Awareness Reuptake Inhibitors

A patient goes to his doctor complaining his life feels futile and pointless. The friendly physician is eager to help. She can offer drugs that inhibit reuptake of various neurotransmitters. But perhaps the neurotransmitters are working just fine, and the unfortunate patient has simply discovered the truth.

A life worth living is a life spent pursuing virtue and wisdom. Such a life demands we seek virtuous teachers who can impart the wisdom accumulated by the human race. The depressed patient has finally figured out he is squandering his life. He obeys unwise rulers during the day. He is entertained by unwise athletes and actors in the evening. He gives no attention to moral and intellectual improvement. Having realized something is wrong, he goes to a doctor he perceives to be wise. But that doctor, instead of assigning the reading material that would help the unfortunate patient begin to understand and criticize the false ideologies around which he organizes his life, gives him a drug that will get him to fall submissively back into line, and proclaim the false ideologies with ever renewed vigor.

The idea that we should spend our leisure time entertaining and amusing ourselves represents a senseless squandering of the potential of human mind and spirit. All time and energy left after taking care of our needs for food and shelter should be devoted to moral and intellectual improvement. When we're too tired for that, we should cultivate mental silence and prayer.

The idea that human beings can own property is an illusion, on par with other superstitions in the pagan society where it originated. The Roman Empire required slaves and citizens to worship the pagan gods. Today our rulers demand we squander our lives producing baubles and trinkets to pamper the vanity of the rich and powerful. We might have been improving ourselves by studying, meditating and praying, but instead we slave away producing the symbols of ostentatious wealth.

The watchword of the new science of behavioral health is "adapt." The patient who adapts his behavior to the prevailing norms is considered healthy. The one who fails to adapt is sick and must be cured. The great saints and sages knew the societies to which they were asked to adapt were vile and unconscionable. To adapt would be to sacrifice all that was highest in themselves. Jesus didn't adapt to the hypocrisy and greed of the Pharisees. The Buddha didn't adapt to the superstition and narcissism of the Brahmins.

A life spent in pursuit of vanity, comfort and pleasure, even if that pursuit is successful, is a wasted life. Those of us who wake up and discover this should be going to the library and checking out books that will help us understand the illusions that rule our lives. Instead our doctors offer us medicines to sedate us, so we can return to the false ideology that keeps our futile and pointless lives in motion.

If inhibiting the reuptake of one or more neurotransmitters could help me study, meditate and pray more effectively, I would have no objection. But if it's merely helping me avoid awareness of the superficiality and vanity of my existence, it's a form of inhibition I would be better off without.