In a video titled Chris Langan - How to Overcome Depression - CTMU, Langan gives a rather disappointing response. Clearly, not all depressed people want more stuff or experiences the world cannot give them. This does not apply to all young people today either.
That he even says we survived all three of it—“break ups”, losing a job and not getting into college—seems to suggest that he does not take God seriously. After all, so-called break ups did not exist in the past. Marriage was enforced, you were not allowed to “date,” it simply was a crime. God hates divorce anyway.
If sexual promiscuity is okay in the eyes of God, then why not suicide? Is Langan trying to fool us? Maybe the CTMU is simply a scam to draw people away from the Bible and belief in Christ, despite Langan accepting Jesus as the best role model (maybe only because he was born poor, too?)
I wrote earlier regarding this Tate nutter that great minds suffered, they were certainly not pampered but lived harsher lives than Langan himself. It would be preposterous to suggest that Pascal, who not only suffered from his melancholy condition but also his hunched back, was a spoiled brat.
Suicide did always exist, though numbers have risen since the industrial revolution. Not surprising seeing how our world has become uglier and more vulgar, today at a new peak with cretins like Andrew Tate who tell other men to live deranged lives that are not and should not be available to them or anyone else.
Obviously, some will then become depressed or angry, and why wouldn’t they, given that only few people will argue againts such views? I do, but my voice does not matter.
Langan’s claim that in the past, people were fine with much less is only partly true, given that in the past, we were a Christian nation where many still believed in God and lived according to the Bible. We also did not have asocial media where miscreants like Tate and others make money by showcasing their deranged lives. This was frowned upon up until the 1960s. See Coming Apart by Charles Murray: even most rich Americans back then did not want to be seen driving expensive sports cars, for example.
I find it strange, too, that at the end, Langan suggests to take charge of your destiny and find meaning in your life through one’s “spirituality” and relationships with others.
What does this have to do with God? The Christian answer would rather be that of Paul (II Cor. 1:8-9):
For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
Not to mention that you can be depressed, too, by having little in common with the majority of people. Not only because of IQ but temperament, character, manners, taste, interests. Today’s society is rather vulgar and crude, good breeding no longer seems to exist. I have quoted Nils M. Holm before, who wrote about highly intelligent as well as highly sensitive people suffering in today’s society. Personally, I rather would have lived in a different century.
Some of the comments, as one expects from YouTube, are annoying if not awful, disgusting, abhorrent. (I will not correct their spelling and grammar.)
Jonathan Remington writes (not a comment I find too bad, but still a skewed perspective):
If money was *required* for happiness then before money happiness couldn’t have existed. But it did. If computers and advanced laboratory-derived technologies are *required* for happiness then before computers and these technologies existed happiness couldn’t have existed. But it did. If the accumulation of material possessions was *required* for happiness then before the age of excessive abundance existed happiness couldn’t have existed. But again it did. We’ve been conditioned to believe that very particular things are *required* for happiness and by sheer ‘coincidence’ these very particular things are almost exclusively obtained from the industries that the parasitic elites control. Erase everything the elites have insisted the earth and its inhabitants *need* in order to be happy and explore what you are left with. Listen to and learn from nature. Rediscover the harmonious energy that flows deep within you. And connect with the source of everything God. ❤
Not much to respond to, as my views have been laid out on these pages ad nauseam already. Still, I would inquire: how does he know that happiness existed in the past? Why would we even want to be happy? Does God want us to be happy? The Bible does not teach this. Learn what from nature? That it is red in tooth and claw? Lastly, man ought to fear and obey God.
Next comment is way worse, way, way worse; and written by someone with a stupid nickname: Legion Reaver. I quote:
You should take solace in the realization that your being has taking all of the fundamentals of reality to produce such a state that you can even ask such a question. You are a being inhabiting a structure that allows you to observe reality and you will only be here for a short time. Such an opportunity is extremely rare as looking at the matter the universe is composed of comes to show just how rare a thing such as the human perspective is given that in all of the universes enormity there will only be one of you. As such it is not about the beginning nor the end but the journey and as has been said it is better to have lived and died or loved and lost than to have never lived or loved at all. Bare your suffering and know that with every choice you make you embark on making reality a little more heaven or hell. As such your choice is the most powerful of tools in all of reality and it was given to you so use it to better you self a little more every day and in a year you will been 365x better than you were today. Compounding applies to more than just money. Existence itself is proof of this. If it’s good enough for all of reality then it’s good enough for you.
He repeats the “life is short” nonsense. Short for whom? It is way too long. A subjective viewpoint anyway.
It does not matter how rare something is: if I am afflicted with an awful illness only one in a million suffer from every decade, would this be a reason to rejoice? Certainly not. Simply reading the Book of Job, one of the oldest books of the Bible, should cure people of such nonsensical views. Stupidity prevails, though!
It is ironic anyway given that he commented on a video by Chris Langan, who is supporter of eugenics. Meaning that he, too, sees being born with genetic diseases is obviously a horrific life no one should be sentenced to. Or think of Frederick Brennan, who also supports or at least supported eugenics in the past.
Further, back when our societies were still Christian, we actually did not allow everyone to have children. If existence, no matter how sick, is better than none, should we not legalize rape? Kierkegaard made fun of this awful breeder rhetoric as well.
It is about the journey as has been said — by whom? God? Certainly not. That it is better to have lived and died or loved and lost than to have never lived or loved at all is absolute hogwash.
Had I never been born I simply would not care! Idiot! Why do I even live? Because an imbecile could not control his wicked lust. Our origins are disgusting, a slap in the face, to quote Andy Nowicki from his book Considering Suicide.
Next commenter is called Lincoln Uland:
The very first thing you should look at is nutrition. Period. Almost all depression is caused by LACK of nutrition plus exercise. If you have good nutrition and regular exercise it’s practically impossible to be depressed. (If it doesn’t rot it’s not food. Period.) If you get doctors involved just remember masking the symptom is not medicine it’s grifting.
Wrong. Period. … Don’t such people feel stupid for uttering such nonsense? with such an absolutist attitude even?
To say it is impossible to be depressed when exercising and eating healthy—with dozens of diets and chemicals in our food, who knows what is healthy anyway?—is a lie. There are athletes who kill themselves. I had lost a lot of weight and still went on to hang myself. Maybe he is well-meaning, I found it obnoxious to read.
Marco Espada writes:
Exercise and have fun are the cure to beat the blues.
Totally false. (And vulgar.)
This is a lot of text that is mostly personal (a horrific life). Says Shane Banx:
I’m someone who has since birth experienced set back after set back. At this point I think I’m causing the set backs because I don’t know how to proceed beyond a certain point so I just throw it all in the trash and start from the beginning. I was taking high-school classes in the 6th grade. I.e. Physics Latin chemistry biology etc. My father died that same year and the school saw my grades plumit and basically said if I don’t straighten up they’ll kick me out so I removed myself from that school and nothing in life aside from my first love at 18 has felt viable or worthwhile since. I botched the relationship with the only person in the world I loved with my whole heart after my father died. I ended up getting into trouble and used the college fund my father had left me to pay for my lawyers. I blew the last gift he had for me on getting out of prison. Here I am 11 years later and it’s like this cycle doesn’t stop. Bought a house with a woman whom I loved but not with the same love as I’ve known and decided I couldn’t go through with it because I know what true love feels like and that wasn’t it. I went from having the most expensive house in the neighborhood with a great job to finding out she had slept with a coworker/friend. I’ve worked hard to change who I was so instead of just demolishing the guy and going back into the prison system I quit my job. Now I live in a camper with my 2 dogs working some job I hate and I’m completely alone. I moved here to be closer to my mother and she left as soon as I bought my house. I know hell is bad and it’s definitely worse than my situation but I’m genuinely so tired of starting over and trying to create something by myself that I feel at my wits end. I know I have a purpose and I know life is beautiful. But God damnit I hurt so much inside and all my love feels like it’s turning to poison in my chest. I feel like I’m either headed for super villain or death because my hope is vastly depleted.
Again a case where someone lived against God in his sexual relations, though not as obscene as the PUAs.
I will only note that I do not find that my life has purpose, I never felt this way at all. The best I felt was during childhood (though school was toxic) and a year or so after my born-again experience. Knowing, though, how one entered the world, what a filthy drive it is, is certainly not a reason to feel any purpose. It is as base as it gets. “Knowing“ that life is beautiful? I disagree.
A more thoughtful response by Poetic Discourse:
No doubt Chris is referring to a common form of depression but that certainly doesn’t exhaust the experience and aetiology of depression. I say this as I myself am depressed and was hoping to find solace in Chris’s words. Although I’m not at all depressed because of the things Chris listed. It would be great if Chris could comment on a I think worse (and less easily manageable) depression namely: Existential depression. Feeling as though everything is pointless mainly as a result of contemplating one’s mortality. What’s the remedy to that? Greater understanding of the nature of reality and your place in it (i.e. God and his relationship with you)?
A good response, I think, and I do not have much of an answer myself except to believe in Christ and endure this life we were forced into because of our parents’ lust.
A funny comment by Presto:
“Just be happier :)” thanks…
Lastly, Langan underestimates the negative impact social media has on people; it has already been likened to a drug. He also seems to disregard the importance of having found a woman with whom he is able to connect. I have quoted Nils M. Holm on this already.
It also needs to be considered that more and more are growing up in single parent households, often with a missing father. This has been shown to increase psychological disorders.
It cannot be denied that the elites know very well how to crush and torture people. They do it by leading people by the nose, for example luring them with lust, calling it a private matter, which family and relations between the sexes never were. Think of all the sex-obsessed men and women (“PUA”, “game”) online who are useful idiots for them!
Langan himself as well as several commenters also talked about one’s destiny and to take it into one’s own hand. This all reeks very much of a rather narcissistic, if not psychopathic, outlook on life, as if we should not care or even be negatively impacted by other people’s suffering.
I rather side with Andy Nowicki, so far the most mature thinker I encountered on the net; I think in his work Conspiracy, Compliance, Control, and Defiance: a primer on what is, and what is to be done he mentioned the pangs of time as one of the reasons we may suffer in this world. He also sees himself, as do I, as an empath, which is why he cannot stomach the news much, which would only increase his suffering.
I will note, further, that his, Chris Langan’s, wife had been married before, which means that we are dealing with sexual sin here. While I think that Langan is an interesting person with views that are often commendable, his stance on marriage and relations between the sexes are, for me, too murky to believe he fears God.
In the above-mentioned video, Langan even says something along the lines of you are not in Hell. So? An eternity in Hell sounds horrible anyway, people who use this lightly seem not to take eternal damnation seriously at all. And why could one face such a fate? Because of other peoples’ lust! Not without reason did it not exist in Garden Eden.
In the above video, around 2:00, Langan says that this [depression] is abnormal, not reflective of life in general, one cannot act as if life in general is this depressing.
Why, though? Even if a major depressive episode — or however one would call it — is not reflective of one’s overall mental state throughout life, there certainly exists something called endogenic depression. After all, Blaise Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche suffered from it — two of them even being believing Christians! Therefore, I question Langan and his defence of eugenics more and more.
Why be a eugenicist, if mental disorders do not exist or are actually no big problem to deal with? Which is obviously false, given that they do exist and may even lead to a suicide attempt.
The Bible itself teaches that life is or can be horrible, the Book of Job is dedicated to this very topic; the Gospels teach that during the end times, wickedness will increase to such a degree that even the elect would lose their faith, no flesh would be saved if the days were not shortened during those horrific times. So why this kindergarten worldview?
Further, you can know that your social life will not drastically improve due to shyness, introversion, mental disorders or sheer looks alone. This can be inferred rather early on in life, there is no doubt about that. Langan himself suffered from loneliness, as he admitted in his discussion with Bernardo Kastrup.
He gets along with people, though, which may not be the case for everyone, especially when you are an outlier of some sort. Nils M. Holm I already referenced above, who wrote about those with IQs three or more standard deviations above the mean who struggle in life.
I guess the only positive aspect of Langan’s answer is that he says no matter what position in life, there is always room for improvement, and if one wants to improve, one can.
Even if there are limits as to how one is able to improve and where, this is better than what some call blackpill, since in my book, such a worldview can only end in suicide. (Back as an atheist at around the age of twenty-three, I survived a hanging attempt.)
However, he says one needs to align with teleology, whereas I believe in Christ and do not see how else I would cope with my existence.
In this interview titled “The Interview THEY Didn’t Want You To See”, Langan makes fun about his math professor Al Leisenring, calling him a victim of Asperger’s in a cynical way.
Yet, Asperger has been accepted as a kind of disability since 2009 in Denmark, for example. Having to live with such a disability is exhausting, especially since many learn about this only later in life. We are aware of numerous cases now. (Note that I am not defending Leisenring’s arrogance; though Langan’s arrogance isn’t better, either.)
Let us listen to the wise Catholic reactionary Nicolás Gómez Dávila:
Man’s three enemies are: the devil, the state, and technology.
A high “intelligence quotient” is indication of distinguished mediocrity.
In solitude man recovers strength to live.
God invented tools, the devil machines.
I do not know whether, in another world, the devil punishes an irreligious society.
But I see that it is soon punished here by aesthetics.Intellectual vulgarity depresses me more than bad news.
The price intelligence charges its chosen ones is resignation to daily banality.
Good breeding seems like a fragrance from the 18th century that evaporated.
More so than the immorality of the contemporary world, it is its growing ugliness that moves one to dream of a cloister.
The line between intelligence and stupidity is a shifting line.
The key event of this century is the demographic explosion of idiotic ideas.
The majority of men have no right to give their opinion, but only to listen.
After the intelligent opinions have been excluded from the opinions of an age, what is left over is “public opinion.”
An irreligious society cannot endure the truth of the human condition.
It prefers a lie, no matter how idiotic it may be.The intelligent man tends to fail because he does not dare to believe in the true extent of human stupidity.
He who wants to have intelligent friends only risks to die alone.
Stupidities spread at the speed of light.
Until the end of the 18th century, what man added to nature increased its beauty.
Since then, what he adds destroys it.We are saved from daily tedium only by the impalpable, the invisible, the ineffable.
Knowing solves only subordinate problems, but learning protects against tedium.
We should ask the majority of people not to be sincere, but mute.
When it finishes its “ascent,” humanity will find tedium waiting for it, seated on the highest peak.
Only the contemplation of the immediate saves us from tedium in this incomprehensible universe.