“People will always be what the world dictates them to be“.
Repeat the title and observe it phonetically. Amused by the title? well, you might have possibly been amused. We are today living days of delusion in some way or the other. Humans are never satiated in terms of desire, pleasure or satisfaction. We always want more out of things. The sparkling smile is replicated and is now an animated concept. You mostly observe people being or feeling low and lacking interest. Are we the unhappiest generation of all times in the history of mankind? The answer is yes. Now your curiosity might have heightened as to what factors contribute to this fact. The world we observe is double sided and people who tend to look good in pictures aren’t really the way as they look. But instead of this uncertainty they never fail to manipulate the desires of other individuals viewing those pictures.
Self-doubt conquers them and they now try to imitate what they see which in fact has no accordance with their own desires. Little do they realize that the one they are imitating is not what they think them to be.
And what about those who can’t resist posting about their day on social media.? This increasing demand for getting attention is not the outcome of loneliness but something more covert. Recent studies have shown that Narcissistic personality disorders have tripled over 7-8 years. People no longer chase happiness but pleasure, believing that they are pursuing happiness. This misdirection originates the disappointment people are faced with. The celebrities who are idolized and the millions of likes they get are not an outcome of their own self but the crew involved behind. Still knowingly or unknowingly we tend to replicate what we see. Even when we receive a notification in our phones our brain releases dopamine which in turn reinforces the behaviour which leads to this boost. And our minds get conditioned this way. But when such behaviour isn’t rewarded people get upset developing complexities of not getting acceptance in society or their peers. This can be best explained by the theory of classical conditioning given by Ivan .v Pavlov the behavioural psychologist who made a revolutionary breakthrough in the field of psychology.
Our anxieties are a product of our own fancies. We are concerned about everything or everyone but ourselves. Studies have shown that the no. Of suicides has doubled over the course of half a decade and most of them are students in their 20s. We misguide ourselves into believing that we will be happier if we would have been doing what we think would have made us happy. This is an error of judgement. We fail to recognize that our anxiety lies and tricks us into taking actions not by our desires but with someone else’s.
And after all of this when we seek relief we usually do not turn to people for help but to the virtual world pleasuring ourselves temporarily unaware of the fact that this worsens our condition. The renowned Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky in his masterpiece ‘Crime and Punishment ‘ refers to a man in London who treats mental illness without drugs. He talks to his patients making them realise whether the reason for their anxiety is genuine,/ reasonable or not. He believes that mental illness is an error of judgement, in other words, a misperception of life.
This is where psychotherapy comes into play. Most often so people upset themselves on account of reasons which are not genuine to upset one at all. Even then anxious minds germinate negative thoughts which lead us to delusions or even at times suspicions. You see one kicking oneself for thinking that they are not good enough when they see someone else achieving their goals on a platform of recognition. The catalysing of one’s anxiety unnecessarily drives the individual into taking actions which eventually makes one disappointed.
Much has been talked about being anxious in this article. The most important step you can take is to focus, not on people not on the world but on yourself. You will start finding answers to what actually ails you from living the life one should. Setting unrealistic goals out of your imagination and running ceaselessly tiring oneself to a condition when you are no longer able to walk. Before starting your breathless run did you ask yourself what were you running for and as to what extent your fancy was a reasonable one. What you might be chasing might as well be something you would least want in life.
” These monomaniacs will make a mountain out of a molehill and consider their fancies as solid realities”
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky
(Crime and Punishment) As we said that after your breathless run you will find yourself unable to walk exhausted to death. Now the condition you are going to be in is deep-rest as you have ran more than you should have, tiring yourself out to death. And that’s what constitutes the vicious psy-cleof lie. Therefore my objective to justify the title is accomplished. Consider this as something you always knew intrinsically, but never realized it.
Article By: Faisal Moin
