2/28/24

A lot of people seem to wonder why others who are otherwise 'intelligent' seek out religion and spirituality when we're surrounded by so much technological advancement and scientific understanding of the world. It's all just a bunch of superstitious nonsense that to them should have died out ages ago. But from my own point of view, it's one of the few avenues of refuge and respite available to me and so many others precisely because we live in such a cold, calculating world where progress and profit are the bottom line, not human happiness and flourishing. Sure, many people may benefit from the current state of things, but they do so at the expense of others who face precarity, oppression, and a host of other external stressors, giving rise to depression, anxiety, and numerous other mental obstacles to health and happiness. Depression and anxiety in particular are increasingly becoming an issue, with more and more people struggling, taking their own lives, or reaching out for help. And while healthcare professionals can often provide care in the form of medications and therapy techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy that can be life changing, I think there are some deep-seated causes that have gone unaddressed and continue to feed into people's depression and anxiety—most of them being the external stressors weighing heavily on people stemming from the ways we organize our society. Most people have to work for a wage to survive, or else hustle one way or the other, sometimes both. People often have to spend a great deal of time at work (the majority of our waking hours in fact) and commuting to and from work, keeping us away from friends and family and limiting the free time we need to exercise or relax and recharge. Workloads themselves are often full of stress. On top of that, wages for many aren't enough to do more than pay for rent, food, and other bills, and people feel like they're living to work. They don't call it "the rat race" for nothing. As if that weren't enough, even more pressures come from trying to make due with what you get, forcing us to make tough financial choices between things like paying for food, rent, and utilities vs. healthcare, childcare, and car repairs. Over half of Americans alone live paycheck to paycheck in a state of perpetual precarity and the threat of unemployment and ruin around every corner. And if you want to gamble, you can put yourself into a lifetime of debt to get a higher education and piece of paper that might get you a little extra cheese, but there are no guarantees. It's also difficult to relax when at least five days are full of going full speed to make someone else rich and two days are left for you to try and do all your personal errands, spend time with friends and family, and do something enjoyable and meaningful. And when we don't have the time or money for that, we often find it easier to self medicate with drugs or alcohol or reality TV or whatever helps us through the day. And the broader socioeconomic atmosphere across the globe isn't much better, often full of violence and uncertainty, from wars and food shortages to volatile stock markets and imperialist competition between nation states. Combined with the ability to have constant stimulation from news and social commentary on TV, social media, etc., it's little wonder that people are suffering from depression, anxiety, and hopelessness more than seemingly ever before. Certainly not every mental health issue is caused by these material conditions, but a large number are, and the majority almost definitely exacerbated by them. If we want to truly address this growing mental health crisis, we must not only expand access to and normalize mental healthcare, but also address the omnipresent material conditions giving rise to and exacerbating them. We need more free time. We need to have our basic needs met without having to work ourselves to death. We need more access to the things that make life worthwhile and enjoyable. And we need to share all of that with everyone instead of a system where a few profit disproportionately off of the labour of the many, while the many in turn benefit from the oppression and exploitation of the poor and marginalized. Capitalism is a pyramid of inequality, and the further down you are, the heavier your burden and its negative impacts. So is it any wonder that some seek out some sort of spiritual meaning or practice that helps give life a greater sense of purpose and imparts an inner source of happiness they'd otherwise lack considering the material existence many of us experience falls so painfully short? Religion may seem irrational to some, but to others, it's "the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions." And it helps an awful lot more than simple suggestions to find a better job or exercise more when you find yourself trapped as an appendage of the omnipresent capitalist machine.