Posts by Introspection

1

St. John's wort poor remedy for depression, study

by Quotes in

i fear i will get flamed for posting this, but remember: i'm just the messenger!.

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20020410/600106.html.

st. john's wort poor remedy for depression, study finds.

Introspection

There's some specific information here, this atleast provides the basis for some meaningful discussion.

It's interesting that even among those who used SJW for depression, it was never indicated for severe depression. (which, of course still leaves the category of moderate depression) I also remember talking to one very knowledgeable herbalist who said he didn't understand what the big deal was, or how it was used for depression, so even someone who did not practice with the scientific method shared this view.

It's certainly helpful to have well designed studies, but I've heard many people who've tried SJW say that it does nothing for them. This may be (and is probably) true, indicating that people who are willing to try herbal remedies do not necessarily delude themselves, (which I would think is self evident) but then again there's always the question of dosage and stardardization with herbal products. You can interpret it either way.

The popularity of herbal remedies has boomed in North America in recent years, proof that the number of people who eschew conventional medical treatments and believe natural products are healthier is on the rise.

Now I'm not sure if this is "proof" of anything other than the fact that people want to try other things. Yes some people will go after the "natural" label without even really understand what that really means, but obviously there are many choices out there, even when it comes to supplements or herbal supplements in particular. I think the key word there is popular, and despite the common tendancy for people to polarize this against that, conventional against non-conventional, (whatever that is) there are people who make truly informed choices rather than what's hot these days.

*edited for typo, replaced "healthy" with "natural"

9

A Little Depressed? This may be a GOOD thing!

by patio34 in

hi all, just ran across this in this morning's news:.

study: depressed women live longer .

by william l. holmes .

Introspection

Oh yeah, I should note too that if you have the attitude of acceptance often it wouldn't qualify as depression anyway, one might just call it the blues. But also if you don't have this schizo attitude like you HAVE to be so happy all the time, you might just find that you are less depressed because of that. Because other than life span, there is also the matter of quality of life.

9

A Little Depressed? This may be a GOOD thing!

by patio34 in

hi all, just ran across this in this morning's news:.

study: depressed women live longer .

by william l. holmes .

Introspection

I think this is good news because it takes the pressure off people to be happy, cheery, optimistic all the time.

This is a good point, who says you have to be freakishly happy all the time anyways? But by the same token, it does no good if you identify with depression as if that's all that you are. If you are depressed, then the truthful thing to do is to fully accept that you are depressed, not to go into denial and put on a smile even though you don't feel like it. Rather than allow ourselves to experience whatever life experience we may happen to have, we cling to these ideas of what we're supposed to be like, how we're supposed to feel. It seems to me it's quite clear that THIS is what causes mental illness, rather than any natural feeling we may happen to experience in response to things. Those feelings are just what people go through in life.

"I am Jack's broken heart." -Fight Club

"I don't think you're happy enough. That's right!
I'll teach you to be happy
I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs!" -Ren & Stimpy, the Happy Happy, Joy Joy song

23

Feng Shui

by Lost Diamond in

jw
friends

have any of you ever looked into feng shui?

if so, what is your feeling on it?

Introspection

Hi Dave,

Thanks for that post, although I think the concept of "balance" may be misleading for some. One can easily think of it as where something lies in relation to two poles on a linear continuum, (like your basic number line in math) whereas the taiji symbol from Taoism illustrates it in a circular model, with a seed of the opposite contained in each.

It is also dynamic, in that one thing changes into the other all the time. Rather than this image of balance on either side of a scale that is used to illustrate the idea of justice, it is not a static idea where the opposites are always opposites. This is where the idea of "energy" comes into it. Most people seem to think of it as some kind of "stuff" that flows around, whereas the basic idea is that there's change and movement, that's all. There are some repetitive (and sometimes very basic) patterns which you can observe, though that's where people get caught up. This is where I find the Buddhist idea of impermanence useful, because despite grand proclamations by some who fancy themselves as logical and scientific, there is inevitably a tendancy to cling to existing "knowledge" despite some new data. (which only has to be new to you) Well I don't want to go off on something which should be another thread, but it does appear that it's all about some kind of certainty, some knowledge you can count on for security. Instead of going with the changes in life, most people want to hang on to something static, and frankly that is just something without life as far as I'm concerned.

Mark

4

flower are you okay?

by dungbeetle in

jw
friends

as i was going through posts today i noticed these.... >sure wish i could have been one of those rebellious youths that went to college anyway.

life is impossible now thanks to those assholes.<.

>then you end up getting cards like this and my big gift was my new louis vitton service bag of course.

Introspection

Yes please.. I'm not on the board much these days but I am very much open to emailing and one on one conversations. Sometimes that helps more too..

151

Intro's quote-o-rama

by Introspection in

i guess i've been inspired by stephen's quote threads, so i'm going to start one myself.. not one particular author here, just whatever i can find:.

q: why do you think that people are so protective of their egos?

why is it so hard to let go of one's ego?.

Introspection

With the mindfulness practices comes a shift from a spatially based experience of self to a temporal one. Having accomplished a certain amount of inner stability through concentration, the meditator is now able to look more closely at the moment-to-moment nature of mind and self. Mindfulness involves awareness of how constantly thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations shift in the mind and body. Rather than promoting a view of self as an entity or as a place with boundaries, the mindfulness practices tend to reveal another dimension of the self-experience, one that has to do with how patterns come together in a temporary and ever-evolving organization.
--Mark Epstein, Thoughts Without a Thinker

23

Men are Like............

by Solace in

men are like,.

lava lamps.. fun to look at, but not very bright.. laxatives.. they irritate the sh*t out of you.. bananas.. the older they get, the less firm they are.. vacations.. they never seem to be long enough.. bank machines.. once they withdraw, they lose intrest.. weather.. nothing can be done to change them.. cement.. after getting laid, they take a long time to get hard.. commercials.. you cant believe a word they say.. government bonds.. they take so long to mature.. horoscopes.. they always tell you what to do and are usually wrong.. mascara.. they usually run at the first sign of emotion.. popcorn.. they satisfy you, but only for a little while.. snowstorms.. you never know when they are comming, how many inches you'll get or how long it will last.. blenders.

you need one, but you're not quite sure why.. parking spots.. the good ones are all taken and the rest are all handicapped.

Introspection

Am I the only one who sees any similarities between threads like this and shows like Battlebots?

151

Intro's quote-o-rama

by Introspection in

i guess i've been inspired by stephen's quote threads, so i'm going to start one myself.. not one particular author here, just whatever i can find:.

q: why do you think that people are so protective of their egos?

why is it so hard to let go of one's ego?.

Introspection

The man in whom Tao
Acts without impediment
Harms no other being
By his actions
Yet he does not know himself
To be "kind," to be "gentle."

The man in whom Tao
Acts without impediment
Does not bother with his own interests
And does not despise
Others who do.

He does not struggle to make money
And does not make a virtue of poverty.
He goes his way
Without relying on others
And does not pride himself
On walking alone.
While he does not follow the crowd
He won't complain of those who do.
Rank and reward
Make no appeal to him;
Disgrace and shame
Do not deter him.
He is not always looking
For right and wrong
Always deciding "Yes" or "No."
The ancients said, therefore:
"The man of Tao
Remains unknown
Perfect virtue
Produces nothing
'No-Self'
Is 'True-Self.'
And the greatest man
Is Nobody."

-Chuang Tzu

27

Meridian and Energy Therapies

by NoOnesMan2002 in

i was passed this link over the weekend, and since then have been using some of the techniques with apparent success.. http://livingbyheart.tripod.com/lauriekristensen/id22.html.

love and regards,.

george

Introspection

Quotes, not that it really matters (and apparently I need to point out that I made the statistical analysis comment jokingly) but you made reference to Homeowatch, "A Quackwatch subsidiary operated by Stephen Barrett, M.D." I figured it was the same difference. You're right about "several" being more than two of course, but the point is does such nit picking really matter? As I said, I'll take your word that it was not your intention to poo poo all things "alternative", whatever that is.

'Questions not tending to edification'

by Introspection in

i've been reading thoughts without a thinker by mark epstein, a harvard trained psychiatrist who is also a long time buddhist.

it's interesting how he looks at buddhist teachings from a psychoanalytical point of view.

for example, here he talks about some questions of a metaphysical nature that the buddha refused to discuss:.

Introspection

I've been reading Thoughts Without a Thinker by Mark Epstein, a Harvard trained psychiatrist who is also a long time Buddhist. It's interesting how he looks at Buddhist teachings from a psychoanalytical point of view. For example, here he talks about some questions of a metaphysical nature that the Buddha refused to discuss:

1) Whether the world is eternal, or not, or both, or neither.
2) Whether the world is finite (in space), or infinite, or both, or neither.
3) Whether an enlightened being exists after death, or does not, or both, or neither.
4) Whether the soul is identical with the body or different from it.
The Buddha taught that to attempt a definitive answer to these questions would give the wrong idea, that to do so would only feed the tendency to cling to an absolute or to nihilistically reject, neither of which he found useful. He never taught the existence of a true self, nor did he ever support the idea of a chaotic universe in which "nothing matters" and individual actions are of no importance. Rather, he encouraged a consistent doubting of all fixed assumptions about the nature of things. In a teaching that he gave to a skeptical follower named Malunkyaputta, he likened the asking of questions about the ultimate nature of things to a man wounded by an arrow refusing to have the arrow taken out until all of his questions about who the assassin was, where he came from, what he looked like, what kind of bow he was using, and what make of arrow had been shot had been addressed. "That man would die, Malunkyaputta," emphasized the Buddha, "without ever having learnt this."

I think it would be helpful to note here that the core of the Buddha's teaching was suffering and the end of suffering. Also, he taught "the middle way", which basically is about avoiding extremes:

Applying the same logic to the more intimate psychological questions about the nature of the self, the Buddha was equally resistant to being tied down. When asked point-blank by a wanderer named Vacchagotta whether there was or was not a self, the Buddha remained "therapeutically" silent. He later explained to his attendant Ananda (often the recipient of the Buddha's teachings in the Sutras), that there was no way to answer the man's question without reinforcing some erroneous view of self:
If I, Ananda, on being asked by the wanderer, Vacchagotta, if there is a Self, should have answered that there is a Self, this, Ananda, would have been a siding-in with those recluses and brahmans who are Eternalists. If I, Ananda, on being asked by the wanderer, Vacchagotta, if there is not a Self, this, Ananda, would have been a siding-in with those recluses and brahmans who are Annihilationists . . . The wanderer, Vacchagotta, already confused, would have been increasingly confused (and he would have thought): "Was there not formerly a Self for me? There is none now."

(edited for grammar/spelling, that kinda thing)