World-Wide Depression

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"Mysteriously and in ways that are totally remote from normal experience, the gray drizzle of horror induced by depression takes on the quality of physical pain ... it is entirely natural that the victim begins to think ceaselessly of oblivion."

WILLIAM STYRON, Darkness Visible

From Wikipedia:

"Styron's influence deepened and his readership expanded with the publication of Darkness Visible. This memoir was a description of the author's devastating descent into depression, the 'despair beyond despair'. By examining an illness that affects millions but is still widely misunderstood, Styron offered an intimate and very personal portrait of the agony of this ordeal, revealing the anguish of a mind 'desperate unto death'."

I'm writing this post (from the most personal perspective) because I had a rough time getting along with a good friend today and it's got me pondering myself into a depressive state...

I'm writing this post ( from the most global perspective ) because our World is caught-up in a downward spiral of Depression that has sporadic bouts of Mania thrown in to keep things from getting downright deathly boring.

I'm being slightly tongue-in-cheek right now but I'd rather be that way than stick my tongue out (at what's happening in our poor, sick World) and risk having it bitten off (by me or another fellow traveller...).

Check out this list of stages of Depression and think about our World:

• low mood
• low self-esteem
• pessimism
• fatigue, reduced energy
• disturbances of sleep (insomnia or hypersomnia)
• disturbances of appetite (anorexia or hyperphagia)
• agitation or retardation
• guilt
• sense of worthlessness
• hopelessness
• helplessness
• poor motivation
• poor concentration
• indecision
• loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities
• low libido
• recurrent thoughts of death

Far too many people ( and Organizations!) are expressing far too many of these traits...

What's the Spiritual Commentary on this "Current Event"?

We're very far from God . . .