↓
 

The PolyBlog

My view from the lilypads

  • Home
  • Life
    • Family (all posts)
    • Health and Spiritualism (all posts)
    • Learning and Ideas (all posts)
    • Computers (all posts)
    • Experiences (all posts)
    • Humour (all posts)
    • Quotes (all posts)
  • Reviews
    • Books
      • Master Reading and Reviews List (by Author)
        • Books and Reading – Numbers
        • Books and Reading – A
        • Books and Reading – B
        • Books and Reading – C
        • Books and Reading – D
        • Books and Reading – E
        • Books and Reading – F
        • Books and Reading – G
        • Books and Reading – H
        • Books and Reading – I
        • Books and Reading – J
        • Books and Reading – K
        • Books and Reading – L
        • Books and Reading – M
        • Books and Reading – N
        • Books and Reading – O
        • Books and Reading – P
        • Books and Reading – Q
        • Books and Reading – R
        • Books and Reading – S
        • Books and Reading – T
        • Books and Reading – U
        • Books and Reading – V
        • Books and Reading – W
        • Books and Reading – X
        • Books and Reading – Y
        • Books and Reading – Z
      • Book Reviews List (by Date of Review)
      • Book Reviews (all posts)
      • PolyWogg’s Reading Challenge
        • 2023
        • 2022
        • 2021
        • 2020
        • 2019
        • 2015, 2016, 2017
    • Movies
      • Master Movie Reviews List (by Title)
      • Movie Reviews List (by Date of Review)
      • Movie Reviews (all posts)
    • Music and Podcasts
      • Master Music and Podcast Reviews (by Title)
      • Music Reviews (by Date of Review)
      • Music Reviews (all posts)
      • Podcast Reviews (by Date of Review)
      • Podcast Reviews (all posts)
    • Recipes
      • Master Recipe Reviews List (by Title)
      • Recipe Reviews List (by Date of Review)
      • Recipe Reviews (all posts)
    • Television
      • Master TV Season Reviews List (by Title)
      • TV Season Reviews List (by Date of Review)
      • Television Premieres (by Date of Post)
      • Television (all posts)
  • Writing
    • Writing (all posts)
  • Goals
    • Goals (all posts)
    • #50by50 – Status of completion
    • PolyWogg’s Bucket List, updated for 2016
  • Photo Galleries
    • PandA Gallery
    • PolyWogg AstroPhotography
    • Flickr Account
  • About Me
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Me
    • Privacy Policy
    • WP colour choices
    • PolySites
      • ThePolyBlog.ca (Home)
      • PolyWogg.ca
      • AstroPontiac.ca
      • About ThePolyBlog.ca
  • Andrea’s Corner

Tag Archives: anxiety

Articles I Like: Dread accompanies me through life

The PolyBlog
February 24 2018

Firefox has this little feature when you pull up its built-in home page with a search engine box — just below the box is your recently viewed webpages, nothing unusual there, but between the search and history are three articles that Firefox thinks might be of interest to you. I have no idea if they are actually using an algorithm of the web history and past searches, or just curating interesting stories, but I often find one or more of the stories worthy of clicking. I figured initially that it was just clickbait, but most of the time, when I’ve actually clicked, the article has been worth the click.

Take for instance one from today. The article is written by a philosophy professor and revolves around anxiety. It starts with some powerful events — the death of his parents — that are not powerful in terms of trauma but in their normalcy. He then talks about how it impacted his sense of safety, life, religion even. His view of the universe. And then talks about his journey to understand anxiety from a personal, psychological, even existential perspective, informed by the works of philosophers and psychologists.

While it doesn’t end as strongly as it starts, and it veers into philosophy and psychology in ways that will bore a lot of people, it is a very compelling cerebral contemplation of anxiety. Here are some of my favourite highlights:

I had imagined that with my father’s death, the world had exacted its pound of flesh, a tax so terrible it would be levied only once. But in 14 years, death came calling again. One God – a child’s God, mythical and compassionate – died with my father; another – an adult’s God, a God of reasonableness, the one that ensured this world would not do excessively badly by you – died with my mother.

[…]

Prompted by the production of new traumas and losses in our lives, anxieties can interact and recombine like viruses to form newer ‘strains’ that course through us, surprising us with their ferocity and visceral feel. We should not expect our anxieties to remain the same as we age; by paying close attention to their nature, their ‘look and feel’, we can track changes in ourselves and our ‘table of values’.

I learned that I respond with anxiety to this world’s offerings. I’m a better person for this knowledge of myself.[…]My trajectory through the world is thus informed, at every step, by the anxieties that afflict me.

[…]

Our anxieties rush into the mental spaces we leave open, reminding us of all that can go terribly wrong.

Dread accompanies me through life but it is not without consolation | Aeon Essays
Posted in Learning and Ideas | Tagged anxiety, ideas, learning, philosophy, religion, self, spiritualism

Countdown to Retirement

Days

Hours

Minutes

Seconds

Retirement!

My Latest Posts

  • When a brand like OtterBox lets you downNovember 30, 2023
    I often find brand loyalty a fickle mistress. You’ll see someone ranting about problems with company X (say Bell) while another raves about it. It’s particularly funny in the negative form, such as in online IT forums about Canadian mobile networks, where someone will rant and rant and rant about how terrible Rogers is, and … Continue reading →
  • Taking a break from all your worriesNovember 18, 2023
    Ah, the lyrics from Cheers. A great theme song for the bar show, and one of my favourites. I’ve been thinking about the lyric, “Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot”. I don’t need somewhere to go, and I don’t want to “get away”, I just need to take a … Continue reading →
  • Gallery: 2023 – February – Legos, awards and pancakesNovember 12, 2023
    This month’s gallery includes a hodge-podge of photos…Andrea and Jacob comparing relative heights (ruh-roh, Mom, I think you’re in trouble!); some artwork I finally got on the wall in the basement; A and J started the Lego Colosseum; J standing in front of our snow pile, which a short month ago was non-existent; an old … Continue reading →
  • Gallery: 2008 – Honeymoon 03 – Hilo hotel, volcano park, and lava tubeNovember 12, 2023
    Hilo hotel, volcano park, and lava tube
  • Gallery: 2008 – Honeymoon 02 – Tide Pool and Lava FieldNovember 11, 2023
    Tide Pool and Lava Field

Archives

Categories

© 1996-2023 - PolyWogg Privacy Policy
↑