The Problem

The various obsessions we smother ourselves in regarding maximization of pleasure and minimization pain in our lives, kindly speaking, are both laughable and pitiful, and little else. Just look.

Our fanatical identification with thoughts, emotions, and sensations is, for one thing, biologically and culturally, something chosen for us. Meaning we have not mindfully participated in the formation of our own motivations, decisions, and then outcomes of our lives. And this is especially true for people who think about them a lot.

We are basically slaves to these assigned motivations and the unwanted results in our lives, precisely because we think we chose them, and how we cherish them so. The results of living a lie are then beyond our control, and typically quite catastrophic – both in quiet and in loud ways, personal and global.

The sense of pervasive pain that follows from this confusion might be called Crushing Chronic Distress.