Will sanity survive this economy?

I am worried... I am seeing too many normally happy rational people get deeply depressed and obsessed with all things negative. You'd think that money itself is the only thing that can sustain life just by giving into all the recent negativity.

I have watched people I thought I knew as good people attempt to get others fired from their jobs out of fear that they could lose their own job. One case it was successful.

Gathering with some coworkers in L.A. I did as we had done in the past, tried telling some jokes... No one wants to laugh. Negative, negative negative. The world is going to end, the economy is going to crash, all they wanted to discuss was how bad everything is. On ATS it is the same... someone completely failed to see the obvious humor in one of my posts.

Is it possible that through collective negative thinking that 'collectively' people could actually be making things worse?

I actually am more afraid of what is happening to people I know. Their growing sense of despair (though they have no reason yet) fear and depression over the economy is consuming all things positive. People are changing and at least from my perspective that is frightening.

Doom and gloom on the radio, television, internet and at work... Everywhere! It is difficult to escape at times and all too easy to get caught up in. Everyone has a theory on how it happened and they want to tell you how bad it is going to get. Does negativity create prophecies?

Can people actually lose their sanity during this economic crisis?

Is it healthy to become obsessed with news and current events and focus on all of the negative news by discussing it throughout the day?

Are we forgetting how to laugh, think positive and have fun?

Maybe a person can 'survive' a worst case economic collapse, but can their sanity survive?

[edit on 22-2-2009 by Walkswithfish]

Are there any optimistic pragmatists left in this world?

2nd line.

Good post!

Some people aren't going to make it. Some people have lived good for so long that they 1) either forgot what it is like to have nothing and work for it all. 2) come from well to do and haven't ever had to deal with bad conditions.

On the other hand, some people are going to come out of this better than they were. There are still people with money that a day doesn't go by that they don't think about where they came from.

Unfortunately the reason for all the doom and gloom is two things. 1) Crap is really worse than what they say it is, they just don't want to admit it. 2) Bad news sells papers.

Personally, we all need this to happen, yes it is going to suck but everybody will be back on the level playing field and it will make a better world in the long run for the children.

I think there are a lot of people in the conspiracy world that think a NWO is going to emerge out of all this mess and that is why they are so negative. But if you follow the mantra, problem- reaction - solution, you quickly find out that they created the problem, we have the reaction, but there is no solution.

The thing all over the news is "Credit", being the keyword, crisis. We all know credit means debt. As long as the international bankers stick to fractional reserve banking there will always be credit there for debt.

Well millions and millions of people are getting burned and there is still a lot more people still to get burned because of credit or debt. So the international bankers solution of more credit has gone out the window.

The main problem though is that people are lost in a false reality and when somebody challenges that reality people get offended and when people get offended people get violent.

The way off life for many people is crumbling right before their eyes and they will refuse to wake up to reality even in the most dire of times and in turn will go insane.

Some people will go insane because they really do think it is the end of the world and they have regrets about life and now they are powerless to do anything about it, for their own closure.

On the other hand level headed people will rise to the top and we will gain new leaders. New political and economic structures, this is literally a paradigm shift of the world. It has happened a few times if you are familiar with history, this time though with technology they will not be able to revision the history, so in the end future generations will come out better for it.

You just have to remember that things are worse than really anyone knows, the world is heading for a state of anarchy and chaos, and it will last for years. That is the reality of the situation.

While I think it is wise to acknowledge what is happening around us, I would caution against becoming so focused on the negative that we no longer have time to enjoy the positive.

Sometimes it takes the negative to make us value the positive.

and yes I think that some will cause more harm to their selfs than the situation calls for.

Originally posted by deepred
Sometimes it takes the negative to make us value the positive.

That is so true...

I had a personal experience today that put that into perspective.

I am currently on a road trip from southern California up to Tacoma Washington.. Have to be there Monday.

While on the way there I seen an awesome sight.... I stopped my car, got out and hiked up for a better view... I sat there in awe at this sight and realized how insignificant we and our problems really are... I realized how simple and short our lives really are. Life is too short to dwell on problems... I felt a sense of freedom from worry and stress there today. I am breathing, I am ALIVE. Money is irrelevant and as insignificant as we are to this planet. It was a spiritual time up there.

I took a picture from that spot and uploaded it.

Please click and have a look..

files.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Walkswithfish


That is awesome.

You have it though, we really are insignificant in the grand perspective of things. In the history of the universe we would be lucky to even get a sentence.

Somebody told me this saying and I live by it. Life is good, life is short.

Just remember that there has to be negative to be positive.

Yin and Yang.

reply to post by Walkswithfish


Thanks for sharing the picture,
it caused a deep relaxing internal sigh.

Originally posted by Hastobemoretolife

Just remember that there has to be negative to be positive.

I totally agree.

Each of us only has this one life, we really don't know how long that is, or how bad it can get... So why not make the best of what we have... Always?

Negativity is draining. Taking away from people.

It was the peoples of this world that built the economies not the governments, it will be those people who rebuild it despite the governments. However that will require positive thinking, rational problem solving, creativity and strong will. It also means never giving up, letting hopelessness depression and despair take control.

The way I see it, people can either sit and watch all of this negativity, absorb it, basically give up or do something about it. The real power for change is inside of every individual.

I will not live in fear or worry... I will make the best of every day I have in this life. I will do everything I can to make things better... I will remain as positive despite all of the doom and gloom... I will be prepared mentally for whatever may happen.

Originally posted by deepred
reply to post by Walkswithfish

 

Thanks for sharing the picture,
it caused a deep relaxing internal sigh.

Thank you for viewing. It is Shasta in California... I have some others from that area and on the other side of the mountain from that day as well as others taken in Oregon and Washington. I'll upload some to my photo album later.

As for this topic, I have come near the conclusion that normally sane people are going to either temporarily or permanently lose sanity during this economic downturn... Too bad actually, because there is so much more to life than money and bills... Maybe out of this madness when all is said and done some people who actually need to discover that... Will!

I think this crisis has the potential to bring us BACK to a sanity we lost a long time ago.

I would argue that for the last 50 or more years we have been certifiably insane as a culture. So we arent "going crazy" now. We got on the crazy train a long time ago. What we are seeing with all the depression and negativity is not people who are losing it, but people who are waking up from a delusion and realizing they have run themselves off into a ditch.

Depression isnt always a bad thing. Its better than the high of mania if the depression is warranted by the facts of a situation and manic bliss is delusional. At a funeral for, say, a whole family that has been killed, we dont call the depressed sobbing surviving members of the family "ill." We would call a surviving member who was bouncing around grinning like the Cheshire cat ill.

There is a very good reason for people to be worried, and down. We are in dire circumstances. I think it is more "dysfunctional" to go along and pretend nothing bad was happening. After all, it is that delusional sense that nothing bad was going to happen that got us here. (Unrealistic spending on credit.)

I think this crisis has the potential to wake us up, shake us up, and make us look at the mess mindless consumerism is making not only of our country but the world. I think within this depressing time lays the opportunity to think about what we have been doing, and why it all worked out the way it did. And like many "tragedies" in our personal lives, it offers us the chance to choose a whole new way of behaving. One that might be vastly better for us in the long run.

I worry less about those who are realizing the gravity of things, and who are acting normally, by being depressed about it, and I worry much more about those who are trying to keep the delusion going by pretending that nothing that bad is happening, and we dont have to change.

You felt so awestruck because Mt Shasta is the root chakra of planet earth. I know that feeling, I've been there too.

Survival of the fittest.

In this next evolutionary step the people with fittest "minds" will live on and evolve into better/stronger beings. Those encompassed with attitudes of fear will die off.

Live happy

Sanity is the only thing that will let us survive so if the little bit of sanity that has not left us dies with the economy wave the last of our society goodbye i would say. Humans may survive but it will be some kind of insane Mad Max kind of world IF sanity really definitly leaves us of course, i doubt it.

Some people stay sane no matter what is thrown at them, those will be the guardians of humanity and will be around when things cool down.

I'm glad to see people noticing the circumstances, for once.

It's rough to deal with people lately because everybody's kind of shut off, apathetic, thinking that if they can just avoid everything and continue on this course, somehow they will be automatically corrected, land comfortably, and they can open their ears and stop singing to drown out the noise. Obviously, that almost certainly won't be the case... but I also am seeing the progression of a grief cycle playing out here. The good news is that we're still moving through the cycle.

I forget which stage comes after denial.... anger?

The main virtue I always come back to is patience. Not everyone is as advanced in spirit as some of us, and we must wait patiently for those still in adolescence to come out from the dark abyss of nihilism and want to give us a hug and tell us about their day again. Remember, we may be dynamically doing so, but in the end we are simply observers. We can't force anyone to do anything, for the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. You can't rush these things, however fortunate or unfortunate that makes you feel.

reply to post by lucidwave


Is that really true about Shasta and if so can you elaborate more?

I am still in Washington, but soon I will be headed back home and after taking care of some unfinished business I am going to have some rare paid time off... I am going back to Shasta, this time with some real gear and much more than a camera... Perhaps I'll make it my great escape!

Here is another shot of Shasta taken that same day... 30-40 miles north of the Mountain on I-5 .. there is what looks like a small fire in the lower left of the image... actually it is a huge controlled burn... Well that is what I heard anyway.

files.abovetopsecret.com...

People are indeed edgy everywhere now, I've had a few conversations and everyone seems to be worried and venting about this economy. People are hurting and I wonder if sanity for some will survive.

Anyway.. for me it looks like soon will be a good time for a great escape from it all... I wonder what things will be like when I get back?

Actually if things go as planned I may not be coming back for quite a while.. Just have a few more things to do before that happens.

When the SHTF I'm not going to be around... And the S I'm talking about has nothing to do with the economy. In time perhaps that will be more than apparent around here.

Living happy indeed!

[edit on 24-2-2009 by Walkswithfish]

the economy itself isn't the problem, it's how all the idiots will react.
that's what has me more worried than wether or not my useless paper actually is useless. it's like what Tommy Lee Jones said on men in Black, a person can be smart, people though are dumb.
That's what has me more worried. I'm actually all for the economy ending, i feel we've enslaved ourselves to it for too long, but the people talking about getting guns and all are what worry me, that's the mentality that will make things go bad.