I hear ya. I've been in a funk all week and I think the roots come mainly from two things:

1. I read your piece last weekend on The Pricking of My Thumbs and then spent the better part of a day reading up on what Paul Craig Roberts has been saying lately.

2. As you know, I'm currently reading "The Culture of Make Believe" by Derrick Jensen.

The state of things in our world today is not pleasant. And there is a reason why so many seek distraction. Here's a quote from Jensen that I've been hanging on to for dear life lately:

I said to her, "This culture hates everything, doesn't it?"

"Yes," she said. "Even itself."

"Unless it's stopped it will kill everything, won't it?"

"You know the answer to that one."

"And the culture's not going to change, is it?"

She said, invitingly yet firmly, "I've been waiting for you to say that."

That was the best thing she or anyone could have said to me. It helped me to understand that I need not fight the despair, that despair is a normal and reasonable response to a desperate situation. It helped me to know that my response - breaking into sobs over the killing of so much beauty - is normal, and expected, and that to not feel these losses manifests another type of loss, that of one's own humanity, one's very heart. The moment I realized all of this was the moment, I think, that this culture of hate...lost its power over me. That was the moment I passed through, beyond, over to the other side of darkness.

Emphasis mine.

yes...i remember that passage well.

his books are invaluable to me, too. i'm so glad you're enjoying that one.

and on that point, its so true. i guess that's why i talk about (and granted these are nebulous terms) returning to my own heart or intuition. everything out there is flying about, everyone's an expert on everything they say, so much noise and static and hype and decay; the world-media-govt-others often try to convince us we don't see craziness about us, but really health or that it shouldn't affect us so much...and you just have to turn away from it sometimes, find something within that is more nourishing and trustworthy. as jensen says there, we have to be in touch with our own humanity. so true.

I, too, am reading Jensen's The Culture of Make Believe. Thx, Nez for the recommendation. I would like to take "it" one step further, though. I think we have to actively seek joy in our own lives because moments of joy and believing that joy and/or goodness can exist for others nourishes the hope that things will get better. And the hope that maybe we can even help things get better. I think optimism fuels empathy and the "good works" that sometimes follow.

Does this make sense...?

absolutely. i am in full agreement.

I get a lot of my news here, as what's in the papers and in the on-line news is questionable. I will have to look into the Roberts and the Jensen material. Like 99.99999% of all human knowledge, I am ignorant of the works of these persons. Later...

After a very short look into Jensen, I am aware that he and I have been on the same page for at least 30 years, but I will be reading some of his work for the pure enjoyment. Roberts, on the other hand, is an ex functionary of the Reagan era, a supply side economics theorist, and someone I will probably have lots to disagree with and maybe end up learning something from. I will be looking into his work right away, as I do tend to look at the economic roots of all problems before I imagine the "soul" problems, as humans tend to need to thrive and eat first in order to have the energy and will to move on to the realms of enlightenment.
Thanks to Nez and the commenters for these leads.

i have never read paul craig roberts. but i definitely stand behind the suggestion of Derrick Jensen's a language older than words as well as the culture of make believe. great stuff.

pleasure is mine, RC.

Thanks, Folks. I owe you. Have been miserable for days and chalking it up to some penny-ante version of Seasonal Disorder and too much internet. Perhaps I was wrong, after all...

P.C.Roberts hangs out in a strange neighborhood, and his neighbors don't like him!