The Coming Psychological Black Death 

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I used to think that people working a 40 hour work week cannot complain about being overworked because if you were to live off-grid and out of society, you’d have to work all day every day growing food, farming, hunting, collecting water, etc. We work less today for what we have than any other time in history by far. However, I think a 40 hour work week in a cubicle as a nameless cog is far more mentally draining than 80 hours a week working your own land and thus you are more overworked. It’s not all about the physicality of your work but the fulfillment that work provides you.

Best thing to do is have kids and raise them right. It took a hundred years to decline to this state and it'll take longer to get us out. It's generational as much as it's societal.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

I was in/out of therapy, until I realized, talking about trauma over, and over, is like picking at a sore, over and over. The drugs they gave, slowly brought on suicidal ideation. Evil does exist, since the rebellion that took place in Heaven

“The line between good and evil runs not through states, nor between classes, not between political parties either, - but right through every human heart.” - A. Solzhenitsyn

Imagine a parent teaching their child that they can fly and then being shocked when the child jumps off a roof and falls to their death. Our current society is the child and we just found the ladder.

I’m an anthropologist by education and how society engineers psychological suffering has fascinated me for years. This is so well thought out and well-presented. Subscribed!

I love generational charts that skip over Gen X. Forgotten generation indeed

“Our society behaves like a suicidally depressed person” That is so well put!

Christ will win.

The only pandemic I’ve seen over the last decade, is narcissism. This won’t go away until we address it for what it is. Instead of lumping it into the mental health category. We need to approach it as a personality health issue.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

H. P. Lovecraft, a man who suffered a great deal form mental illness, wrote extensively in his fictions that as humanity progressed in unlocking the secrets of the universe while the old social mores and rules decayed, it would begin to slip into collective madness. He personified it as ancient and primal cosmic horrors in the form of twisted villains, monsters, and demonic gods exploding onto the landscape of human reality, but really I think he may have been onto something.

It's unbelievable how difficult it feels nowadays to try to socialize with others. Constantly worried about saying something someone might consider "wrong", and not wanting to be made fun of for saying a certain thing. It's not even about being "canceled' or whatever. It's about losing someone you love, the potential of your life being ruined based on the manipulation of a lie, and how fucked up everything is and everyone knows it. I honestly think we're too far ahead into stupidity and negativity, it's overwhelming and consuming us daily. And it won't stop. It's too powerful now.

This couldn't be more spot-on or timely in relation to a recent trip I had to an average American city. Shouting and banging at all hours of the night in the hotel, multiple attempts to get into my room by people apparently incapable of reading a room number, endless drag racing on the street outside until 5 am, ranting and raving lunatics threatening themselves and others in a local park, the mindless drones at a local university tour spouting diversity and inclusion drivel while rattling off ridiculous land acknowledgements, the homeless dodging high speed traffic as they shuffled across the highway. If one takes a moment to step outside themselves and their modern brain that has normalized all this, it becomes readily apparent as to just how insane our society really is. There was madness all around me that seemingly nobody noticed, but everyone was reacting to.

Antinatalism is also economic. I'm 23 I work a full time job and if i didn't have roommates i literally would not be able to afford rent+utilities+insurance+student loans. If i can't afford to take care of my basic needs how in hell am i gonna take care of kids?

A few years ago I was told there was a pandemic and I thought to myself: "strange thing, I always thought I would see and feel it if there is a pandemic, but the only way I can tell there is a pandemic is media output". About a year later I saw and felt a mental helth pandemic happening but the media kept silent, this is going on ever since.

Clearly, society has lost any resemblance to morality. I'm 60 years old, and in the last 20 years, society has decayed to a level unimaginable to me. I honestly do not think it will recover until it destroys itself first.

I'm a 29 year old man. I was working 3 jobs to support my wife and 2 kids. I dropped down to 40 hours a week and we had to sell our house as a result. I understand why men struggle with their mental health when even working 3 jobs doesn't mean getting ahead at times. I understand why they want things to change fundamentally.

Zen Buddhism saved me. I'll never be anywhere near perfect, but I'm no longer completely out of control and I have many moments of pure joy.

Honestly the idea of living through the end of humanity sounds incredible when you consider all the possible generations in human history that you could have been born into.

I was diagnosed with manic depression. The cure was forgiving those who hurt me, finding God, working out, being mindful of what I eat, and not turning down opportunities to socialize while also refusing to spend any time with nihilists. Today I have a wonderful church, friends and family that live nearby, and a priest who I can tell anything I am struggling with and he will help me through it, free of charge. That all said, I do also take vitamin D in the winter and ashwagandha for stress, but I was taking these before along with antidepressants and they weren't enough.

A history teacher of mine once said, "If you're a steel-worker in PA and an economic downturn hits... you can take all the personal responsibility you want to. You're still losing your job." If there's one thing that we Americans are astoundingly accomplished at, it is blaming the individual for society's problems.

Prolonged comfort makes you emotionally fragile. Emotional resiliance is exercised if you experience stress followed by rest, repeat. Do not spare the rod and spoil unto depression and resentment.

"When somebody says evil doesn't exist they don' t actually believe it, they're just trying to confuse you so you can't resist their evil..." I'm stealing that quote

I like this channel because it balances out the overly PC bubble I find myself in. Seemingly impossible to have both sides of a debate in public anymore, virtue signalling is unhinged lately it’s so frustrating

"Being happy is not cool in our society." Wow is that the truth. We thrive on our own misery and the misery of others on this big floating space rock.

I think every generation, we face the "new" evils our parents created. They turn us into demons possessed by passivity. Unable to fight the old repeated traumas and achieve light. Unable to grow as real humans. Unable to speak about the festering anger from a lack of self-control. No voice. And the feeling of no future...

Anxious because we’ve been duped into thinking the world is worse than it really is. Depressed because we’re convinced we’re not good enough and we’ve lost the support of our family and community. Pessimistic because our institutions are no longer worthy of our trust. Too exhausted to do anything about it because we’re overworked.

as a girl the jealousy and self insecurity is actually destructible . even my most beautiful, smart, caring friends hate themselves because of social media and overconsumption. makes me so sad

*THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WHAT YOU DO* Holy crap brother! Keep making videos on this topic! If we are all going mad, then the more people can know about this stuff, the better we can fight it! This video has been INCREDIBLY HELPFUL TO ME! All the effort you put into these is very much appreciated.

All of this has been pretty evident in the culture for well over a decade now. The pandemic has only exacerbated the issues that were right underneath the surface and it's difficult seeing things improving on a permanent basis. But somehow you got to keep your head up... and not let the darkness of others dim your light, as the saying goes.

Whatifalthist - I am 47 years old - double your age. I wish I had teachers in high school and college that understood the world and communicated the things you are communicating. This is some of the best stuff on RU-vid.

I study psychology and have recently formed a "self help group" since 3 of my best friends are questioning all their lifes recently, have a lack of motivation to continue our studies and feel lonely in there daily life, while another one is diagnosed with clinical depression. That's the state of affairs in Germany right now

I would disagree with you on one thing in a minor way. I do not think that war is a NECESSARY part of the human condition. I'd say it is an UNAVOIDABLE part of the human condition. Subtle difference.

Finding a religion has changed my life and now I look around and see broken, lost, lonely people filling our society. To think we can build a human society without faith is childish. Were we really naïve enough to think religion served no purpose?

You're 100% right. I'm 35, and my nephew (13) came over, and was just sitting on the couch looking depressed tried to get him go to the Renaissance festival, and it took him all day to work up on going the next day.

The tool that gave us our civilization (the mind) becoming the one unraveling us this time in a way we literally couldn't think to respond to would be just cruel...

You speak things that have been on my mind (and a lot of other people's minds) for years, and you're a very gifted speaker. Materials like this give me a chance to rearrange my thoughts and often help me through struggles, so thank you

Very well done. The "most people have no clue who they are" segment on psychology was spot on. You can witness this endless internal struggle individually and collectively, and more so on the political left. There's a confusion that exists there between many folks ego's and their true identity. They think their facade is them and spend so much psychological energy curating and grooming their ego, not understanding why their self is in a constant state of distress and disarray. The freedom they desire is in the integration of their ego and self, the acceptance of the imperfectness, not in the attempt to maintain a "pure, clean mind".

I remember reading about a crucial detail regarding the mouse paradise experiment, in that it was started with random mice. When other researchers tried duplicating the experiment, they found that if they took mice who had pre-existing strong relationships, they didn't fall into the spiral as easily or at all.

Who else out here raw doggin’ life? No meds, no doctors, no therapists, just fuggin sending it!

As someone with Autism, OCD, and ADHD, I can conferm. Coddling them will only destroy them. It’s important for parents to understand their children’s mental illness, but they can’t coddle them. They must teach them to grow beyond them and adjust to life. Also, I think you dress well WhatifAltHistory

Half the issues you go over don't really exist here in Alaska (with the exception of Anchorage) we are united as a community, our church is each other, and we are simultaneously self reliant on an industrial scale. We have thriving industry, but also a rich culture of art, music, some of the most outdoor loving culture on Earth. Our artists are pro gun and our hunters are pro environment. Our young men and women might not have the night life club life here, but they are far more stable and happy here, and they have purpose...and most importantly, due to social cohesion, we have social mobility. We have more natural resources here than any place on earth, and we know our land, making it a defenders paradise. We can feed ourselves and are primed to make trade with the survivors of any future calamity. So while this problem might affect the lower 48 like a plauge, and we definitely have issues here, we are in a vastly better position than almost any other place on Earth. Oh, and we are united in our desire of national identity to the point we are willing to fight for it. We DO NOT consider ourselves to be American. Have a nice day

If depression is so widespread that the population decrease rate and societal response literally borders the Black Death, this will probably be the worst time to live in in history. At least people who caught the plague got it quick and they didn’t always have a terrible life beforehand. Edit:so many people are posting depressing stuff in the reply so I’ll share what I beliebe, and use to go through this. In times of apocalypse, it’s better to die in battle than die immediatly. There’s a reason people read about zombie stories where the Mc fight them, not die immediatly to them. You can’t carve your setting but you carve your story, how you react with it. How other perceive you doesn’t even matter, bc there’s no “chad looking” person in this decadence, and if there is it’s likely they just ride the crowd. imagine if you can re read a cosmic book recording your life, how would you write the story next? That’s what you should do. There is a value to struggle. Sure, physical achievements have values, but the stuff that matters more is how one fight struggle. With no struggle and sadness happiness and achievement is meaningless. Climbing an infinite mountain is good, bc you know you are getting higher, and there’s always more mountain to climb. The world won’t be perfect but it can be better. Don’t worry if others won’t remember your name. Nobody knows who invented the wheel, but every time we drive a car it reminds all of us that the wheel was invented. One will forever live through how they impact history, even if ever so slightly. Keep doing your thing, you all means a lot. I would also give all of you guys a hug as well🫂, we csn support each other here 😄 (My biggest fear is complete authoritarianism, it’s not likely but it can happen. Where whether through culture or law one is forced to have no choice. Cancel culture is leading to that already where rebelling means very little and the consequences to not conforming is severe . It’s a culture so not tied t9 a few elites who can die. That makes life less meaningful bc you can’t choose what to do so you aren’t really climbing your mountain. But, a culture that bad would be mass opposed anyway and all my fellow who is willing to die in battle will help bring it down. )

I use to have extreme anxiety and depression. After I stopped hating myself, went to church, and began working towards my goals and not caring what people think well what do you know. It’s gone. I’m more confident and more financially literate. I’m also getting healthier too. The first step, which is the hardest, I learned was to genuinely love yourself. Without loving yourself you can’t love others.

Great video! I find it funny that these discussions get labeled as negative or being black pilled, but realistically it’s just discussing the human condition truthfully without ego. Keep up the good work!

Another good metric for measuring mental health is how obsessed you are with dogs… the more you love dogs or NEEeEEeED a dog with you at all times… the more mental health issues you have. Well adjusted adults don’t need these security-blankets and narcissism-vessels around. The explosion of dog-culture is directly related to all of these issues.

Only 25 people died in Salem witch trial; 19 people had been hanged, 5 people died in custody, and one man was pressed beneath heavy stones until he died. During the European witch burning craze, the best estimates are between 35,000 to 50,000 people were executed.

WhatIfAltHist and Academy of Ideas both uploading within a few hours of each other? That's grand!

There is a kind of talk therapy called Interpersonal Psychotherapy that works to reconnect people in their relationships, and teach people to think creatively and less about themselves. It's very effective.

Introduced you too a few people you have an interesting way of looking at things and love how you compare history too today. Fantastic work keep it up!!

I’m combat veteran, my PTSD was debilitative for close to 15 years. I got talk therapy to work, CPT, and exposure therapy. That got me to the point where you seem to be, based on your descriptions. I went on, and did the yoga program at the Sattva yoga Academy, it taught me how to get control over my physical symptoms again. It’s possible to gain control of your body back. It’s a physical practice.

I'm glad you used a Warhammer image in your thumbnail. I actually think that one of the reasons 40k is so popular today is that it presents religion as plausible and even useful to a generation of autistic shut-ins. It argues that human emotions are reflected in another dimension, and that the energy from those emotions coalesce into sentient beings (gods and daemons) which try to influence people by breaking through into the material world. Faith and courage can repel or strengthen them because faith and courage are emotions. Sure, it's pure fantasy, but it's a fantasy which _makes sense,_ and which provides a metaphysical framework to explain and defeat evil.

NEET is Western version of the "Lying Flat" movement in China.

Whatever happens will pass in a couple decades. Don't succumb to doomerism.

Man, it is quite ironic and reality shattering for me to hear about hikikomoris, as someone who grew up watching anime I am well acquainted with the "NEET and Hikikomori" terms as it is (or was) something adressed often on a great variety of genres in anime, I never understood why someone would choose to isolate themselfs of society and do nothing all day, yet to my surprise I am currently one of those "NEETS/Hikikomoris", it feels so unreal to look back on my early years and try to understand how I came to be who I am today on both an individual and collective perspective. Just to say, all of this was just a little vent.

I've seen your videos my feed but I've been too anxious (!) to take a risk with a new thinker. This vid made me sub.

Wow! There is so much wisdom in your perspective, and you communicate it brilliantly. Excellent work! Thank you!

Damn, as a 24-year-old depressed & anxious ex-Christian, you may have convinced me to go back to church. I never stopped believing in God, but I did stop believing in religion and reading my Bible. I've been stuck in this rut where my mental state gets real bad and I coerce myself out of it through other (ie: unhealthy) means. Then, when said unhealthy habits stop working, I crash back down to the depths. The last time I felt I was okay was when I read my Bible everyday and went to Bible study. I had community and a text that, while I never fully believed it all, kept me sane in a way. I'd rather be religious with Jesus on my mind all the time than extremely depressed with cyclical thoughts of self-deletion.

I'm twenty five years old, I'm single and content with life. No matter what happens we will push forward with courage and confidence. I spend most of my time walking my dog, listening to classical music, opera, 1930s, 40s, 80s music, marching music. I love classical art, classical literature, history and mythology. I don't listen to the media, I just focus on what's important like family, friends and living a good humble life and at some point meeting a lovely lady and starting a family of my own. I think the important thing is to keep calm and carry on, find a balance between technology and the natural world, have good morals values, don't let politics or emotions cloud your judgment and always look at things with an objective and rational view. Feel free to agree or disagree but I thought I'd offer my thoughts on the matter, don't let mental illness or depression get you down. Maybe find a therapist or try something different or find new and exciting hobbies or maybe don't listen to the media all the time, enjoy the beauty of nature and classical art. Broaden your horizons, get a dog to help you and to love, go outside and meet new people.

People are consumed by emotions now and rather avoid than think or embrace underlying issues or how they impact themself or the people around them.

Mouse utopia sounds like a response to population stress. Population stress is very real and has a number of terrible psychological effects on mice and people. The problem was not plenty and having food and needs met. It was over population and a lack of meaning and purpose. There was no struggle to meet their needs. So with nothing to occupy themselves with or way to escape the population stress they went crazy. Sounds like us.

Over reliance on drugs and therapy are seriously damaging society. Through sheer greed weve convinced people that giving hard drugs and hormones (BC pill ect)to kids is not only healthy but beneficial for minor behavioral problem. I cant even count the number of kids i know on Ritalin, which is essentially meth, or on mood stabilizers at 10 that we have no idea how they work. When i was a child i had organizational fixations( later discovered to be asbergers) and was diagnosed as OCD. My doctor predcribed me psychological medication....at 9 years old. Of course as a 9 year old that medication that wasnt needed after all of course started fucking with my head causing a lack of attention ect. So when i was 11 i was diagnosed with ADHD and given ritalin. Which of course fucked up my mood and caused mania and crashes. Which caused me to be diagnosed as bipolar at 13 fucking years old. Which led me to be given anti psychotics and mood stabilizers and caused massive weight gain ballooning me to 400lbs. At 16 i was at the worst mental health of my life, extreme depression suicidal ideation violent thoughts. Finally at 18 once puberty started being controlled i decided enough was enough i wanted to see what being off my prescription felt like and started weaning off. After three weeks of chaos my head was finally clear. I felt great, no longer had mania or depression, no more ticks or organization fixations, no more anger. 10 years later ive never felt better, never been healtheir and ive passed several psych tests with no issues and work constantly in high stress dangerous situations with no issues. I had to deal with obesity and 10 years of suffering because some PHD decided i needed to be drugged up rather than investigate the problem. 10 years of drug induced suffering because a doctor misdiagnosed autism.

Depression when you're poor is very different from depression when you're rich. Melancholy over a girl hits a lot different when you also have to decide between keeping the lights on or eating for a week. The internet in general and social media in specific has made it much worse, to be fair. It's a challenge to be satisfied with what you have when you see some rich dipshit's kid pouring champagne all over expensive escorts and Instagram models on a yacht somewhere in the Mediterranean sea.

an easy thing to see is when you argue about something, anything, with any amount of passion, someone will inevitably say, "Who cares?".

The pipeline goes like so: First one realizes that some behaviors are no different from demonic possession Then one realizes that what causes of these behaviors (demons), more often than not, is breaking ancient teachings Ten one realizes that to cure these behaviors (demons), more often than not, is ancient purification rituals (such as commune, generosity, schedule, exercise, pray/meditation... will these cure schizophrenia? No. Will it help? Yes.) Then one realizes that a certain section of the population is incentivizing the silencing of the teaching and abolishment of the rituals. Then you realize there is no technical differentiation between this section of the population to old school demon cultists. Then you start looking at the past and realize these certain section is constant thought-out history, all across the globe. The last realization is the hardest one, it's when you understand that it's not equivalent to demons, but literal demons. This is what the teachings were about all along. Fools that we are to forget it

I was always troubled by Jung’s Aion where he predicted humans would no longer suffer from material disasters, but rather psychological disasters. This never made sense to me until you explained it. Thank you.

I’m a social studies teacher currently and I can see this writing on the wall. It’s gonna hit the fan. I feel the pull of wanting to do nothing and just waste away too, this job is soul crushing and it’s hard to see much hope in the future, with this generation of kids exhibiting even worse tendencies than my own (25m)

I never really buy the idea that people just "unwittingly lived near their own shit" (as you so poetically put it!). The saying "cleanliness is next to Godliness" has been around for centuries, so I find it hard to believe that people would purposefully live in great steaming piles of muck and grime because they didn't know any better. More likely that they were so busy trying to feed themselves and earn enough money to survive that they scarcely had time to keep things as clinical as they are today.

great vid, hats off, thank you for this info and the time to prepare it

It's hard not to be completely black pilled by your videos, but some how, for some weird reason I always come away feeling better. There is comfort too in not being completely ignorant to our current reality. I feel much less anxious.

It's religion and community. I've never been happier than when I was around families with similar beliefs and sharing food and experiences

Religion, when done correctly, has 1 primary productive function: maintenance of humility (aka prevention of arrogance/entitlement mentality)

Wow, a very insightful video. The mouse experiment example is very eye opening.

The concept "demons in the psyche" is something I've been dying for someone to put into words. Thank you!

This channel is ALWAYS interesting. The only thing I would add is that, IMHO, the thing that led to the greatest breakdown in mental health was the lack of a "stay at home" parent. Since both parents need to work to make it in the US, children are being raised by people with mixed motivations. Parents may not be perfect but they generally want to give their kids the tools and knowledge to do well in society with no other objective or goal in mind. When kids are raised by the Internet or people with mixed objectives, they are weaker for it. They are always pushed to side with a viewpoint without anyone reinforcing their ability to rise above the chatter and chart their own course. If your primary feeling of acceptance comes from "likes" on the Internet then you are totally screwed.

Wow, you clearly articulated the problem, the causes, the reasons for the causes, and the historical equivalents so well. Most PhD dissertations attempt less. I thank you.

I'm 3 times your age, and seeing someone your age who sees things so clearly instills hope in me. Keep going.

Tesla, in words evergreen said: "You will yet live to witness horrors beyond mans comprehension" He stands true

I almost completely agree Rudyard. Up until 5 months ago, I only had some very basic anxiety occasionally and also have been suffering from constant Derealization/Depersonalization for 7 years. It’s never let up, but I learned to live with it. I went out to live my dreams just 5 months ago and had massive panic attacks and became a Hypochondriac and reality questioner over night. Literally, over night. I fell asleep and woke up the next day with intrusive thoughts, intensive fear over dying and disease, and thought I had rabies for a while. Which then switched to cancer, then locked in syndrome, etc etc. I used to be full of life and the daredevil. Always willing to affirm life and kick its ass. Out of nowhere, I developed these issues. The point is, that everyone has a cracking point. I don’t know why I cracked, but I can tell you right now I don’t think I would be if I lived in a healthy time. I’m only 22, I just pray that my anxiety doesn’t last like my derealization has. Just always remember life is a gift, never ever be suicidal because you’ll be dead soon enough anyways. You have all of eternity to be gone, and only such a beautiful short amount of time on this wonderful rock. Love one another, be humble, and find the Lord. God bless to anyone who might take the time to read this.

The issue I see...is called hopelessness. As a boomer, I notice how few people have any hope of a better tomorrow. This could be due to wealth inequality, rejection of accountability, rejection of reasoning, and victim mentality. Good mental health is most noted in those that are motivated by a positive purpose. Being privileged (i.e. wealth/beauty), criminal (unaccountable), deceitful (unreasonable), and entitled (victim mentality) are all negative purposes. Income tax structures of the 1950s and 60s should resolve wealth inequality. Crimes should be punished - well beyond a minor financial fee. Deceit - should be exposed (no more anonymity/coverup). And victims should prove their losses - or suffer punishment for the false accusations. The tools are here to build a better society. Men, time to wake up.

My grandparents lived in a small town in Italy. Grandmother loved the freedom and prosperity here in the U.S. But she wasn't happy with industrial civilization. There was a network of friends in that small town, she didn't seem to have here. One thing I've discovered later in life is to make the best of what I've got. And take pleasure in the little things in life: good food, getting high -in moderation, movies, music, and regular exercise is a good anti--depressent. Excepting the fact that I'm not likely to get rich in my life.

My wife has severe undiagnosed OCD. She is an older Millenial, a few years older than myself. She refuses to get help and I blame her parents for this. I have talked to her parents and her mother recognizes the issue but doesn’t see how bad it is since my wife is skilled at hiding the worst parts. Our kids are constantly shepherded to event to event to keep a structured day. This I agree with make them not be able to live without structure when they are older.

Lost two brothers in less than a year, one to drugs, the other to suicide. My eyes have def opened to whats going on today.

Frankly I think the talk therapy crisis merely reflects the lack of competent therapists. The more "training" they get, the more they want to "fix" their clients using "tools". I've despaired in getting therapy for my distressed daughter. Every therapist is, apart from expensive, not really listening and reflecting. They all "tell" her things. advise. pontificate. oh, and they love CBT. Talking therapy is almost non existent. Carl Rogers would be suicidal.

A good analogy to traditional demons are addictions. You establish a ritualistic behavior tied to reducing anxiety. It helps you relax at first. Then, something happens to you that makes you anxious, and without thinking, you pick up the ritualized behavior to reduce your anxiety. You don't even thinking about stopping yourself. Over time, once this pattern starts interfering in your life in a significant way and you start to create space between the impulse and the ritualized behavior pattern, you realize you are not in as much control of yourself as you'd like. So you could say that an addiction is a demon, because it is distracting you from who you want to be. The addiction takes over without you thinking about it and it takes incredible effort to break out of an addiction.

Bro just accurately diagnosed modern society with suicidal depression, banger

If you know you're crazy you're not crazy. I'm crazy and I know it. Since i know I'm crazy, I'm not crazy, I'm right.

"If wealth caused happiness then celebrities would be the happiest people in the world but we all know that's not true" -- Hollywood used to help keep this a secret by keeping celebrities private lives as private as possible. You'd see actors in the movies and you'd maybe hear from them at the Academy Awards but that's all. Very little contact so that a mystique was created around the actors personality which made them seem larger than life. It was possible to seriously believe wealth caused happiness in such a society.

I really like the comparison of being in something like a black plague right now, but it being so bad we can’t even see it. I completely get and agree with that. At the same time, I think there is way too much pessimism in this comment section. Log off your phones and go get out in the real world and off the internet. The reason anxiety is so high is we are just over thinking everything to death and we aren’t spending enough time together in-person with other people.

Wow! Gen X here. It all seems so bleak. My life so far has been filled with adventure, successes and failures, joys and heartaches, relationships good and bad. I can't say it felt "normal" but it hasn't been bad either, and seems to only improve over time. One thing I feel gives me a lot of joy is pursuing my interests knowing I will struggle and fail at first, but improve through practice. It provides endless chances to discover my interests, meet friendly people, laugh at myself, witness my own skill development and also be able to accept that in some cases, I just don't have it in me; which is also fine. Think of something you'd like to try, from a musical instrument to painting to flying kites, learning to cook, whatever...make a plan to try it, and don't give up too soon. When you find what you love you will become great at it and discover things you never knew about yourself and the world. Even better...when you've developed some skill, teach someone else what you know and share your joy with others. This is how to be happy and content in life.

thank you, i really like the style and complexity, very intelligent thoughts& conclusions- keep it up

Another thing for men's mental health. It's hard to have a really stable mental health when you know your wife can legally divorce any time for no reason and take half of your wealth, and possibly your kids. It's very hard to preserve family wealth in a system like that.

Funnily enough, Jung being one of the pioneers of psychology made it explicit that his works were primarily personal, even if he attempted a scientific endeavor. "Thank god I am Jung and not a Jungian" is a quote ignored by most of his followers, and few went to actually pressure test his work in a clinical settings. You may enjoy the channel Jung to Live by, it delves often into the weakness of modern talk therapy and the reductionism of academic psychology as a field.

I dont hate myself, i hate others around me. And you cant like anything anymore because its all a hyper individualistic competition CONSTANTLY theres never a break from it ever.

I want to say that you are quite gifted at insight and organizing thoughts into a narrative. Definitely subscribed. I’ve watched these issues compound over the course of my life wondering why nobody talked about the growing chaos and destruction of society. Made me despondent and antisocial to say the least. I agree with everything you presented. It’s too far gone to change at this point. Collapse is coming and I think most welcome it until they see what a societal world reset will look like. I’m glad I focused so much on healing my body and developing a wide array of real skills that will help to weather this storm and build a new future. Personal excellence, greatness and perseverance will be needed in the future.

I'm 18 and can corroborate what Rudyard is saying about Gen Z. I went to a halloween party and after about 15 minutes there got too stressed out by trying to talk to people and left. That's partially just me being bad at socializing, but I doubt that this behavior is nearly as uncommon as it should be in a functioning society.

I’ve only gotten about thirty minutes into the video before writing this, but when I see how miserable my life can be(20 white college educated man, single, well read, currently bordering on near insanity from social isolation and extensive drug use that’s addled my brain, addled by relatively extensive trauma, very few close friends, usually go months without having sex yet I’ve had sex more than the vast majority of men in my age group) I find that there’s truly no way to not let the melancholy and bleakness of modern life affect you, besides ignorance and faux-positivism. Faux positivism is worse than the abyss. It is a lie. Ignorance is just ignorance. As stated in the blurb, recently I’ve been bordering, and perhaps sliding into insanity. My mind hasn’t been working correctly and a decent chunk of the time I’m not lucid. This morning I felt extremely nervous, nauseous, paranoid, and dissociated. Occasionally I have moments of near schizophrenia, (hallucinations, voices, irrationality). Living in this world truly kills, though I wouldn’t refer to it as “late stage capitalism” as I feel it’s a doomsday term, the current capitalist system has destroyed society and alienated everyone. The family today is not a close group, my experience with family is sadly the normal. Though my home isn’t broken, my parents teeter between reluctant cohabitation and not speaking to each other for weeks on end. My mother and father both, at multiple points in time have left major psychological impacts on my psyche that have blossomed into major hindrances of my life, and when I compare my experience with others mine is way better than most. Let’s face it, communities today are lame and shallow and do not fulfill any aspect of the inner soul. They’re built on shallow ideals, and are incredibly ineffective as they usually boil down to “you should just be positive”. Positivity and optimism are another form of opium for the masses. Sincerity is the answer, in my opinion and experience. Being sincere to the people who are in your life and building relationships that are worth having will save you whilst also accepting, as ugly as this truth is, your life can very well continue in the relative misery it has been defined by. I’m not gonna say that romantic love is dead, but it’s not faring well and is in rough shape. There is no blueprint for this, humans are randomly evolved animals, consciousness is a coincidence. Before self determination in romantic relationships, most women were subjected to daily rapes by someone they were forced to marry. However, in the same way that communities are lame and shallow and possess little to nothing, so are most relationships. Many are about satisfying sexual urges. Many are right place right time and have very little substance. Many are because of trends(see tik tok trends for tall skinny boyfriends, white women dating black men(further footnote: I am not espousing racist views with this, plenty of white women date black men for the trend, look at any college campus)). Love isn’t preordained either, there isn’t someone just waiting there for you. There are no stars that align, there is no fate. There is simply coincidence, and to be happy you have to take those chances. For example, I’m currently in a partnership, however it’s a near entirely online thing. I’ve seen her in person once. The first chance I get I will take it with her, because she is very important to me and having her in my life makes it that much better. The final thing that I will say is crucial for not putting a bullet in your head is abandoning expectations and hope. Our generation was sold a false bill of goods in childhood, and since pretty much most aspects of western(I’m an American so this may be different) culture are built off of an either constant living in or a nostalgia of childhood, when the world doesn’t line up to our childish ideals, everything falls apart or we choose to delude ourselves and continue living in this faux world. Abandon those expectations, even abandon the idea that you will be happy and you will lose about half of the desire to kill yourself.