-----Original Message-----
From: david_musick@juno.com
To: extropians@extropy.com; ard323@juno.com
Sent: 5/18/99 3:28 AM
Subject: Maintaining Sanity
Jfvirey@aol.com wrote,
"In many science-fiction novels, psychoses and neuroses are presented as
a things of the past, and the humans of the future are shown to be much
more sane and psychologically balanced than those of today."
"Has any good novel ever tried to envision what a psychotherapy of the
future would look like, or what conditions would make this general
increase in sanity possible?"
Being blessed/cursed with mental illness myself (bipolar disorder),
sanity doesn't come as automatically for me as it seems to come for
others. Having worked for years on becoming more sane, I have had to
take advantage of many forms of mental discipline to remain sane in
spite
of pretty much always feeling like I am on some sort of psychedelic
drug.
Learning how to focus deeply on the reality of the current moment has
been of immense help to me in my efforts to develop greater sanity.
Engaging in lots of problem solving activities has also helped me
develop
a feeling of confidence that none of my problems are insurmountable (so
that I don't give up on my own sanity). Engaging in lots of
communication with others has helped me refine my thinking and has
helped
me utilize the solutions that others have discovered to their own,
similar problems. I try everything that I think will work, and I work
to
improve all methods I try.
David_Musick@juno.com
sanity must be developed and maintained
or it will inevitably be lost