias, "I admire you, and these your excellent riches, for two reasons: first, that thereby you are no slave to the government: and, secondly, that no body can take it ill you do not lend them money."

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play and happiness

The sense of play is important in religion.

Discuss.

The sense of being happy makes us more intelligent. The Master said it is so, and here is proof.

Badi' Vlog, Episode One

The Goal of all is Happiness

By John Taylor; 2009 June 03, Azamat 17, 166 BE

After many years being stymied by what I call my "video curse," yesterday I made some progress. I had collected some good footage on our camcorder of a new skateboard park that Tomaso and I visited last weekend in Hamilton, but neither our Mac nor Vista computer would recognize its Firewire connection. The camcorder was as good as invisible. Meanwhile I had found an excellent video tutorial on the Web about how to use the video editing program that I bought last week, Final Cut Express. It was very helpful and cleared up basic things about cutting video that had utterly mystified me.

Unfortunately, with an invisible camcorder there was no way to try out what I had learned. Then I remembered that I had tried out the recording function of our new little digicam and that its compressed files had loaded onto the iMac perfectly. So I spent an hour or two splicing this limited material together into an eight minute demo, which I immediately uploaded to YouTube before the curse could catch up with me. This first episode of what I hope will be a series of Badi' Vlog videos is not going to win any Academy Awards, but I hope it will break the logjam of FUBARs that has sapped my confidence as a videographer for so long. You can see the video on the Badi Blog at:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/badi-blog-vlog-for-2009-may-29.html

Or on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnY0YAKLXj4

My other videos are at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/johnedwardtaylor

We went to the cinema in Welland for the evening and when we got back eight people had already viewed the video, and it had no fewer than two comments. For me, that is a lot. I can go several months of daily essays without getting two comments for a submission. Sure, I could easily get more than two responses by talking about something controversial, like homosexuality or some inflammatory public figure, but that would be cheap and superficial. I prefer to earn my notoriety through laboured and profoundly stupid themes.

Anyway, I want to talk about the movie I watched. Tomaso and Marie took in the new Pixar release, "Up," while I watched "Terminator 4, Salvation." If that is salvation, give me perdition any day. When the early Christians went around offering salvation, I do not think this is what they had in mind. What a bleak, flinty, iron hard vision of a future of war and oppression gone wild! The Skynet terminator machines collect together human beings like cattle and -- I never thought I could say this -- the glowing-red eyed prison guards make the Nazis look warm and cuddly! And the music, or sound effect theme, or whatever it is of the soundtrack is truly unnerving. It had me jumping out of my skin every few minutes. That is just what the human race needs, super-intelligent machines determined to exterminate us. I got out of the cinema, jumped straight into my car and pounded my fist into the radio, so angry I was with machines and technology. My fist hurt, but my soul felt better. How could they do this to us?

I have been mulling over the following words of `Abdu'l-Baha, and the Terminator vision of a future where military means of destruction get so sophisticated that they become independent and take command seems like only a slight exaggeration of what we are up against right now.

"However, until material achievements, physical accomplishments and human virtues are reinforced by spiritual perfections, luminous qualities and characteristics of mercy, no fruit or result shall issue therefrom, nor will the happiness of the world of humanity, which is the ultimate aim, be attained. For although, on the one hand, material achievements and the development of the physical world produce prosperity, which exquisitely manifests its intended aims, on the other hand dangers, severe calamities and violent afflictions are imminent." (SWA 283-284)

This is important for two reasons, one, because it assumes that the ultimate aim of all, and especially of God, is human happiness, and two because it projects the same trend that Terminator takes to an extreme, "severe calamities and violent afflictions." All we need to do to avoid them is to back up our material progress with spiritual virtues and mercy. Throughout the film I kept thinking, "If that really happened, humans would not stand a chance." For example, main characters walk away impervious from a full-scale mushroom cloud at least three times in the film (I missed the first part so there might have been more). In reality the result would be cancer, radiation sickness and who knows what all else. Flimsy humans, what hope do we have against the Machine?

We need to start what Comenius called the Great Postliminium (a return to one's former home to resume one's ranks and privileges after war or exile) while there is still a home to come home to. Those means getting rid of all warlike ways of thinking, not negatively by banishing bad thoughts but positively, by holding in mind and heart the vision of a God who loves us and wants our happiness. At the same time, we need to assert our right to be world citizen. Consider what the Baha'i declaration of rights, written in response to the newly formed United Nations' "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," declares:

"World order has become legally possible, socially imperative, and divinely ordained. The principle of federation has already united previously independent communities diverse in race, language, religion and size of population. The nations can find just expression for their legitimate rights and needs through proportionate representation in a supranational body. Until world citizenship is guaranteed as a social status, the human rights and privileges developed in the past are undermined by the disruption of modern society." (Baha'i International Community, 1947 Feb, A Baha'i Declaration of Human Obligations and Rights)

John Taylor

email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/

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World's First Depressant Drug

Be happy, be a Baha'i. Or, maybe not

FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful

Sampling Luxuries

Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world's most expensive products, including a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee. His critique may surprise you.

My new favorite evolutionary psychologist

 Here is the exact sense in which this is the best of all possible worlds.


Imagine two futures, one in which you are a moral hero, the other in which you compromise morally. Which is better? Then watch these two videos and answer the question.




Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness -- sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end for a sparkling Q&A with some familiar TED faces.





 

3 kinds of happiness

Psychologist Martin Seligman is the most prominent and sensible thinkers in his field. His contrast of "Hollywood happiness" with flow happiness is similar to a distinction that Horace Holley made way back when.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology.html 

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