# Persistent Obsession **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669 "2019-11-19T20:15:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2019, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/101 "2019-12-26T18:52:47Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Or rather, to give ourselves comfort, thinking that life has meaning. My cousin’s god worked in mysterious ways by killing her baby, now in her Savior’s arms. Should I strip off her comfort blanket? I’m not advocating cruelty. If it comforts her and doesn’t harm you in any way, let her be. > [@RioRico](#): > > I like this: **The purpose of life is to find (or create) a purpose.** That’s a spiritual or philosophical goal. Biologically, our purpose is to survive and reproduce. All else is gravy. On first glance, I read: ‘All else is gravity’. Which works too. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/102 "2019-12-26T19:20:23Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Or rather, to give ourselves comfort, thinking that life has meaning. My cousin’s god worked in mysterious ways by killing her baby, now in her Savior’s arms. Should I strip off her comfort blanket? At least she didn’t [plan on a resurrection](https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2019/12/23/bethel-church-finally-admits-a-dead-child-will-not-be-resurrected/). ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/103 "2020-01-02T04:11:15Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > But are the likes and dislikes still _there?_ > > I dislike the taste of cilantro, and I like the taste of chocolate. And if you slowly and patiently explain to me that such likes and dislikes aren’t truly mine — that they’re not _inherent_ to me, that they’re _external,_ that what I’ve been taking to be a self is just something in relation to other things — okay, for the sake of argument let’s go with that for just a moment; even so: what, then, will happen the _next_ time I taste cilantro and the next time I taste chocolate? Will “dislike” still result in one case? Will “like” still result in the other case? _Is that still unchanged?_ I guess in the link what bothered me most was “if you take everything away then what part of you is you” or how can we call anything me or myself if it all came from somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/104 "2020-01-10T16:45:38Z")
Also what about our thoughts? Isn’t our self crafted from the experiences of the past? If those memories were gone then wouldn’t the “real us” come forth? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/105 "2020-01-10T16:56:00Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Also what about our thoughts? Isn’t our self crafted from the experiences of the past? If those memories were gone then wouldn’t the “real us” come forth? If we lost all our memories, that would be amnesia. Do you consider those with amnesia to be experiencing “the real self”? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/106 "2020-01-10T16:56:24Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > > But are the likes and dislikes still _there?_ > > > > I dislike the taste of cilantro, and I like the taste of chocolate. And if you slowly and patiently explain to me that such likes and dislikes aren’t truly mine — that they’re not _inherent_ to me, that they’re _external,_ that what I’ve been taking to be a self is just something in relation to other things — okay, for the sake of argument let’s go with that for just a moment; even so: what, then, will happen the _next_ time I taste cilantro and the next time I taste chocolate? Will “dislike” still result in one case? Will “like” still result in the other case? _Is that still unchanged?_ > > I guess in the link what bothered me most was “if you take everything away then what part of you is you” or how can we call anything me or myself if it all came from somewhere else. You quoted me asking all of those questions, and you answered — zero of them? Am I reading that right? Not even some _answer-a-question-with-a-question_ stuff; you just copy-and-pasted it, and then — went on to something else? Why even quote the questions I’m asking? ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/107 "2020-01-10T19:02:03Z")
Maybe instead of endlessly debating the subject on the internet, you actually try to going on a week long silent meditation retreat and see if you can directly experience the insights of buddhist philosophy in a direct, non conceptional way? ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/108 "2020-03-26T05:33:08Z")
It was recommended I keep all the stuff on Buddhism to one thread and this seems to be the most recent one and I want to ask the question I had in the other thread here. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wEpeaWywKi4/maxresdefault.jpg "Stress - Overreaction to Life | Ajahn Brahm | 9 March 2018") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEpeaWywKi4) > [@](#): > > I’m sure I’m getting this wrong in some way but for a religion based on compassion they seem to blame people a lot for their own misfortunes. Like in the above talking about how stress is an overreaction to life, or in other videos where they in a sense blame the person for having depression as a result of being unable to let go of attachments or desires, or living in delusion. It was in some video with a monk titled “why you are depressed”. > > It like making one feel bad for their current suffering and misfortune, especially for someone who struggles with depression like I do. It makes it sound like it’s my fault I am this way. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/109 "2020-03-26T14:20:10Z")
It is not your fault. But I think you must do everything you can to seek and maintain treatment. For yourself as much as for those you care about and who care about you. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669/110 "2020-03-31T06:54:53Z")
But when I think about how depression often follows tragedy it seems like it is our own fault for wanting life to be other than what it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/persistent-obsession/843669.md?page=5)