[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

I've seen a lot of people on the edge. I've seen all manner of things people do to others. And mostly I've seen people floundering for something of meaning in their lives after it had been ripped apart. (I've needed to do the same thing at times too)

I think we've gone astray in society and to a much smaller extent we are all looking for something for our lives to be about. We've been programmed by TV and religion to think that our lives are supposed to have some grand design and meaning.

Which is extrememly sad because I think we overlook the only things that could make any meaning in our lives. I think we become ungrounded and washed away in the oil slick of society. We are all going to be rediscovering these things as the crash/peak oil/ or what ever other disaster happens, happens.

I think might be one of the things that we reclaim and what does bind us together here on peak oil (as much as that is possible for such totally different groups all over the world, with different beliefs and cultures, and ideologies).

In a sad way its going to be the greatest experiment of adaptive behaviours ever seen. I am going to be watching/experiencing with fascination, let me tell you.

[threadbear]

Seems like the terms passive, rather than pessimistic, and pro-active, rather than optimistic would be better descriptors.

According to the nun study I looked at several years ago, there should be plenty of "happy" little cabbages with Alzheimer's, as well as gloomy Gusses. It's not so much what you feel as how you think, that determines whether this illness manifests in it's most devastating form. Autopsies of elderly nuns showed that there was almost as much damage, (amyloid plaques and neurofibbrilary tangles) in the brains of apparently unaffected nuns, as those with severe Alzheimers. The conclusions some scientists came to, after reading the correspondences of these nuns, from their childhood into adulthood, was that those at highest risk for experiencing negative impact from the disease were the nuns who were mundane thinkers. The scientists seemed to think that those who simply thought a lot, and as a kind of hobby, had brains that were able to think around the areas of damage.

Clinical depression, in that it may rob the person of the ability or motivation to think as a kind of recreational activity, or as a purpose for being, could, in this case, be an earmark of later development of the kind of state of being we think of as Alzheimerish. In fact, we may ALL have it, to some degree in extreme old age, particularly after the age of 80.

People who lack the sensation of and philosophy of hope are at higher risk of accident causing death, alcoholism, etc...

It would seem purely on an intuitive level, if the immune system is somehow connected to the mind, that true despair (not just negativity) is as active a killer as any viral or bacterial toxin.

How best can others deal with this kind of black hole of being? Can a person be helped by others, or can a change of world conditions and events, outer circumstances change the mind set of this kind of person? That is a big "maybe", isn't it? It's probably best to avoid prejudging using the "proving ground" of our own personal experiences.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'H')ow best can others deal with this kind of black hole of being? Can a person be helped by others, or can a change of world conditions and events, outer circumstances change the mind set of this kind of person? That is a big "maybe", isn't it? It's probably best to avoid prejudging using the "proving ground" of our own personal experiences.

[vfr]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lumpy', 'I') offer to you the following article, which gives the latest information on the well-known longitudinal "Nun Study".

Please note particularly the phrase "[people] with positive attitudes ... tend to live longer than their glass-half-empty peers ..."

This research has been going on since 1986, and is providing extremely valuable information regarding not only long-life, but prevention of dementia.

I am NOT advocating "head in the sand". I am advocating thinking and acting creatively in the face of reality. Knowledge, then preparation, then action -- versus "the sky is falling - and there is nothing to be done!" (Also known as a symptom of Chronic Eeyore Syndrome in my practice of psychiatry.)

Please take a look!

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hAen ... QD8TM3AMG0