| WASHINGTON (AP) People who tend to the elderly, | | | | the truth of life will initially be depressed. But if we |
| change diapers, and serve up food and drinks have | | | | can somehow understand that depression is normal, |
| the highest rates of depression among U.S. workers. | | | | that indeed suffering exists for human beings, then |
| Overall, 7 percent of full-time workers battled | | | | the depression can be accepted. And once the |
| depression in the past year, according to a | | | | depression is accepted, it can be observed |
| government report . . . | | | | objectively. |
| When we work with old people, babies, or people all | | | | If, instead, we fight the depression rather than |
| day who are stuffing their faces, we are seeing life | | | | accepting it, then we end up in a battle between |
| as it truly is . . . raw. No longer can we blissfully hide in | | | | titans; our ego versus our illusions of life. Life is what |
| our illusions and fantasies of what life should be; now | | | | it is in an organic body. The question is; how can we |
| we are faced with the realities of our bodies. | | | | not end up again in an organic body? |
| Whether it is the fact that we will all age, become | | | | This is what the Buddha set out to discover. |
| diseased, and die, or whether we see that a cuddly | | | | But we can discover all of these things in ourselves; |
| baby has a lot of stuff inside that isn't cuddly, or | | | | all it takes is a different view of depression and an |
| even if we see people engaging in feeding frenzies, | | | | acknowledgment that depression is a normal state of |
| we begin to see through the illusions of life. | | | | mind. Actually, a bubbly state of mind is more of a |
| The Buddha was sheltered from these things as well. | | | | false impression than depressed state of mind! |
| He was more or less held captive by his father inside | | | | Rarely will you find a meditator who is depressed. |
| enormous castles while he was a young man, his | | | | Part of meditation is sitting through all the different |
| father fearing that if he went outside the structured | | | | states of mind that appear, such as joy, happiness, |
| and protected life of the castles, he would see the | | | | sadness, and depression. The secret that a meditator |
| realities of life and become a sage instead of a | | | | discovers is that none of these states of mind can |
| warrior. | | | | continue without the fuel of active thought. Once |
| Well, the Buddha did sneak outside the castle walls | | | | thought is objectively observed, thought fades, and |
| one day, and what he saw disgusted him to the | | | | whatever state of mind was being influenced and |
| point that he left his wife and new born child, and | | | | sustained by that thought fades as well. |
| went on a mission to find an escape from all this | | | | How a depressed person comes to this |
| suffering that man and woman must endure. He | | | | understanding is not easy however. The mind and |
| became depressed when he left the castle because | | | | thought are powerful things, although they are |
| when he saw an old, decrepit man, a diseased man, | | | | delusions, but a person not accustomed to meditating |
| and a dead man, he knew that this would be his fate | | | | will believe all that the mind tells them to believe. The |
| as well, regardless of how powerful he would | | | | breakthrough occurs when the meditator sees the |
| become. But then he saw a monk who seemed not | | | | mind as only mind, then it can be worked with, Then |
| the last bit affected by all of this. These four visions | | | | the ego versus the illusions of life, neither of which is |
| changed his life. | | | | real, both get a hit, and eventually lose their power. |
| The Buddha's depression was not sidetracked as it is | | | | Meditation can begin by simply replacing your |
| now, however. He knew what he was depressed | | | | thoughts with you breathing. When you concentrate |
| about, and he knew that the depression was normal. | | | | intently on your breath, thoughts cannot appear. But |
| Anyone who sees life as it is and doesn't hide from | | | | it takes some practice. |