It never hurts to ask

[Sethomas]

What can I do to make my life better? I have a feeling that even if serious advise were offered, I'd be too stubborn to take it. But hey, it's worth a shot.

I'm a 21-year old male in Indiana. I attend college at Indiana University, having been kicked out of the University of Chicago twice for being insane. I'm a bit over-weight due to crazy pills that made me fat, but I'm losing weight by diet and exercise. I've had flings and such, but no relationship for years. I don't know if I even want a relationship, but hey, getting laid is nice. The main aspect of my psychosis is that I think to much, leading me to develop my own theory of religion and subsequently write a book about it. I can derive meaning from innocuous details in light of the interconnectivity of matter relating to a grand theme in the universe. I don't understand why the universe needs a theme or why it should exist in the first place. I don't even know if there's anything wrong with me than the lack of desire to live, which I'm used to.

I have dozens of acquaintances with whom I can socialize, but all my real friends are miles and miles away. I have a Mensa IQ but refuse to learn to study, so I'll never succeed academically. I can't imagine living beyond grad school, mostly because the thought petrifies me.

I could go on.

Hey, throw out some ideas, or contribute your own sap stories! It'll be fun for everyone!

[ziggytrix]

find the things that make you comfortable and unstressed. lose the things that don't. the hardest thing for me is putting down the things i know i'm better off without.

[AChimp]

I'd stop thinking so much. Most of the things you think about don't affect day-to-day living anyways. It's okay to not know.

[Mike P]

I find apathy works, with dashes of blind rage thrown in occasionally. Eventually, you'll become a sort of human shell devoid of any real emotions, however, so that might not be the path to go.

[Sethomas]

Ultraviolence is what got me in this situation in the first place, and "blind rage" isn't my style. Ah well.

[Chojin]

ANSWER THE QUESTION. NO. ANSWER THE QUESTION.

[soundtest]

You'll grow out of it. I'm serious.

[ziggytrix]

That's entirely possible.

Spend more time in the sunshine and less time on the internet... some advice I could stand to take myself... :(

[AChimp]

You could also find an MMORPG to totally immerse yourself in.

[CaptainBubba]

Engross yourself in something that takes lots of time and concentration and you think will make you a better person.

[DSBurroughs]

Watch A Beautiful Mind. Maybe you can relate?

[Sethomas]

My old therapist told me to watch that movie. I never did. A forensic psychologist who told me a judge would love to hand me the death penalty explicitly told me not to read Crime and Punishment. I immediately did so.

[glowbelly]

what did the shrinks diagnose you with anyways?

i think you are too doom and gloom. life isn't that bad. sure, there are bad parts, but it's really not the end of the world if you don't know what to do with your life. maybe your purpose is to search out and explore different paths for yourself, while never really finding what it is that you've always wanted or wished for. who knows. all i do know is that you seem like an ok guy. pretentious sometimes, but i think that's more of the smarts and your not so honed social skills. your stories about yourself are pretty cool even if i have a hard time believing all of it.

my advice: try yoga.

i've been telling that to everyone lately.

[kahljorn]

Use your brain to make you non-insane and non-dissatisfied with yourself. Just use self-psychology. If you're "Smart enough" you should be able to do it just fine ;/

[Geggy]

Sex is the answer! a loving relationships are good, also. sure it can be demeaning but at least you get some poontang on a daily basis! sex, kissing and cuddling increases self esteem and mental health! now stfu and find a woman!

also how much time do you spend alone? i'm almost certain that being alone most of the time can drive you crazy.

[the_dudefather]

i agree with achimp

http://www.devir.com.br/warcraft/wow/p_wow011.jpg

[Hugh_Bristic]

I suggest a CHILL pill...



Haha. Get it? You guys suck.

[Abcdxxxx]

hookers?

dropping the mensa schtick?

both sound like keys to happiness and gateways to improved living if you ask me....

...but instead i'll divert the the question, and repeat some advice i heard john waters give at a key note speech once (no, really)...which sums up to "just figure out what patterns in your life aren't working for you, and don't do them". pretty simple. the pencil moustache helps.

[kahljorn]

Some suggestions seth:

Certain psychologists have been reknowned for techniques to reprogram yourself. People such as timothy leary and john lily. Timothy leary of course has his 8 circuit consciousness model.
There's also Yoga which,contrary to popular belief, isn't so much a physical excercise as much as a way to reprogram yourself to be happy. Yoga has eight branches on top of their usual science of health which has three seperate pillars, but I won't really get too far into ayruveda.
However, yoga's eight brances all detail different steps / consciousness shifts just like timothy leary's 8 circuit model. Only one of those steps is the yoga of america or the "Asana's", the physical exercises, which actually has more to do with the energy inside the body. It's kind of like chi I suppose, except it has alot more reality than what is generally known. For example, alot of it is about blood flow which is biologically sound(for example alot of the blood in the body lies in the intestines). Some of it involves the spine which could be called the center of energy for the body. There's alot of internal energies, and I'm sure you could think of plenty.
Buddhism has an 8 fold path ;/

Anyway, all forms of spirituality is just a form of psychology, some of it's a psychological *model*, especially with religion. Different religions breed a different form of person which may be useful for certain circumstances. Like if you want to go to war, or hit certain sensitive emotions which are in reality mostly social triggers.
When you start to look at religion and spirituality from a psychological angle it makes more sense. Angry fire people, fat emotional people. Even socrates had an elemental system, or humors: Black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood(hippocrates)... or Galen's four temperments: choleric, melancholic, phlegm and sanguine. You notice it used it literature, like in shakespeares caesar when caeser mentions not trusting skinny men, only fat men.
It's all psychology, alchemy is about turning man from led to gold.

Anyway, that's about all that needs said i guess. Internal psychology is pretty simple when you actually start to look at the nature of things. The nature of things is more important than anything else, really.

I'm fucked up on oxycodone and stoned and drunk. Sorry if I rambled too much.

[glowbelly]

oooh, kahl, please be careful of that oxy stuff :( my sister got herself in a real bad way on that shit :(

and did you read my post? cause i said yoga, too. only without the fancy explanation. yup. we might be twins. :O

[kahljorn]

that's cool :) I didn't see that you mentioned that, i just kind of popped on last night fucked up because I had been thinking about posting that for Seth.
You mean the Asana(exercise) part of yoga though, right? Did you know that's like the fourth step and you're supposed to do three others first. It can actually be dangerous for anybody who does yoga seriously to not have done the first three, and the first three are pretty hard. But then, alot of people don't do yoga often enough for it to really be a danger.
ON top of that you're supposed to have followed the basic health guidelines(they are called the three pillars of health).
What kind of food do you eat seth? Your diet can actually play a huge role on your emotions and mind. It's possible you are just eatting the wrong diet.
The three pillars of health are diet, following the natural cycle and the dosha or humors which I mentioned in the last post I made. The natural cycle is the natural pattern setup by nature. Sleeping at night, eatting at noon... the day's basically divided into four periods(more really, but four important ones). 10-2pm are the best time to eat because the sun is out which helps with digestion because of fire doshas, while 10-2am is the best time to sleep. If you have any sleep you should sleep between those four hours. I know some people who only sleep those four hours and are always wide-awake and energetic. You should eat your biggest meal at noon because your digestion is working at it's best. In the evening you should eat light and not enter into any stimulating activity, just relax. Read books, watch tv.. whatever. You're also supposed to exercise at six in the morning, or i suppose 2 would work if you do the 10-2(I'd do six though).
The natural cycle sounds kind of crazy, but if you think about it most mammals follow it. I have a feeling that if the enviroment wasn't natural enough they would go crazy. There's also the doshas but that is an endless list. It's really more of an organizational device rather than an actually elemental system. It doesn't have anything to do with fire or water or eath or wind or void. It has to do with their characteristics, their natural progony. Fire is hot which involves anger and firey emotions, Wind/void are light and fluffy and subject to things like ADD and Anxiety. Earth people are emotional and sensitive(and big/heavy). Wind people are generally skinny while Fire people are in the middle. There's also the possibility of having two doshas, or all three if you're balanced. All objects in the universe follow those principles if you look at them in their characteristic fashion. The weather follows this and so does food.
There's also water, but that's combined with fire and earth.

If you do yoga asanas too much(or do the asanas correctly) without the right training you can end up crazy. I've actually seen it happen.. I have a tweaker cousin who's all into freemasonry and the illuminati (and other spiritual schools) who said he had 'awoken himself'. He acts like a crazy tweaker, talks hella fast and talks about everything he knows, which is a considerable amount, but he's so crazy all the shit he's talking about really means nothing because he has no understanding of it, and if he did he wouldn't be so crazy.
Every movement in yoga is to counterbalance another movement, if you don't do it right(and consider you're messing with the energies of the body) you could end up with a bunch of energy in the wrong places, or moved out of the right places.
But for the most part it's safe enough.

Which brings me to something I forgot to mention last night: The story of Krishna. Krishna was some indian guy who went crazy. He had symptoms similar to schizophrenia(Alot of people actually speculate that schizophrenia is a result of kundalini rising without preperation). He started doing yoga and eventually managed to heal himself and be at peace. It's a nice story. Hurrah.

I'm still fucked up on oxies, i didn't even sleep last night. I love oxies. They make me feel good. I want a bahama mama.

[glowbelly]

my sis was snorting about 800 milligrams of that shit a day. she's now been completely clean for a full year, but she went through some massive physical withdrawal. all heroiny like. it was not pleasant to watch. i couldn't imagine what it would be like to go through. just be safe. you know.

i wasn't aware about all that yoga info. i did a lot of it while i was pregnant and my instructor was really lax when it came to the poses cause we, ya know, were huge :lol she did make sure that we weren't in a position that would be harmful, but she gave us variations on the poses and we could pick what was most comfortable for us. i did really well for being as big as i was. she even had me in an inversion during one class. i was 8.5 months pregnant!

i think the biggest thing that she taught me that i still use is how to breath correctly. belly breathing. babies do it. it's very relaxing and seems a whole heck of a lot more efficient. i used it during labor until i just couldn't any more, along with cow/cats that eased the back labor i was having.

i also love tadasana (sp). it's great to do when you're standing in a long line and not moving. it aligns everything and eases the back pain that i have from carrying around an almost 20 pound sack of pure silly.

[Rosenstern]

also how much time do you spend alone? i'm almost certain that being alone most of the time can drive you crazy.

Ever read Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher"? It's the tale of a very smart, artistic man who drives himself insane due a lack of exposure to the outside world. His house itself is a symbol for him, which crashes down after he reaches total insanity.

[kellychaos]

You can start by not sucking.

[kahljorn]

More oxycontin to the head makes me a happy person. Seth, you should get addicted to some good drugs. I can give you a list you probably haven't tried.

[Cosmo Electrolux]

I'm not advocating any one religion or philosophy, but during some of the roughest spots of my life, Buddhist and Taoist principals helped immensly.....not that they provided an "escape route" per say, but they helped me see things in a different light...

I went the crazy pill route myself, but they only made me want to die....of course, taking four times the prescribed amount could have had something to do with that.....

I don't think sex or relationships will be a big help, as most of the sexual relationships I've ever had ADDED to the overload of stress. Don't rely on someone else to make you happy....happiness can only come from within.