The joke is that where I live, it takes 2 - 3 months to get a therapist, and that’s if you speak the local language. To get an English-speaking therapist, multiply that x2.
So we are kind of trained here to solve our own problems
I think I posted here to vent but also to get some good outside perspectives and I’m glad I did because I got some really good perspectives from folks.
As for a concrete example of what went wrong, I now realize it’s so silly that I’d be really embarrassed to admit what I gave so much power to this past week is not that bad after all. Let’s just say that I live in a country where certain processes are very inefficient and that the folks in charge are not answerable to anyone. They control the lives of citizens and don’t realize the great power they hold.
I’ve never read Plato’s Republic or Ecclesiastes before, so I’m not sure what this means. But what I meant is not that OP should never philosophize about this (is that what you think I’m saying?). When I said, “Don’t answer,” I meant, “Don’t answer to me.” Later on in my reply to them, I say that if they should philosophize about this with anyone it should be with someone else (who is better equipped to help them). Why? Because they
and are actually suffering. I don’t think I should proclaim how OP can lead or attain a good life when I don’t know the nuances of their situation or who they are. When they say that they “expect” “rewards” for doing the “right thing”, for example, what does that mean? What are the referents that OP is actually referring to that is making them suffer and miserable? Is OP part of an incel subculture where they expect to be rewarded with sex for being nice to women? Is OP a blue collar worker who expects to be rewarded with a higher paycheck for working hard and for so long with a particular company? Etc. I just don’t know, which is why I said what I said.
However, OP says that they got
and that they are
for it, so I’m wrong in that regard.
No need to admit to anything to us here on the forum, which is why I originally thought you should talk to someone else who you may be more comfortable around and can help guide you. But now that you are clear-headed again, I suppose you don’t have to listen to my advice.
It seems to me that “being lazy” and “taking shortcuts” can only get you to certain kinds of success in life. There are short-cuts toward wealth and material goods. There are also harder and easier ways to get social status and popularity depending on how well you understand human politics and psychology. Of course, if one is not looking to define success by these standards, then it might be necessary to put more effort into what matters. A deeper philosophical understanding of the world and of ones self takes time and work that I don’t think has a shortcut.
Building virtue and a full kind of love for others seems to require long-term attention and nurturing. Plus, those who barely struggle or fail will not know the same kind of satisfaction as someone who has struggled over and over again at something and persevered anyway.
Ecclesiastes says that the wicked may prosper while the righteous suffer.
In the Republic Socrates argues that it is better to be just even if not only one can get away with being unjust but if the just man is held to be unjust while the unjust man is regarded as just.
