Notices

'But sometimes a more comprehensive failure occurs...

Old 02-13-2019, 06:51 PM
  # 1 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 1,327
'But sometimes a more comprehensive failure occurs...

... A collapse of meanings on that scale was described by Austrian playwright and librettist Hugo von Hofmannstal in a 1902 story translated as "The Letter of Lord Chandos". Masquerading as a genuine letter written in 1603 by an English aristocrat, it evokes Hofmannstal's own experiences during a breakdown in which the whole structure of things and people around him fell to bits. Everyday items suddenly look to Chandos like things seen too closely through a magnifying glass, impossible to identify. He hears people gossiping about local characters and friends, but can make no coherent narrative out of what they are saying. Unable to work or look after his estate, Chandos finds himself staring for hours at a moss-covered stone, or a dog lying in the sun, or a harrow left abandoned in a field. The connections have gone. No wonder we call an experience like this a breakdown. It may sound familiar to anyone who has suffered depression, and it can also occur in various neurological disorders. For Heidegger, it would be an extreme case of the collapse of everyday Being-in-the-world, a collapse that makes everything obtrusive, disarticulated, and impossible to negotiate with our usual blithe disregard.'

- Bakewell, S. (2016: 70)

This is where I'm at, basically
Tetrax is offline  
Old 02-13-2019, 07:09 PM
  # 2 (permalink)  
Member
 
lessgravity's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Big City
Posts: 3,893
Whole lot of words that say nothing to me besides "man does this guy need to do some work" Navel gaze away, but the better life is in the work.
lessgravity is offline  
Old 02-13-2019, 07:18 PM
  # 3 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Dee74's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,043
I've felt like that too at times Tetrax.

What I see, from this perspective, is my drinking was holding me in that kind of existential malaise or what some might call 'analysis paralysis'.

I learned the experience was not intrinsic to me - but imposed upon me by my choices and specifically my choice to continue to drink.

Getting sober and staying that way got me out.

I temporarily broke my mind, but then I made it better again,

I really believe you can get out too, man

D
Dee74 is offline  
Old 02-13-2019, 08:09 PM
  # 4 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 1,327
Originally Posted by lessgravity View Post
Whole lot of words that say nothing to me besides "man does this guy need to do some work" Navel gaze away, but the better life is in the work.
Thanks for the positivity. I'm glad your program works for you but no need to be condescending to the rest of us (looking also at your posts replying to say, Highercall...)
Tetrax is offline  
Old 02-13-2019, 08:28 PM
  # 5 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 864
Tetrax: I'm sorry that you see your life in the mental disintegration described in the quote. Were you a regular drinker? Does alcohol have something to do with the ontological shattering that you're experiencing?

Anyway, I'm glad that you're posting.
listae is offline  
Old 02-13-2019, 08:46 PM
  # 6 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Dee74's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,043
use the ignore function guys,
Ignore bothersome members. If there is someone on the forum that bothers you, select the Ignore option on the drop down menu under their name on the post. You won't see any posts from this member again.
D
Dee74 is offline  
Old 02-13-2019, 09:43 PM
  # 7 (permalink)  
Member
 
Guener's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 1,339
That's an interesting selection, Tetrax, and it brought to my mind various works that I have read by writers that are studied in literature for the suffering that their protagonists face.

I empathize with your feelings, for I have known them, and there is solace and beauty to be found in others that help us to articulate that.

Sometimes all I wanted in such states was for somebody to recognize that I was "out of order" with myself and with the Universe. I didn't want to hear what others would do in my place, only that they should know that I was trying to live as best as I could given my distress. I only found frustration in hearing what somebody told me what I should do or how they pulled out of a bad situation that they felt analogous to their own. It is a very hard place to be, and I acknowledge your pain.

Depression is hard to shake, even with medical intervention and therapy, and there are many here who know what you are going through, and maybe, for a moment, you just needed to feel that and nothing more.

I hope that in some (shorter) period of time that you will feel stronger.
Guener is offline  
Old 02-14-2019, 04:41 AM
  # 8 (permalink)  
Member
 
lessgravity's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Big City
Posts: 3,893
Originally Posted by Tetrax View Post
Thanks for the positivity. I'm glad your program works for you but no need to be condescending to the rest of us (looking also at your posts replying to say, Highercall...)
I've been here a while, struggled, suffered, drank. Sometimes the most direct words were both the hardest to hear and the most impactful to me. I appoologize if I offended. Sobriety is all I wish for you and everyone else here.
lessgravity is offline  
Old 02-14-2019, 05:59 PM
  # 9 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 1,327
Originally Posted by lessgravity View Post
I've been here a while, struggled, suffered, drank. Sometimes the most direct words were both the hardest to hear and the most impactful to me. I appoologize if I offended. Sobriety is all I wish for you and everyone else here.
Thanks for that. I admit the most direct words are the hardest to hear but probably the best to listen to. I was mostly not in a good place to listen, and to criticize, yesterday. So sorry for that myself. Peace.
Tetrax is offline  
Old 02-14-2019, 07:01 PM
  # 10 (permalink)  
Member
 
lessgravity's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Big City
Posts: 3,893
Originally Posted by Tetrax View Post
Thanks for that. I admit the most direct words are the hardest to hear but probably the best to listen to. I was mostly not in a good place to listen, and to criticize, yesterday. So sorry for that myself. Peace.
No need to apologize man. I've been there many a time. Only thing is finding a way out of the muck, into the sun and a better life.
​​​​​​
lessgravity is offline  
Old 02-15-2019, 11:42 AM
  # 11 (permalink)  
Member
 
Canuck76's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 268
I certainly relate to that feeling of being disconnected. I am lost and have been for years. Alcoholism is just one of my issues but it is the obstacle I need to eliminate first. Any progress I make can be destroyed in a moment by having that first drink. Just taking things one day at a time.
Canuck76 is offline  

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off




All times are GMT -7. The time now is 09:28 AM.