Guest said:
AaronAgassi said:
Given the gravity of his situation, I couldn't begin to advise alexp without interviewing him at some length and only then a great deal of thought. That's my point!
You don't need to interview him in length to know that the way he might look is affecting him... that was my point.
I have no idea about his life or exact feelings, so i canot give any further advice, but i do believe that's the beginning right there...
And i'm not bitching at you (just in case).
Then you are not telling alexp anything that he does not already know. You are not helping. And that is no beginning but a dead end. Just more group validation!
Even just for sheer sympathy and attention, what people want is to be heard and understood, not consoled or encouraged, much less admonished.
In particular, admonition to morality and piety has never helped suicidal depression.
In case no one has ever told you, then I am:
You are a blockheaded cocksure blowhard, talking to hear yourself talk!
Socratic wisdom is in gauging the scope of the limits and gaps in one's own knowledge. And compassion lives and dies first of all, with nothing more or less than ordinary curiosity.
So stop talking, and start listening. Stop asserting, and start questioning.
You might even find yourself feeling closer to others and hence, truly at all less lonely.
Now that, my friend, is the beginning.