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[–] chirogonemd 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago  (edited ago)

It can be simplified even more than this: decide what the right way to live is. And live it. Face the persecution it brings upon you, and endure it. Live for something that has meaning.

That's not to say forget the revolution, and forget protectionism. It is to say that regardless of whether that revolution happens, what is important and meaningful is that you personally (and as many people as your example can convince) have begun to live righteously, according to what your definition of that is.

Cultivate your mind, and your body, try to live outside of the evil of the system as much as you can (that is, become self-sufficient as possible), and be an example. That is what you live for. You have to be able to know that what you're doing does have meaning, and it is important. Are you living for something? Or are you living just to live? The answer to that question puts the idea of the revolution in the right context. If the revolution happens and it is favorable for you, wonderful. If it doesn't, and fate is that you are defeated, then you go to your grave (or wherever it is you are going) knowing that you lived righteously and justly.

Getting over depression actually involves taking on that obligation. You must obligate yourself to something, which creates a metaphysical responsibility. You aren't living on your terms anymore. Your life has an obligation to something that transcends you. You have to believe that. The trouble with depression, as I see it, is when people allow the world out there (the Matrix) to chip away at them, causing them to question the significance of their way of life, and perhaps whether they are crazy and have it all wrong, or maybe even that they are "running" from reality. This is where I see Christians, especially, falter.

Read the Beatitudes (Christ's Sermon on the Mount). He addresses this specifically. He points to the people that will have the "good life" in this life, and the standards they set for others by which to judge your life, i.e the standards by which society will find you "wanting". That will bring you shame and persecution. It's this social rejection that I think makes people lose their way, and become depressed. They ultimately cave to the Matrix so they can lead socially acceptable lives and pursue the things that society tells them are good, creating a dissonance in themselves between what they want, and what they think they should want.

But what does Jesus say about the people with the "good life" in this life. He says something MASSIVELY IMPORTANT:

He says, "They have their reward."

He repeats this many times, and it is very significant. He is saying their success here in this life IS the reward. They have their reward. It also assumes that this is the extent of their reward. It's here, and it will be gone, because it is fleeting like all of this is fleeting. It also implies that the depression and shame you endure here has a different kind of reward someplace else and at some other time. Your reward isn't in this life.

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[–] lanre 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

This is a great answer. I've gained a lot more respect for the first Christians after gaining just a tiny bit of perspective of what they must've gone through. And they still didn't give up.