Juanswanson Posted March 7, 2015 Posted March 7, 2015 Listening to On Truth last year really shook my world, but it's what I needed. I was depressed, and wasn't exactly sure why. On Truth got me to look to my immediate environment--a brother in prison, an alcoholic mother and drug addict uncle. I myself had been trying to escape reality by taking Adderall and retreating to the library. On Truth inspired me to talk to my family, but because I was a wreck and so was my family, my talks always exploded into a full out aggressive confrontation. This continued on and off for a year. Now I find myself being permissive in regard to things that I have told myself I no longer want to deal with, and yet I find myself letting things go for the sake of avoiding confrontation. My fear is that I am working against myself; that I should be more principled. But I also don't want to fall back into the emotional pit I was once in. I guess I should leave a little slack--not for permitting ill deeds, but for letting them go for a while until I can talk it out with my family at a better time. Can anyone relate? What are your thoughts? How do you go about applying philosophy in your life--all at once or gradually? (If more details are needed, please ask. Thanks.)
Alice Amell Posted March 9, 2015 Posted March 9, 2015 I relate to this, but my situation is less extreme. Whenever I brought up politics, economics, religion, morality, it always ended up arguments and heated emotions, and frustration on both parties to where usually I gave up and just ended the conversation. My mother outright refuses to talk about these important things with me. She tries to avoid conflict and will leave the room if any of these sorts of conversations start. Where do you think applying philosophy comes into it, exactly? Maybe I'm confused about the question. I do think you can't do it all at once, its a process. Also not everyone will want to talk about things like you do and some may get upset if you try to. But you shouldn't cut off all contact based on that necessarily. You can get other things out of relationships. What exactly do you want from them? And did you tell them you want it? Maybe you seek emotional support and they don't realize or dont care, either way its important to bring up and find out which. We have to deal with peers and people that are unlikely to want to talk about this stuff, and we have to accept that. But hopefully we find friends who do want to talk and listen and care. If you want to go more in depth here or talk to me personally I'd be happy to listen.
Recommended Posts