MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents"
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MAIN EVENT. A Good Place to Get Started --- a.k.a "Table of Contents" |
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DEPRESSION - An Excerpt from THE BLUE GOAT, A NOVEL FROM LIFE By Ronald E. Diener, (c)1992 All Rights ReservedHaving experienced myself the devastation of depression, I have observed other sufferers of the malady with much more than disinterest. I saw it in other people, and I saw it in my work.
The object of my research was, for many years, a series of events and individuals from the second half of the sixteenth century -- the very century that discovered (or perhaps, rediscovered) in very special ways the enervating forces of melancholia. It was so very well named, this melancholia, this black goop, this black slime, that flowed in and out of the brain, that flowed in and out of attitude and disposition, that flowed in and out of consciousness.
Desiderius Erasmus, the savant of Holland and Basel, and Philipp Melanchthon, the child prodigy and genius of his age, pondered the causes and effects, to be sure. But they also conveyed some notion of the torment in the soul that melancholia, depression, can bring on. They and other humanists of the day, from the perspectives of either philology or philosophy, were writing treatises titled, De anima. The modern reader notes immediately that the topic is what we would call psychology, allbeit in rather "primitive'' and sometimes "fanciful'' forms, from a modern scientific point of view.
Nevertheless, these treatises were teeming with a thorough knowledge of classical literature combined with daily experience. Melanchthon searched his conscience to find causes for melancholia, and he was deeply troubled throughout his life by his frequent awful dreams and nightly portents of doom. He studied closely the ancient Problem XXX, incorrectly attributed to Aristotle, critical passages from Plato's Phaedrus, and the ancient tragedians.
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Event # 204: THE SHAPE OF MY HEART
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Where his day's science could no longer help him to understand the disorders of dementia and frenzy, he searched in the hermetic tradition, in astrology and in alchemy. When attacked by the presumed paganism of his views for saying: the stars rule man; he formed the fortuitous synthesis: the stars rule man, and God rules the stars.
At his bedside, he kept paper and pen, to record his dreams immediately on arising. The editor of his works in the early nineteenth century, Brettschneider, included Melanchthon's descriptions of his dreams.
When the constant, drumming beats of self-destruction keep raining down, what's a body to do? Martin Luther pondered long and hard these Anfechtungen and found as his only hope a total dependence on divine grace. Not that that made him any easier to deal with, this difficult and brilliant man.
Luther felt the terrors often and his response to them brought about momentous changes in his life. He described the terrors in his writings, in his lectures, and in sermons to the common man, offering rich material for his opponents to claim that he was mad.
The Madness
Like a foul-smelling fog, depression comes over the landscape of consciousness, dulling the senses and destroying the present moment. The melancholia, the madness, is observable in one's self and one can, at a memorable point, begin to see its devastating effects. Acutely sensitive to poison ivy, I have seen the blisters rise and ooze, fester and itch, and -- over time -- begin to recede and finally fade away. So it is with depression, without the fading away. William Styron spoke and wrote about the onset of his own depression with the same eloquence he usually applied to story telling.To say that depression relates to certain components and chemistries of the brain, and to say that depression can be relieved by altering the chemical balances of the brain is not to say anything descriptive about the malady.
The introduction to the malaise, to the blackness, seems to be very short. There is apparently too little time, to waste it on gradual introductions. Right from the start, the melancholic moves rapidly from stage to stage.
The humor that is represented in the form of melancholia is said by the ancients to be cold and dry. It is fluid, but not liquid: the fluidity of ice-cold sand poured like a liquid, but not a liquid at all. It cannot slake the thirst, it cannot mix with nourishment. Surely it is slime and goo, but only in its fluidity, not in its life-sustaining moisture. It is the opposite of the warm and moist: the opposite of life, of new life. It is the autumnal icey cold humor of death.
As melancholia invades, the simplest step-by-step tasks shortly become baffling: upon awakening, the idea of sitting up becomes a decision. A decision, mind you, not just the next natural thing to do. There is no such thing as a "next natural thing to do.''
Every act, every move, every thought, everything results from conscious, tormenting decisions and thoughts. No, not from decisions and thoughts, but from indecision, from a thought vacuum. After assessing what needs to be done, there is no decisive energy available for the "next natural thing to do.'' And simple reflexive responses fail....
TO BE CONTINUED.
US Election Update - Mudsling Express
Don't be surprised if you are a little confused when you enter your polling booth, American citizen, come this November, and you see more names than you know. Here's the situation: Though there are now eleven people running for President in the United States right now, the Mouthpiece Media only wants you to consider four and ( oh yeah!) Alan Keyes....So the G21 makes a commitment to you today to start *at the very least* letting you see what some of the other people involved in our national political dialogue --- in this election year have to say. We hope you'll appreciate the effort.
Meanwhile, on the radar screen, John McCain has been the Big Political Story of the 2000 election. As far as the Mouthpiece Media is concerned Senator John McCain --- and how all the other campaigns, Democrat and Republican, react to him --- is Election 2000.
That probably explains, in our view, the Fight Night at the Apollo Theatre in my old stomping grounds, Harlem, NYC, last night for the Democrats.
I received a humorous e-mail from a friend in Harlem today which read:
"SCENARIO: The homies and Al Gore behind the Apollo after the debate:
"CROWD: Al-ley! Al-ley! Al-ley!
"GORE: Lemme tell ya'll somethin': Bill Bradley, he don't mean nuthin' to me! I pity the fool!
"You see his face when I tole him the Mayor of Newark said New Jersey invented racial profilin'? He wet his pants! Hyuh-yuh-hyuh!
"CROWD: Al-ley! Al-ley!
"CNN Correspondent Bernard Shaw: This crowd certainly is enthusiastic for the body jabs Vice President Gore delivered in his battle with Bill Bradley tonight. They feel like Al Gore showed his prowess as a street figher tonight.
"Finally we have something to talk about besides John McCain..."
What is happening is that a sideshow has been set in motion. Now we won't just get "horserace" coverage. We'll have an analysis of the telemarketing campaigns, the spurious flyers, the "shadow" mud-slinging campaigns.
THE SCAREY STUFF:
- Senator John McCain calling himself the Luke Skywalker of the Republican Party.
- That we're bound to hear more about how John McCain can "beat Al Gore like a drum." Meaning, even the Republicans consider the Bill Bradley campaign irrelevant in the national election.
- That Bradley or the people running his campaign don't see how ineffective their new "fighting" mode really is. And how silly it looks.
But wait! Wasn't this supposed to be a "high road" campaign according to both parties?
For about fifteen minutes.
Our take here at the G21: Expect to see a lot more of the circus, predicted by our correspondent Tom Hart, up until the nominations of these respective leading parties. In other words, THE DIRT. Tabloid Hart has been proven right. --- Rod Amis
RON DIENER - is a history buff and Library Scientist who resides in Raleigh, North Carolina. His previous contributions to the G21 have included an essay on Democracy for the U.S. Senate and the trial of Native American leader John Racehorse, Sr..
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