Tuesday, April 9, 2019

On the perils of rumination


Since ancient Greece have humans valued our ability to manipulate concepts in our mind.  Numerous courses exist these days that teach people how to think logically and ethically.  However, thinking is not always a helpful endeavor.  Sometimes it can even lead to pain and suffering.  Excessive thinking about a worrisome topic can create anger and depression.  This kind of thinking has been labelled 'rumination' by psychologists.  Many people who ruminate do so obsessively with the hope that the thinking will eventually lead to some sort of solution.  'If only I can think my way through this' the ruminator believes, 'I will solve my problem and feel better.'  This belief is fundamentally incorrect.  Our brains routinely make logical errors and thus. thinking is not the path to truth.   Practitioners of meditation know are well aware of this. 
Descartes reified thinking

I came across this article and thought it expressed this sentiment better than I could:

https://medium.com/thrive-global/how-psychologists-treat-the-kind-of-thinking-that-leads-to-depression-a690a0cebade

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