RE: Maybe All We Need Is A Good Quest?
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I don't see how we arrive at so much anxiety when there are so few people with genuine ambition. I say this not to discount existential anxiety and related disorders, but a lot of therapy and wellness is quite literally asserting to yourself that you can change things.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, etc - its just about convincing yourself that there's a different outlook, or different perspectives available.
What, to me, gets really interesting is the notion that smart people are generally sadder people, because they can much more often foresee the outcome or perceived lack of control in situations.
I had a discussion on the weekend with a stranger. I hope they won't be a stranger for long. I was collecting my art work from the gallery (unfortunately, it didn't sell) - and she was close to her 90s; standing upright in the sun, and she spoke about the fact that the world she grew up in wasn't the world she lived in today.
She lamented the plight of younger people, and acknowledged that perhaps people not having children were the smartest of all, for there didn't seem to be much joy left in the world to inherit.
We talked about death, art, and the future. I do hope she'll be at the gallery's opening on Fridaay night. I'd very much like to continue that conversation with her.
I think it's possible that ambition is laying latent in everyone, underneath layers of fear and false beliefs and their lack of action causes a vicious loop. Although I would agree higher IQ individuals generally are less happy, I wonder how much of this unhappiness could be attributed to a unbalanced mental/psychological states more than the higher IQ? A lot of really smart people I've met are smart in a somewhat concentrated/narrow band but fall short in other areas lower IQ individuals excel in.
I'm sorry the art didn't sell. That's so great when we connect with people like that from other generations! I always enjoy hearing their perspectives on things. We have so much to learn from one another. I'd love to see organized meet-ups where the younger and older generations are paired together regularly for socializing and conversation. That used to be baked into society when it was common for elderly parents to move in with their children but now most elderly are cordoned off in retirement communities.
Could also be they sense a higher level of responsibility / understanding of event driven causality.
This is something I've been trying to work on. I know my weaknesses, both academically and socially. The social awkwardness and anxiety I get in a room of strangers in unsettling, but I'm consciously making myself more available.
Regarding generational gaps, the national broadcaster, The ABC, here in Australia, did a show where they forced (as much as you can do that in the days of ethics committees and human rights) collaborative acts of problem solving upon young and old, together.
Both the oldies and the little brats both gained respect and admiration for one another, and it was a beautiful anthropological/ psychological study into ageism.
Very true! I bet that show was fascinating to watch. I really do believe society needs to lean in that direction—more interaction between generations. I learned some of my most valuable lessons as a boy from our elderly neighbor. She was way ahead of her time, raised three daughters on her own in the 1940's, traveled the world by herself, and never stopped learning.
She sounds like a brilliant human being. I decided to go trawling for the show I spoke about. Not sure about its availability outside of Australian streaming services, but it is called.
Old People's Home For Teenagers and the other series of it, Old People's Home for 4 Year Olds
They be on netflix Internationally, but I have no idea. It was on in the background one day when I was visiting the inlaws. It was more interesting than it had any right to be.
She was! Here's a blog I wrote about her last year.
Thanks for the name of the series! I'll look for it. It sounds right up my alley.
If you do track it down and watch it, I will definitely be reading your thoughts on it. :)
I found it on YouTube! (edit) Unfortunately, they're just short clips, not full eps.
I think Internationally, they may have pushed it to netflix? If you have a VPN and can access an Australian host, it may be on ABC iView (an Australian catch up TV web service)
It looks like it's unavailable on Netflix in the US market. I'd have to subscribe to a VPN and watch it on my laptop or try ABC iView.