Are spiritual people depressed and unhappy and poor?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
Digity
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Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:13 am

Re: Are spiritual people depressed and unhappy and poor?

Post by Digity »

I think people who seek out a path like Buddhism see that something is off about life. They see the problems and are aware of all the anxieties that come with existing. I think they're more acutely aware and sensitive to the pains in life. This can lead to a depressed an anxious disposition, but the flip side is that these same people tend to see things more clearly in some respects. They see that "something" is wrong. Ideally, that negativity doesn't swallow them whole and they use that angst to seek out the path and practice it (samvega).
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Circle5
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Joined: Wed May 31, 2017 2:14 am

Re: Are spiritual people depressed and unhappy and poor?

Post by Circle5 »

Are spiritual people depressed and unhappy and poor?
If by spiritual we mean it in the good sense, that of trying to answer how the world actually works, then the person should end up wiser. Giving that he can traverse the jungle of views and find what is correct and discard what is wrong, then his wisdom should increase. He should end up understanding how the world works, how the mind works, etc.

Would a wise person be depressed, unhappy and poor ? I don't think so. I think a person with wisdom should be happy, successful and rich, otherwise does he really have wisdom ? If he doesn't know how to get happy, successful and rich, then maybe his wisdom is not that strong as he might think. A person with wisdom that is a lay person and not a monk should be successful in his lay life too, thanks to his wisdom. And I think there is a sutta where Buddha is saying the same thing.
auto
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Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:02 pm

Re: Are spiritual people depressed and unhappy and poor?

Post by auto »

You need do spiritualty on body, draw some line towards body center what is responsible for certain function and emotion.

Like elbow, it allows you to cover your face when something horrible happens. When you stop using bodyly movements then you need overcome it mentally.
And if you can do it mentally then you can use it instead of hand gestures or body positions.

Being able to know things how they feel it can be painful to live through those emotions without grounding them to some punching bag.

There is a sensation of feeling inferior to others and feeling of public shame and judgement, the thoughts of killing myself appear so if you don't see them then they can unconsciously force you to start commiting to these thoughts..
chownah
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Re: Are spiritual people depressed and unhappy and poor?

Post by chownah »

Steven Jobs was a spiritual person and he was rich.
chownah
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