Albeit super reductive
It seems like all of your feelings really do come down to chemicals in your brain (which are highly influenced by outside factors obviously). Fuck me, now I’m realizing all of my wants/desires are just certain feelings that may or may not be influenced by how others perceive me (i.e. social status)
I did not need this realization 😀 someone please tell me I am wrong
Nah, it's not just chemicals. It's a culmination of memory, environment, and every little nuanced difference in perception of the universe you find yourself in. A result of a set of experiences that are unique to you. To say it's just chemicals is selling chemicals short. The fact that they can do all of, uh... this, is amazing.
Get a better therapist.
Theeese.
We're made of chemicals that do chemical stuff, but the interactions of countless millions of cells and their chemical and electrical signals give rise to an emergent system vastly more complex than the sum of its parts.
Sure, feelings are partially generated through some chemical pathways, but who cares much about the mechanism? Us being complex biological machines doesn't really change our perception of the world. It's also true that our feelings aren't intrinsic and are affected by our surroundings and what happens around us. I feel joy seeing my friends have fun, I feel anger seeing my comrades suffer, I feel sorrow seeing capital destroying our world.
What's your takeaway from your realization? I don't mean to diminish what you're saying, but I'd like to know why you feel this is a big step forward in your perception of the world.
Caring about social status is a good idea because social status is valuable. I would be skeptical of anything even remotely close to "chemicals in the brain" because it's invalidating.
I’m not entirely sure what you mean with your post. Are you distraught that “you” are not seemingly in control of your thoughts and emotions? Kind of like a ratatouille situation but with the spirit, body, and mind? Yes, sometimes our emotions and desires are formed without us even knowing it or consenting to it. But that’s a good thing, sometimes, because our bodies have been through thousands of years of evolution to optimize ourselves. Obviously, the effects of abuse, mental illness, and societal woes will also reside in this autonomous system and affect who we are, but for most people, you have the ultimate decision on whether to act on your thoughts (or if not, we have the ability to progress to that point)
Feelings are chemicals in your brain, either generated with your approval or not, working against you or in your favor. But just like how life is meaningless, it’s not really important what the inherent features are. The important part is what you get out of it, and what you want out of it.
We feel what we feel, and we want what we want. We can shape it, but that takes a lot of time because we have to clash with many factors. I don’t know your therapist, but in my experiences when they say dumb shit like that, what they’re usually trying to say is that sometimes our thoughts and feelings are not always rational or a reflection of reality - whether it’s willful denial or a biological mental disorder distorting them - and we shouldn’t be slaves to our thoughts if it doesn’t serve us positively (and negative emotions also serve us positively with the right processing and reflection)
But that’s a good thing, sometimes, because our bodies have been through thousands of years of evolution to optimize ourselves.
To optimise having lots of children and seeing them survive. The optimisation is not something serving us living as fulfilled individuals.
I don’t see your point. Of course you’re not optimized to be fulfilled in life lol. Fulfillment is an unnecessary feature to keep us alive. I don’t feel fulfilled, but I don’t care whether my monkey brain was born to want to reproduce or become a great man of history, my goals and desires are more complex than whatever primal instinct I was born with.
The inherent features or reasons are largely irrelevant. If OP is distraught because they feel like their thoughts are not their own, they should take solace in knowing that their body automates many things for them based on what it thinks it’s correct. That’s completely normal. Our job is to decide whether we agree with our body’s decision, or go against the grain and pursue something else.
I just see “the chemicals” as a GPS. I follow its directions for the most part, but sometimes I think I know a better way and decide to make a turn in spite of its directions. If I keep doing it, the GPS will have to adapt to my new situation and we keep doing this until the car dies, I reach my destination, or I deviate to a different stop.
This just seems like a headier way of saying "try not being sad"
It's not good that your brain is governed by chemicals because it automates breathing, it's good that your brain is governed by chemicals because that means a lot of issues can be remediated or resolved with chemicals (which are in no short supply in industrial society).
That's not a solution for environmental and systemic issues that lead to those problems, but at least there's some possibility to ease that injury now.
we are more than our thoughts and feelings, the challenge is to learn when to accept them and when to overcome them
UHMMMM bootsraps much????
ok lol. there's no point in discussing this further.
It's not good that your brain is governed by chemicals because it automates breathing, it's good that your brain is governed by chemicals because that means a lot of issues can be remediated or resolved with chemicals
???? What are you on about lol. This is literally what I'm saying - OP is distraught because they don't believe they're in control of their body; I say that's completely normal because our bodies do things without us being conscious of it; I then say that despite this automation, we still have the ability to deviate from our thoughts and bodies to serve our goals. You're literally just disagreeing with me then rewording what I'm saying as a rebuttal.
And who said anything about anything being a solution for environmental or systemic issues? I said despite external factors influencing our subconscious, most of us still retain the ability to choose to overcome or go along with that influence - that's not the same as "stop being sad." Making conscious decisions in spite of what your body is used to doesn't guarantee anything, happiness or sadness, hence my GPS analogy - you might think you know a better way, but you could end up nowhere, but the GPS will still adapt to that decision and now you either choose to follow that GPS or keep going your own way.
My post was not meant to "fix" OP's deeper problems. It was meant to comfort them so they know that our emotions, thoughts, desires, etc. occurring without us knowing why is completely normal and nothing to be ashamed about.
