Depression and Life Purpose.
When your mind and heart are truly open abundance will flow to you effortlessly and easily.
Question:
I just finished reading” your book Life After Death” which I think is a wonderful and enlightening book. It helps one to accept death as a part of an ongoing cycle of life and learning. Hopefully, I can work on higher levels of consciousness in my life.
I am someone who has suffered from depression and anxiety most of my adult life. And I have had thoughts of suicide. Sometimes I think it would be better to be dead to move on to the next plane or state of being rather than suffer here. So I have struggled with the meaning and purpose in this life. Why should I stay here on earth? What is the meaning and purpose to my life here? I could not easily discern what it would be from the book. To develop and find our karma? Being raised a Roman Catholic I was taught those same tenets that we earn heaven or hell based on how we live. I believe in living in the spirit of Jesus’s life but not the strict win-or-take-all belief in the bible. At times I have grasped to the thought that I’m here on a pilgrimage or a spiritual journey and it is important to complete that journey.
In any event, if you have any insights on how I can give meaning to my physical life or point me to some literature I would sincerely be appreciative of your response.
Response:
If you need some guidance to help you understand more about your spiritual journey, then perhaps you would benefit from reading How to Know God. I probably wouldn’t describe this spiritual journey as developing or finding your karma, but rather as unfolding your full potential—physical, emotional and spiritual.
Regarding your question on depression and suicidal thoughts and asking me what purpose is being served by staying alive, I believe this question about life purpose in the context of whether it is worth being alive or not is more of an expression of pain rather than a philosophical question that has a satisfying answer. Pain really doesn’t want philosophy, it wants love, connection and compassion.
I believe the meaning that makes life worth living is something you need to discover inside yourself every day through conscious living. That is where you find the love and compassion you truly seek. But that option is only available if you first recognize that your pain and confusion is held in place through your beliefs and self-perceptions. One of the deepest self-limiting illusions we hold is that we are powerless to change these pathological beliefs that generate our pain. Once that premise of the possibility of positive change is accepted, then it is possible to take the steps to transform that conditioning towards a way of being that serves you. At that point, books, meditation, prayer and therapy can be of great help.
Love,
Deepak
