Picking A Quote and Running With It

I stumbled across the following quote by Jim Morrison during my travels around the blogosphere today. I can't believe that I have never come across this before. The quote is probably older than I am given that Jim Morrison passed away a year after I was born. The quote in its entirety is:

People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that's bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they're afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they're wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It's all in how you carry it. That's what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you're letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.

Let's see. What do I agree with here?

People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all.

Oh hell yes! I can certainly relate to that sentence. Like I think I have mentioned in a previous post, this whole dissociation thing probably has a lot to do with me being afraid of my feelings and thus not wanting to experience them. As for reality, well, I can definitely take or leave mine. Personal realities are infinitely tiring.

Feelings are disturbing.

Yes, they suck!

Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you're letting society destroy your reality.

Mmmm. Don't we all hide our feelings to some degree? I know I certainly do. I've learnt that generally people just don't want to know about them. If you let people know your true feelings you are effectively burdening them with something that they would rather not deal with. I've learnt a hard lesson when it comes to sharing feelings with others. People don't mind listening for a while but they soon tire of it. It's better to keep things to yourself. In fact, I am still learning to keep my mouth shut. I definitely need to get better at that. That's why we keep our social masks so closely at hand, so we can slip the appropriate mask on when in danger of sharing too much of what is going on in our heads.

Having said all that, I think that if we always hold back on sharing with others, we damage ourselves somehow. It's a delicate line to tread. As humans, aren't we social animals? Aren't we meant to share with others?

As for all the love and pain references in the quote, I'm not sure where I stand. Yes, love seems to be painful. It certainly confuses the hell out of me. At one time I used to believe that through our pain and experiences we could reach our full potential and gain wisdom. I'm not so sure of that viewpoint anymore. It no longer sits right with me.

Anyway, that's enough inane rambling from me today. Too much thinking is bad for your health. I had a health professional tell me once that depression is a thinking person's disease. How right she was. Maybe the people who enjoy good mental health are those that don't think deeply about anything and everything. They just don't care. They travel their life paths automatically and shallowly.

Oh gawd, I need to shut up. I'm sounding like I am on something. Actually, its more correct to say that I am not on something. Silly me didn't take my Seroquel last night. Oops!