What was your experience?

[MozartLink]

I have an important question for you and for anyone else out there as well. There is the difference between a thought and an experience. I gave an example of this before. If you think you can see or hear when you are blind or deaf, then you wouldn't have real sight or hearing because you don't have the actual experience of sight or hearing.

Therefore, this would also apply to joy, love, inspiration, beauty, value, and worth in our lives. During your moments of misery and despair (hopelessness) including anhedonia, I bet you thought to yourself that your life still has meaning, value, joy, beauty, inspiration, and worth even in the midst of those horrible moments in your life. But the question is, what was the experience of this for you?

If the experience of this value, joy, beauty, etc. was a dead, lifeless, mechanical experience, then it is quite obvious that it would not be any real value, joy, beauty, worth, etc. But if the experience was a life-filled and fruitful experience for you, then that is what makes it real value, joy, beauty, etc. Anything that is dead just isn't going to work. If you have dead batteries, then that will not make a certain item work.

Therefore, it's no wonder why any other form of value, joy, beauty, worth, etc. besides my good feelings just doesn't work for me. It's like a dead battery. It is only my good feelings that are like working batteries. They are life-filled experiences that are very powerful and profound in my life.

I have thought to myself during my moments of depression and misery that my family still has value, my life still has value, joy, beauty, etc. and that a recovery from these horrible moments in my life had value to me as well, but the experience of this value, joy, beauty, etc. was all dead, lifeless, and mechanical regardless of what I did with my life whether it would be going out in nature, engaging with my family, etc. It has always been like this for me whenever I had a moment of depression, misery, or anhedonia in my life.

Based on my own personal experience, I am convinced that any other form of value, joy, beauty, etc. besides our good feelings is not real value, joy, beauty, etc. It is all a dead, lifeless, mechanical experience for everybody regardless of who they are. Unless, I am somehow mistaken and there is somehow a way to make this an actual life-filled experience in my life during any moments of depression, misery, or anhedonia in my life. But I highly doubt this because it has never happened even once in my whole entire 8 year struggle of depression and misery.

Lastly, even if it was a dead, lifeless, mechanical experience for you and others, you could still personally define that experience as a life-filled experience anyway and claim that it was real joy, value, beauty, etc. in your life. But, again, there is a difference between our personal definitions (thoughts) and our experiences. You may have thought that this was a life-filled experience for you, but I am asking you here again if this really was a life-filled experience for you.

If it really was a dead, lifeless, mechanical experience for you all along, then you were brainwashed by society this whole entire time into thinking that one can have an alternate form of value, joy, beauty, etc. in his/her life besides his/her good feelings. But if it was a life-filled experience for you, then that says here that it is possible to have a real alternate form of value, joy, beauty, etc. Our experiences define our entire realities. Therefore, it is our experiences that are important here and not just our thoughts.

[commonsense]

Empiricism v. Rationalism-not a conflict where I can make a significant contribution.

But what grabbed my attention was your several references to depression.

I have a great deal of knowledge about depression. Let me know if you'd like me to share.