Studying Philosophy with anxiety?

[katesmom]

I am philosophical by nature. I have to be careful what I philosophize about because I ruminate to the point that I get very very anxious! I am an obsessive thinker & too much thinking can suck the joy out of life if Im not careful Is this common among philosophers?

Id prefer not be philosophical but I am - the older I get the deeper the questioning.

I take anti-anxiety medication and a very mild dose of anti depressants - due to my thinking habits.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

I am philosophical by nature. I have to be careful what I philosophize about because I ruminate to the point that I get very very anxious! I am an obsessive thinker & too much thinking can suck the joy out of life if Im not careful Is this common among philosophers?

Id prefer not be philosophical but I am - the older I get the deeper the questioning.

I take anti-anxiety medication and a very mild dose of anti depressants - due to my thinking habits.

Thanks for your suggestions.

So, do I, I think too much but … it does not hurt and if it hurts, it hurts…

 

[Iron_Donkey]

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things” Phillipians 4:8.

I am an introvert who lives in his head most of the time, and I do occasionally think myself into a bad mood, but generally I find the solution is simply not to dwell on those things that cause anxiety.

Not that we should not consider things such as the cruelty of which humanity is capable or things like that, but that we should never dwell so long on such things that we forget the kindness, the general goodness of creation and, of course, the love God has for us. My experience is that the more I think about a certain thing, the more I notice that sort of thing (or the more I think I am noticing it, anyway).

 

[chipeto]

So, do I, I think too much but … it does not hurt and if it hurts, it hurts…

I like your philosophy!

Back to the OP, I’m not sure if you’re talking about the actual study of philosophy, or rather ‘thinking oneself’ into anxiety. If the former, then, no, I don’t find such study to be depressing at all, though some modern philosophers certainly seem depressed. If the latter, then I concur with Iron Donkey: make a choice to think and read about that which is good and beautiful. The world, by which I mean all of creation, seen and unseen, is filled with beauty. Sometimes it can become very difficult to see the truth of this. This is an ongoing issue for me because of all the problems I have in my life, so I think I can empathize.

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

I like your philosophy!

Back to the OP, I’m not sure if you’re talking about the actual study of philosophy, or rather ‘thinking oneself’ into anxiety. If the former, then, no, I don’t find such study to be depressing at all, though some modern philosophers certainly seem depressed. If the latter, then I concur with Iron Donkey: make a choice to think and read about that which is good and beautiful. The world, by which I mean all of creation, seen and unseen, is filled with beauty. Sometimes it can become very difficult to see the truth of this. This is an ongoing issue for me because of all the problems I have in my life, so I think I can empathize.

You know people who are natural philosophers or rather, as you put it nicely, people who think themselves into anxiety by the wrinkles of the forehead.

A person who has got a deep vertical wrinkle between the eyes, boy, he is a philosopher.

 

[Acapiteadcalcem]

I am philosophical by nature. I have to be careful what I philosophize about because I ruminate to the point that I get very very anxious! I am an obsessive thinker & too much thinking can suck the joy out of life if Im not careful Is this common among philosophers?

“Thinking deeply” is not philosophy, though this is a common perception among many people.

Philosophy is systematic, and does not involve the emotions, in the same way that doing mathematics or science is not done with the emotions (this of course is not to say that we don’t get emotional about things we think about or philosophise about). You do find, especially among German and continental philosophers (such as Schoppenhauer and Nietzsche) a near-total annihilation of the human spirit, but this is not the result of any authentic philosophy–at least not the sort we have inherited in the Church.

True philosophy, the kind of philosophy which grew up with and in the Church, is totally liberating because the nature of truth itself is that it is liberating. It is liberating and has given real joy and fulfillment to many people. Indeed St Thomas, following Aristotle, says that the greatest pleasure in life is to be found in contemplating the truth.

Perhaps therefore is not so much philosophy that threatens to suck the joy out of life for you, but the kind of philosophy that you are reading. The truth can never be soul-destroying; it is, on the contrary, the only thing that gives life and joy.

 

[Filippo_Bruno]

You do find, especially among German and continental philosophers (such as Schoppenhauer and Nietzsche) a near-total annihilation of the human spirit

You can criticize Nietzsche on many grounds, but “annihilation of the human spirit” is not accurate – if anything he elevates the human spirit (more precisely, each individual human spirit) to be above morality, God, and the like.

 

[Acapiteadcalcem]

You can criticize Nietzsche on many grounds, but “annihilation of the human spirit” is not accurate – if anything he elevates the human spirit (more precisely, each individual human spirit) to be above morality, God, and the like.

Nietzsche he’s raising the human spirit by freeing it from religion and the “carcass of religion”. Notwithstanding the critique from a purely Catholic point of view (this is a Catholic forum after all) his view is totally inadequate, for cut off from God, man is indeed annihilated.

 

[Filippo_Bruno]

Thanks for the clarification, but as far as I understand it the Church teaches that the human soul is eternal, which means that it cannot be annihilated.

 

[Acapiteadcalcem]

Thanks for the clarification, but as far as I understand it the Church teaches that the human soul is eternal, which means that it cannot be annihilated.

It is man as man that is annihilated, not man as being.

Boethius for example taught that, as we lose our identity in God, we lose our humanity. Peter Kreeft has a good discussion of this loss of humanity and the “I” in his book, The Philosophy of Tolkein.

Pax