Who knew? Interesting article in the Los Angeles Times about what Keats called “turning an Intelligence into a Soul” — i.e. melancholia. By this assessment life lived on the very romantic cusp of things (as in you could fall off a cliff at any time…) is healthy. Guess this makes me in tip-top shape…
By way of Arts & Letters Daily.
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This entry was posted on February 22, 2008 at 3:24 pm and is filed under animism, criticism, health, history, life, media, nature, philosophy, psychology, romanticism, silly, weird. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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February 22, 2008 at 3:35 pm |
Depression is an intense emotion…As with any emotion we are blessed to feel…
Who has the expertise to say what is the right way to feel…Sadness is the downside of happiness, what joy would you have if you never experience sorrow?
February 22, 2008 at 3:45 pm |
Depression is more than an “emotion” (like happiness or sadness). It is a state. There is a process involved. It is admittedly more destructive (or perhaps one could say deconstructive) than constructive. But as you say, how can things be built and not also sometimes torn down?
February 22, 2008 at 4:03 pm |
Thanks . . . It would seem I too should be the picture of health. I am not, however, sure they know what they are talking about.
Yes, while in the arms of my depression or should I say “very romantic cusp of things,” it can seem a home of sorts, a safe place to hide, a source of inspiration even. I have found that no matter how painful or scary, we must all leave that home though, or our souls slowly perish.
Dancing with my demon,
Miss Demure Restraint
February 22, 2008 at 4:36 pm |
MDR: Your final line here speaks volumes. I get a palpable sense from what you write. Thanks.
February 23, 2008 at 2:32 pm |
I think there should be a distinction between, I don’t know, being unhappy and finding that romantic and being depressed. Unless you define romantic as relentless despair and not seeing the point in taking a shower or changing your sweat pants.
February 23, 2008 at 3:21 pm |
The sweat pants factor is definitely key. Not much that’s romantic about sweat pants…
October 24, 2008 at 10:34 pm |
Since you are an academic, this post of Alice may have some resonance: link.
October 25, 2008 at 9:42 am |
Shefaly: Interesting link. Thanks…
October 27, 2008 at 8:43 am |
Depression, has some long term advantages, more than the short term ones. For one, it brings us out of our innocence and ignorance too…
Destination Infinity
October 27, 2008 at 12:46 pm |
Not sure you’d call these “advantages” — insights, maybe. But your point that the process isn’t universally negative is well taken.
September 2, 2009 at 11:55 am |
[...] By The Necromancer I once noted on this blog how depression can be a positive boon, a spur to creativity and a channel into what can been characterized as the “romantic [...]
September 19, 2009 at 11:28 pm |
I think both depression and happiness are just a state of mind. We think depression is bad because we’ve been told it is bad. If we never knew that it is bad, then we would have been satisfied/enjoyed the depression. We go into the depression state only to satisfy our mind. The same is true with happiness.
September 20, 2009 at 9:29 am |
I’m not sure I have any idea what you mean here. But I certainly understand that the feeling can be totally subjective and personal…
March 4, 2010 at 3:33 pm |
[...] achieved, unsurprisingly, from looking deep within. The melancholy process of what Keats called “turning an Intelligence into a Soul”. The alchemists Paracelsus and van Helmont (and other early modern medical men besides) saw an [...]
April 22, 2010 at 1:48 pm |
N.B. This link is no longer active, but I encourage anyone who happens upon this post to go to the Los Angeles Times website and look for it in the archives…