Post by Admin on Mar 2, 2022 4:51:43 GMT
Chapter 17 - Complain
Job continues to complain and desires death.
*Anti-Prayer*
In my suffering with scoliosis, my resentment towards the universe lead to a rumination on the negative aspects of my life. It lead to a never-ending series of complaints and the desire for death. My psychological state was a constant state of something resembling the opposite of prayer - instead of meditating on the good, I was meditating on the bad. I felt the universe had dealt me a bad hand, an unfair hand. This was a type of injustice. I tried to process this injustice over and over in a cycle of rumination, trying to figure out how to respond to it. If there was a source of the injustice, it would be either God or the natural nature of a universe based on entropy. Instead of expressing gratitude in my mental state of ponderment, I was expressing resentment. My resentment for the universe lead to darker and darker thought patterns of cosmic revenge. It didn't make sense - revenge on God, revenge on the universe. But it felt like something needed to pay for my suffering - and there was nothing adequate for blame except cosmic forces that were completely out of my league.
*The Power of Rumination*
Rumination is essentially the psychological state of being obsessed with a certain idea. Its almost a form of self-brainwashing - by thinking over and over about an idea, you find more ways to justify it and further reify it within your thought structure. It is a spiral of ever deeper conviction in a certain principle. Rumination has been found to be a mediating factor between childhood trauma and emotional disorders by helping facilitate depression and anxiety [11]. Ruminating on your anger for another person in conjunction with punching a punching back has been shown to actually increase aggressive tendencies rather than reduce aggression by venting and blowing off steam [12]. Although other studies have found a less than convincing correlation between anger rumination and the actual act of revenge [13].
*Types of Harmful Rumination*
Depression is linked to a rumination on things that make you sad, like your failings and lack of self-worth. Anxiety is linked to a rumination on the things that make you anxious, like deadlines, high-stake decisions, performing in front of others, or potential threats or disasters. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is linked to ruminating on details that have been assigned an importance by your subconscious, like the need to be clean by constantly washing your hands, the need to not waste resources like water by constantly checking the faucets, the need to be safe by locking doors, or the need to be accurate by counting certain phenomena. Phobias are linked to ruminating on your fears. Schizophrenia is linked to ruminating on unusual thoughts, feelings, fears, or sensations [14]. Resentment is linked to ruminating on things that make you resentful like injustices like harm incurred.
*Resentment Rumination*
As I listened to Jordan Peterson's lectures, he made an interesting point about resentment. The columbine shooters had written in their journals their constant rumination over their resentment for the people that they felt had mistreated them at school. By obsessing over these resentments, their commitment to their principles became deeper. Eventually the commitment to resentment was so deep that they were able to justify acting on it. They had convinced themselves that the school was so corrupt in allowing their suffering that the entire school was complicit in their suffering and therefore worthy of revenge. The shot up the place with glee [15].
*Harmful Pessimism*
Jordan Peterson eventually made the point that there is an argument for resenting the structure of the universe - but if you act on that principle it doesn't make the world a better place. Since the suffering we experience screams out to us its awful nature, we should be inspired to reduce suffering, not increase it. If we know that suffering is evil, then we have to reject an ideology of resentment - since that will lead to more suffering, even if that ideology is true. So paradoxically, Jordan Peterson suggests choosing to believe the illogical idea that the universe is not evil for pragmatic purposes, rather than for truth purposes - sacrificing truth for goodness.
*Beneficial Optimism*
Jordan Peterson suggests taking a pragmatic approach to your theology - believe in what works; believe in that which will make the world a better place. In his analysis of the Bible, he shows that in the very beginning, the creation of the world, theology smuggles in some axiomatic ontological assumptions - the idea that existence is good. Each time God creates something he says "it was good". Jorden Peterson offers up the suggestion that perhaps it is better to have faith that the structure of the universe is good rather than evil, since the faith that existence is good leads to better results.
NEXT: Chapter 18 - Cursed
Job continues to complain and desires death.
*Anti-Prayer*
In my suffering with scoliosis, my resentment towards the universe lead to a rumination on the negative aspects of my life. It lead to a never-ending series of complaints and the desire for death. My psychological state was a constant state of something resembling the opposite of prayer - instead of meditating on the good, I was meditating on the bad. I felt the universe had dealt me a bad hand, an unfair hand. This was a type of injustice. I tried to process this injustice over and over in a cycle of rumination, trying to figure out how to respond to it. If there was a source of the injustice, it would be either God or the natural nature of a universe based on entropy. Instead of expressing gratitude in my mental state of ponderment, I was expressing resentment. My resentment for the universe lead to darker and darker thought patterns of cosmic revenge. It didn't make sense - revenge on God, revenge on the universe. But it felt like something needed to pay for my suffering - and there was nothing adequate for blame except cosmic forces that were completely out of my league.
*The Power of Rumination*
Rumination is essentially the psychological state of being obsessed with a certain idea. Its almost a form of self-brainwashing - by thinking over and over about an idea, you find more ways to justify it and further reify it within your thought structure. It is a spiral of ever deeper conviction in a certain principle. Rumination has been found to be a mediating factor between childhood trauma and emotional disorders by helping facilitate depression and anxiety [11]. Ruminating on your anger for another person in conjunction with punching a punching back has been shown to actually increase aggressive tendencies rather than reduce aggression by venting and blowing off steam [12]. Although other studies have found a less than convincing correlation between anger rumination and the actual act of revenge [13].
*Types of Harmful Rumination*
Depression is linked to a rumination on things that make you sad, like your failings and lack of self-worth. Anxiety is linked to a rumination on the things that make you anxious, like deadlines, high-stake decisions, performing in front of others, or potential threats or disasters. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is linked to ruminating on details that have been assigned an importance by your subconscious, like the need to be clean by constantly washing your hands, the need to not waste resources like water by constantly checking the faucets, the need to be safe by locking doors, or the need to be accurate by counting certain phenomena. Phobias are linked to ruminating on your fears. Schizophrenia is linked to ruminating on unusual thoughts, feelings, fears, or sensations [14]. Resentment is linked to ruminating on things that make you resentful like injustices like harm incurred.
*Resentment Rumination*
As I listened to Jordan Peterson's lectures, he made an interesting point about resentment. The columbine shooters had written in their journals their constant rumination over their resentment for the people that they felt had mistreated them at school. By obsessing over these resentments, their commitment to their principles became deeper. Eventually the commitment to resentment was so deep that they were able to justify acting on it. They had convinced themselves that the school was so corrupt in allowing their suffering that the entire school was complicit in their suffering and therefore worthy of revenge. The shot up the place with glee [15].
*Harmful Pessimism*
Jordan Peterson eventually made the point that there is an argument for resenting the structure of the universe - but if you act on that principle it doesn't make the world a better place. Since the suffering we experience screams out to us its awful nature, we should be inspired to reduce suffering, not increase it. If we know that suffering is evil, then we have to reject an ideology of resentment - since that will lead to more suffering, even if that ideology is true. So paradoxically, Jordan Peterson suggests choosing to believe the illogical idea that the universe is not evil for pragmatic purposes, rather than for truth purposes - sacrificing truth for goodness.
*Beneficial Optimism*
Jordan Peterson suggests taking a pragmatic approach to your theology - believe in what works; believe in that which will make the world a better place. In his analysis of the Bible, he shows that in the very beginning, the creation of the world, theology smuggles in some axiomatic ontological assumptions - the idea that existence is good. Each time God creates something he says "it was good". Jorden Peterson offers up the suggestion that perhaps it is better to have faith that the structure of the universe is good rather than evil, since the faith that existence is good leads to better results.
NEXT: Chapter 18 - Cursed
