Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Depression is one of the most poorly understood conditions on the planet. All experts weigh in on what the cause is and cures of this situation is, but the thing is, is that most of what they say is all over the map. And often, is contradictory. And this can lead to people who are suffering from depression, feeling even more depressed. Before I get into this episode, because I'm going to weigh in, on what actually is causing depression how to cure it, I have to say that depression is not a character flaw, depression is not a weakness and it is not something that people should be ashamed of. What if I told you that you could understand depression, if you understood a single sentence. I'm gonna give you that sentence now, and I'm going to actually use the remainder of this episode to fully explain this in depth, as well as what to do about it. The sentence is this: There is a big difference between resisting futility, and accepting futility. Depression Everything that you feel has a cause. Dysfunctional brain chemicals or imbalance of brain chemicals, is not a cause, it's a symptom. You have to understand that, before we go deeper into the actual cause of depression. We are creators at our core. What I mean by that is that we are designed to come into our physical time-space reality and to create the life we specifically want. If we can't do this, then how we feel is that we cannot create personal expansion, we cannot fulfill our needs and we cannot fulfill our desires. This defies the entire purpose of even being here. Basically when we can't do this, we feel completely powerless. Depression is caused by a situation in our life (or many) being something where no matter how many times we try and try and try, we cannot cause it to turn into what we want, and what would meet our needs. Therefore we feel it is futile. Futility and depression are synonymous. Now what you will find is that life is relationships. If you're talking about your "work life" what you're really talking about is the relationship that you have to the people you work with, bosses, colleagues, any of the above. When you're talking about "home life", what you're really talking about is also relationships, but this time with parents, siblings, children, spouse... And here's the thing, even when you're talking about a futile situation that has to do with you, that's still a relationship. It's a relationship between two parts of you. It's: "I feel futility about the part of me that continues to behave in this way." It's still a relationship. So, Fundamentally, if we go even deeper and we drill this down to the root of the root, this is what depression is about. This futility of depression, is that you perceive that in order for something to become what you want and need, you need cooperation from other people involved in this situation or other parts of yourself. Because you can't create it or change it by yourself or despite yourself. But they will not collaborate and cooperate. Therefore this incapacity to change the situation, because you can't do anything about it, makes your self-esteem go out the window. And you perceive yourself to be forced to surrender to the tortured endedness, of the fact that your life is suffering. This is pure futility. It is terrifying to learn that you cannot make someone take your best interest as part of their own, and collaborate toward you feeling good in a given situation. This causes anxiety. But this anxiety is simply the first phase before someone hits a sense of futility. But this is what makes depression, depression. When you hit that phase of futility, Instead of accepting that futility, you resist it. Part of you does not give up. Even though you see it's futile. Now what this does, because you're so heavily identified, with that part that is so separated from what you really want and really need, is almost like you're not lost in the darkness, you are the darkness. To comprehend the way this works, I want you to imagine somebody who is in front of a gate, and this gate is blocking them from getting to a village that they really want to get into. Now this person will try every way that they can possibly try to get through this gate and into the village, until it dawns on them, that it isn't happening. It's futile. At this point they sit down. But what they do sitting down, is they emotionally resist the fact that that gate is closed. Because in them there's actually a hope that even though it's completely out of their control, one day, maybe, it might happen. Basically, that suffering and darkness is just something you have to hang on through. Now all of this is done as opposed to accepting the futility of the situation and going to find another village. What you have to see is that part of you is not willing to let go completely. You refuse to cut your losses. You're so tied to the images of how you need something to be, that you won't give up on it. This resistance to the futility itself, is what makes you so exhausted all the time. And also keeps you stuck in futility. Because you live in a time-space reality based on the law of mirroring. Whatever you resist persists. Now people who are suffering from depression when they really look at this dynamic of depression, come up with reasons why they can't cut their losses. But what they have to do, in fact, to even get out of depression is to realize that it's actually a choice. There's a big difference between: "I can't" and "I choose not to." a lot of times when we say "can't" it just means that I literally am in a situation where it feels like so much of a lose-lose that it's not really a choice even though it is. But here's the thing; No one knows better than me, that you have completely valid reasons to never be able to cut your losses. But the thing is, is you also have to see that it keeps you powerless forever. It's critical to become aware of just what you are so attached to that you can't let go of. By accepting that it will never come to be. What are you afraid will happen, if you accept it is and always will be futile? It's at this point that it's worth it to mention that some people actually use depression, as a way of avoiding suicide. I know that's funny, cuz most people think depression leads to suicide, but actually depression is a way of avoiding suicide, for as long as it works. because of this; Most people are afraid that if they really cut their losses