Is intense, incessant curiosity the flipside of depression?
Posted on October 23rd, 2008 by Jackie Danicki
Sounds right to me. The real trick is retaining the benefits of the pathology while ridding oneself of the many crippling elements…
I think depression is examination you can’t turn off: Once you start the examination you can’t stop it, and it kind of settles on you. But if you can somehow change the spigot you get incredible curiosity. Because if you’re examining things all the time, when you’re depressed, the hard thing is you’re examining yourself and your life and how many things can fail.
-David Lipsky (talking about his reporting on/interviews with author David Foster Wallace, who recently committed suicide) via Ben Casnocha
Filed under: Life
Oh, Jackie! Thank you so much for sharing this.
This gave me one of those elusive light-bulb moments.
Me too, Sally - which is why I had to post it. I’m glad you had a reaction to it as well.
The more objective we can be about these things as they pertain to us, the better off we are, I think.
Good food for thought. Obsessively focusing on our little selves can surely cause depression. Our true self is so much more than light and expansive than the changing identity we label as “me”. It would be interesting to explore further whether incessant curiosity about externals really is the flip side–or possible cure for depressing thoughts. It seems at best a delightful distraction. Disneyland is great fun, but the park eventually has to close for the night– and we are left wondering “who am I” and what is this all about anyway?