I want to add, I like your two axis formulation and wish I would have started with that in my first reply to your post. I just put happiness more in the calm eye of the storm, with Restlessness at the top, Depression at the bottom, and Anger and Desire at the left and right. When I’m relatively happy, small amounts of these energies can come and go without me being caught in them (feeling a little down without being depressed, feeling a little excited without being manic, etc.) If I’m unhappy, I can end up oscillating rapidly between poles, or settling at one extreme or the other.
I think this cycle isn’t well understood in the West, especially in regard to anger and desire, which are thought of as more masculine energies and thus are less pathologized. But the multi-axis formulation you posted is very similar to my experience and can help to clarify how some states can oscillate between extreme poles.
I hope you continue to refine your personal understanding and sharing it with others :) It is an excellent insight, and again I wish I would have started off by saying so.
How was I being a puritan? I used language throughout that demonstrated I was speaking from my own experience and sharing my own understanding.
All language points at people’s real experiences and understanding. And how I define a word, such as excitement and happiness, affects my understanding of what is possible. I thought they were synonyms for many years, growing up in a consumer capitalist culture, it’s kinda what I was fed by advertising and my environment. Eventually, I learned to delineate them. And found, in my own experience, they’re not the same.
If you use different words and have a different understanding of your lived experience, more power to you.
Oh god eastern religions have puritans too? jk, glad to hear you’re doing well.
I saw your edit. Thanks for the well wishing.
I want to add, I like your two axis formulation and wish I would have started with that in my first reply to your post. I just put happiness more in the calm eye of the storm, with Restlessness at the top, Depression at the bottom, and Anger and Desire at the left and right. When I’m relatively happy, small amounts of these energies can come and go without me being caught in them (feeling a little down without being depressed, feeling a little excited without being manic, etc.) If I’m unhappy, I can end up oscillating rapidly between poles, or settling at one extreme or the other.
I think this cycle isn’t well understood in the West, especially in regard to anger and desire, which are thought of as more masculine energies and thus are less pathologized. But the multi-axis formulation you posted is very similar to my experience and can help to clarify how some states can oscillate between extreme poles.
I hope you continue to refine your personal understanding and sharing it with others :) It is an excellent insight, and again I wish I would have started off by saying so.
How was I being a puritan? I used language throughout that demonstrated I was speaking from my own experience and sharing my own understanding.
All language points at people’s real experiences and understanding. And how I define a word, such as excitement and happiness, affects my understanding of what is possible. I thought they were synonyms for many years, growing up in a consumer capitalist culture, it’s kinda what I was fed by advertising and my environment. Eventually, I learned to delineate them. And found, in my own experience, they’re not the same.
If you use different words and have a different understanding of your lived experience, more power to you.