Discussion Do you ever find solace in New Age philosophies of reincarnation and life after death?

[Mikulal1995]

I started to seriously consider suicide as a way out of my extensive misery: I live with a mild form of cerebral palsy, I'm gay, I have bipolar disorder with severe depressive episodes, in addition to other shitty things like innumerable interpersonal conflicts with my family, poor future prospects due to sucking at pretty much every job I've had. In fact, I'm sitting at work at this very moment and I can't tell if I feel like I'm going to get fired because I'm actually fucking up or due to my innate paranoia. I'm not a bad student. I actually really enjoy college but I'm in a shitty field that won't lead to a profitable career that would, in turn, decrease the future reality of extreme poverty and oblivion once my family dies off and I'm left to fend for myself. The real reason I worry about getting fired is that I won't have references to try and give a different job a try. I don't actually need the money— it feels that the more money I make, the less I have to spend. I would prefer to be unemployed and lead a parasitic lifestyle... But I don't know if I want my life anymore.

For years I've tried to indoctrinate myself in all kinds of religious disciplines, including the major religions and other lesser-known ones. I've also tried to believe in New Age philosophies like Brian Weiss' books on past lives and reincarnation. I've also (and I'm ashamed of this) attempted to fall prey to Sylvia Browne's stuff, mainly through reading most certainly ghost-written books. I try to drill myself with this to try to believe, but I just can't believe because the smarter part of me knows it's all bullshit and in reality, nobody knows anything at all relative to what or if something happens after death.

Ultimately, this is the expression of a desire to live a less tortured life. My current life fucking sucks.

 

[Mikulal1995]

Do any of you do anything similar to cope?

 

[KnightOfEnceladus]

I don't recommend it. The root of "religion" is more or less "to bind up again" in Latin, and almost all religions are wrong about almost everything. I personally do believe there is something you could call God if you wanted to, but "the Source" or "the Absolute" is a better term as it's not a single, conscious, humanlike entity the way the Abrahamic religions portray it to be.