What do you know about apathy?

[PhoenixAndTheAbyss]

Hi guys,

If you feel like sharing, I'd appreciate hearing what you know aboutâ€♥ apathy.

P.S. ...a year has passed already? I hope all is good.

Phoenix

â€♥ know about/know of/are fairly certain of/have reason to believe/have experienced/your thoughts on

[DarkChylde]

Apathy has many variants and we can't make singularity unless you illustrate your query with an example.

Apathy , in it's clinically encountered form is often , listless , exhausted , non-concerned and "simply going through motions" of daily life , an example that comes to mind is that of young mothers , they often give an apathetic feel , they have lost so much sleep from the baby crying all night , from changing diapers and feeding , from the baby's health issues , endless burping , gas , colics , jaundice, diaper rash , fever - that they are over whelmed and soon turn on their "auto pilot mode".Mothers with in-laws and cooperative husbands do not give off that strong of an "automaton vibe".This is functional apathy.

Apathy doesn't always stem from exhaustion and there are other causes too , like medication , a lot of medication for psychotic disorders essentially lobotomizes emotion , but not just that , medication for depression can too sometimes result in what we call the "zombie effect" or "spock effect" - negation of emotion. potent SSRIs like paroxetine can have this effect .Negation of emotion or induced apathy works as "bridge" allowing the person to function without breaking down from the force of emotion , however that emotion stems , tragedy and depression being two foremost examples.

Apathy is also a distinct human response necessary for survival (watering down immensely tragic emotion that would interfere with everyday life , like driving , making food or answering when talked to) , a severe form of this is seen in Dissociative Disorder , an apathetic response so amplified that the patient is not only separated from their emotion but becomes a "distant outside observer".Pathological amplification of apathy is just as devastating as the dearth of it.

People turn apathetic from time to time (we all do , it's human emotion).A lot of people when they need to escape reality become apathetic , a young adult after having been in love breaks up and cannot immediately process the pain of current emotion chooses apathy as their default mode (not talking to friends , constantly watching drama serials non-stop , not answering mail and cooping inside the house).This applies to other more emotionally painful situations too, like loss of a spouse or death of an offspring - people simply "shut down" for a while and turn off emotion till they are better capable of processing it.

Another variant of apathy is being "jaded" , a jaded person simply stops reacting to different stimuli , jadedness again has various reasons but the prime feature here is that being in the same situation , job , status , having same friends , following the same route from work ,etc , becomes so monotonous that the person refuses to process them as special circumstance and has the same apathetic reaction elsewhere as well.
ER surgeons are very jaded people , any other person in their shoes after seeing fountains of blood gushing out , severed limbs , fractures where bones are sticking out etc would "freak out" , here a jaded ER person through repetition of circumstance simply goes about their job as nothing big is happening.

Apathy personally to me in it's true form happens when I'm very sick , like say so sick I can't even get out of bed , here all manner of thoughts and worry simply cease and a sense of "absolute nothingness" takes place.I think the body is so busy repairing itself that it simply shuts down unnecessary thoughts in the brain so that it can continue with the urgent work of making critical repairs elsewhere in the body (the necessity or requirement of one function takes precedence over another) .I as a person tend to think a lot so whenever an apathetic state comes about I can notice it keenly , and in such dire sickness it is most obvious.

Spiritual "apathy" can stem from many causes too , a lot of people think the sanskrit word "samadhi" means "special faculty gained through devout practice" , such as say the opening of the third eye after spiritual work , but "samadhi" infact means "perfect equilibrium" a state of equanimity so perfect the person only thinks of or about what is essential to them at that very moment , this allows them to direct energy at other areas of the brain that grant them other skills (much like how if in an autistic child you block one set of mental function , they gain access to other , like accessing parts of the brain that gives them telepathy).
This is a hallmark of many Transcended Masters , they sit in meditation all day and are only disturbed when needed , from an outside perspective that's extreme apathy , but to them it's a whole other ball game.

[PhoenixAndTheAbyss]

Wow, DarkChylde, I have to say I'm impressed by the volume of your reply. I'm about to knock-off for the day but I wanted to say thank you very much.

[DarkChylde]

you're welcome :-).

[CFTraveler]

Yep, I liked it too. ;)

[PhoenixAndTheAbyss]

I'm wondering if anyone has some tips to help me understand where my apathy comes from (and other emotions too, why not?). I don't think I know how, I mean I know the roots of some of my day-to-day behaviors but it seems like I dont need to try to understand those, it just happens when it needs to. Is it the nature of apathy that makes this process difficult? Do I need to stay receptive to the answer for longer before moving on just in case the answer is taking a while to arrive(from the depths? Oooh, so spooky).

I was recently listening to something from Adyashanti, in it he was talking about how to work out what you value. He talked about our actions(inaction too, I suppose) containing truths about what we really value(having greater strength over what we think we value). It seems almost obvious, but speaking personally it's not an easy thing to recognise unless you aren't in the habit of judging yourself on your actions (value judgments), which is a way we distance ourselves from well, ourselves (guilty). Some of what we value is subconcious, almost instinctual things like not taking risks driving because we value our lives, or not speaking in front of large groups of people because it causes anxiety. I bring this up because I have been talking about apathy like it is a force distinct from me, I'm aware it's not really, and given the above, I think a good explanation for the apathy I feel is because of something or somethings I value of which I'm not totally aware, or I just forgot the reasons for sometime ago. Thoughts?

DC, I think I match closely with your passage on the person who is escaping reality, I especially remember veging out watching tonnes of movies and series' when I was most under preasure in the past. Not seeing friends(and family) and staying cooped up, match my past and current behaviors too.

I think there was something else I wanted to mention but it has slipped my mind so that is all for now. Before I go, I want to send my gratitude for having this forum to come and spill my beans on, thanks guys.

[Timothy]

I'm wondering if anyone has some tips to help me understand where my apathy comes from (and other emotions too, why not?). I don't think I know how, I mean I know the roots of some of my day-to-day behaviors but it seems like I dont need to try to understand those, it just happens when it needs to. Is it the nature of apathy that makes this process difficult? Do I need to stay receptive to the answer for longer before moving on just in case the answer is taking a while to arrive(from the depths? Oooh, so spooky).

I was recently listening to something from Adyashanti, in it he was talking about how to work out what you value. He talked about our actions(inaction too, I suppose) containing truths about what we really value(having greater strength over what we think we value). It seems almost obvious, but speaking personally it's not an easy thing to recognise unless you aren't in the habit of assigning a value judgment to yourself based on your actions. It is a way we distance ourselves from well, ourselves (guilty as charged). Some of what we value is subconcious, almost instinctual things like not taking risks driving because we value our lives, or not speaking in front of large groups of people because it causes anxiety. I bring this up because I have been talking about apathy like it is a force distinct from me, I'm aware it's not really, and given the above, I think a good explanation for the apathy I feel is because of something or somethings I value of which I'm not totally aware, or I just forgot the reasons for sometime ago. Thoughts?

DC, I think I match closely with your passage on the person who is escaping reality, I especially remember veging out watching tonnes of movies and series' when I was most under preasure in the past. Not seeing friends(and family) and staying cooped up, match my past and current behaviors too.

I think there was something else I wanted to mention but it has slipped my mind so that is all for now. Before I go, I want to send my gratitude for having this forum to come and spill my beans on, thanks guys.

Hiya Phoenix,

I'll be on the lookout for your spilled beans, and if you see my lost marbles up in here ... please do let me know. ;)

[Dreamweaver]

Hi Pheonixandtheabyss -

Apathy as I understand it is a state of not having the energy to care. In a way, it is the opposite of love and desire. Apathy can be a symptom of the death instinct or thanatos - as in sometimes people become apathetic when they have plateaued developmentally, when they lose the drive to achieve, life dulls their curiosity, they've lost their muse, their spark. They are just going through the motions, waiting for *something* looking to be "sparked."

In my opinion, aliveness or eros is a state of being "sparked," curious, being present, engaged, interested, invested, desiring, striving....

People have patterns, cycles that they move psychologically or spiritually within. Life-death, energy-apathy, eros-thanatos, striving-resting. The continuum of opposites is the foundation of manifestation. Apathy exists within a pair of opposites that defines a continuum of manifesting potential.

My 2 cents

PS- having read the thread DC has good insight into what apathy is and where it comes from. I think it may be possible, Pheonixandtheabyss, to overthink a thing. All you have to do is let yourself feel. Connect the feelings to your thoughts to your behaviors in response to events you experience. Then you'll know what you need to know.

[PhoenixAndTheAbyss]

Thanks Dreamweaver, I liked the different influences in your response, I just lost an hour on wikipedia reading about greek mythology. It's easy to get lost in that world.

I think I may be overthinking things too. :-) Funnily enough it comes easier than anything else.

Oh, and Timothy I'll certainly be on the lookout for those marbles.

[IA56]

I have lost myself in apathy when I loose my feeling about life.
When I loose my knowing about that life is valuable without me doing anything but breath.
When I remember that I have a choice, what side I feed...the positive or negative.
When apathy has come I have bean feeding only the negative.
Sometime I have a need to be negative but it has a huge prize to pay, and it will take time to start to feed the positive and
it will not make the change at once, but when I am presistence to feed the positive it will turn around and I again will
remember the value of live that I am still here and that live do not ask for me to achive any big things but to let love
invade me and breath it out into the existence....To love life is what all is about.

Love
ia

[PhoenixAndTheAbyss]

Thank you ia. :redface:

[Timothy]

Life experientially moving along...gathers in...toward readiness. There are many deaths to within a life span, each one episodically living ... awaiting it's peak.

Lucky... http://youtu.be/jPKuI5FGTks

When you are full are you yet hungry? If your thirst is quenched are you still thirsty?

Do the pangs cry out for answer? No...there is Apathy...like a nap after fulness. FedUp

Trepidation & Anticipation
Antagonistic & Protagonistic
Push & Pull

Times Like These... http://youtu.be/MNTUzmaSRSM

The Making of Love (((Gathering In))) begins after having reached the outpouring purgation of Climax, Falling from Life's Precipice and(et) into the leading of The Next... )))Giving Out(((.

...OXOXOXOXOXOXOXO...

Inward either way The Way... leads to The Kiss ... Philemon

Oven... http://youtu.be/zmjH907nkHk

Kick The Tires & Light The Fires

Lonely Soul... http://youtu.be/5TSH6OmO-Dw

The Kingdom Of Heaven Will Be Taken In Violence.

Enough IS Enough, and(et) Quite Enough IS

Don't merely go ...JUST... keep coming...

In A State... http://youtu.be/74FIQpnXvyU
960
Ref. 2Timothy4:7; Mark10:18; Luke18:19

Motion & Repose
Labored In & Of Borne

In The Oven

When The Pilot IS Lit...Your Life Will BE...The Turn On That Passionately Aflame ...IS... Truly You.

Awakening Pon The Nap of The Earth...To Thine Own (De-Bunked) Self Be True

Making FEAR your Friend, That in the least ...You Are... Unafraid of Being Afraid... Within The Living of Your Life... As You.
961
962
Far Side of The Moon

[ButterflyWoman]

I'm wondering if anyone has some tips to help me understand where my apathy comes from
Just as a guess, it's probably a learned defence mechanism. You, like all human beings, had stuff in your life, starting in childhood, that upset you, overwhelmed you, frightened you, whatever. We all find ways to deal with that stuff. My mother learned (and has never bothered to un-learn) not to think too much, not to put two and two together. I used to dissociate quite deeply, and I used humour and my quick wit to deflect when I could. My husband just went into his shell like a turtle and was pretty much oblivious to social/emotional things that he couldn't deal with. These habits stay with us, even if we identify them and learn new ways to cope.

The problem with addressing and getting rid of these things is you're left vulnerable for a while, and also, when you take away the apathy or the dissociation or the ignorance or the oblivion or whatever, you have to deal with ALL the stuff you were avoiding by using those deflections. So it's tricky business, to say the least. It also takes a great deal of courage and determination.

Note that this is all very general, and I make no assumptions about you or your life. I'm just speaking from many years of experience and observation of human behaviours.

[Timothy]

Just as a guess, it's probably a learned defence mechanism. You, like all human beings, had stuff in your life, starting in childhood, that upset you, overwhelmed you, frightened you, whatever. We all find ways to deal with that stuff. My mother learned (and has never bothered to un-learn) not to think too much, not to put two and two together. I used to dissociate quite deeply, and I used humour and my quick wit to deflect when I could. My husband just went into his shell like a turtle and was pretty much oblivious to social/emotional things that he couldn't deal with. These habits stay with us, even if we identify them and learn new ways to cope.

The problem with addressing and getting rid of these things is you're left vulnerable for a while, and also, when you take away the apathy or the dissociation or the ignorance or the oblivion or whatever, you have to deal with ALL the stuff you were avoiding by using those deflections. So it's tricky business, to say the least. It also takes a great deal of courage and determination.

Note that this is all very general, and I make no assumptions about you or your life. I'm just speaking from many years of experience and observation of human behaviours.

Outstandinding!!!! My life is a constant continuum of gathering from my self-perpetuating disasters. Apparently I am a pure idiot. Self-honesty is about all one has ... when ya come right down to "it". At least if ya own your own...ya can freely give it out. Maybe that's all there is...after all. Perhaps the greatest understanding of all is that most all of life... simply cannot be understood. At some juncture it becomes too unavoidably apparent that standing under one's honest to god own ...is about all ya ever got. The caterpillar that's always the bahavioral predecessor of every butterfly's dreams that habitually fly none-the-less. :)

[ButterflyWoman]

The caterpillar that's always the bahavioral predecessor of every butterfly's dreams that habitually fly none-the-less. :)
Unfortunately, caterpillars may not even be aware that it's possible to be a butterfly. And metamorphosis is a long, slow, probably painful process (it is for some of us, anyway).

[PhoenixAndTheAbyss]

Thanks Timothy and BW, and everybody. I realise I didn't make it clear at the begining that I was asking for my own personal reasons so I'm sorry if you felt like I did the ol' bait and switch. I really appreciate you all taking the time to share your thoughts. :-)

I guess I tried to avoid the shame I felt by distancing this from "me". It's been easier to point to something and say "Hey, that is the problem and it wont go away, I've even given it a name".

Moving forward, it looks like I need to explore myself a bit, start asking questions again and build up an attitude of openness and honesty, to bring the apathetic parts of myself back to a place of awareness and understanding. I need to take responsibility for them so I can feel whole again. Perhaps then I can begin to change...

Thanks again guys,
Phoenix

[Timothy]

Thanks Timothy and BW, and everybody. I realise I didn't make it clear at the begining that I was asking for my own personal reasons so I'm sorry if you felt like I did the ol' bait and switch. I really appreciate you all taking the time to share your thoughts. :-)

I guess I tried to avoid the shame I felt by distancing this from "me". It's been easier to point to something and say "Hey, that is the problem and it wont go away, I've even given it a name".

Moving forward, it looks like I need to explore myself a bit, start asking questions again and build up an attitude of openness and honesty, to bring the apathetic parts of myself back to a place of awareness and understanding. I need to take responsibility for them so I can feel whole again. Perhaps then I can begin to change...

Thanks again guys,
Phoenix

Phoenix,

How You treat your Self is everything. How You would have your Self treated by You is just as important, if not more, than how You would have others treat You.

963

Me my Self & I <~ I inwardly responsive through my Self am receiving accountability of everything that is Me.

As if to say that You through the auspices of your Self are accepting this Me of yours as a Ward under your responsible custody, understanding tutelage and patient care. LOVE

964

In that your Me is everything, understand that most of which Me has to reveal does not belong to Me. As to say, a child has in its hand something to show You, and You are to determine what this object is and to what extent, if any, that it might belong to Me. "Does this belong to Me?"

"If You dont belong, then don't be long"

The translation of what "I" is or isn't...is where "Thou" begins within the ends of that which does not belong to Me.

In other words, your Self is your translation, That which through <~> All things (everything) within your self-relating are/is trans-lated.

Shakespeare said...much ado about nothing.

Jesus said, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.

Statements like these tell us that it's not a matter of losing everything, but rather, it's a matter of patiently understanding that nothing is our's to begin with, this even as everything as translatable is ours to trans-late to within our uniquely given relationships with/within everything that is our Me.

Me is the re-membrance to your constituent body of, within which do You reside. The body of is withal to within...your everything translatable.
~
Falling out of the tree...standing up firmly grounded....

What I think matters very little; What I imagine to know amounts as nothing; What I may begin to understand is where these two ends well meet to within my hearted trust. Y

965

I Surrender All That I Am To You, That You In Turn May Reveal To Me What Everything Truly Is Just For Me.
~
[Me my Self & I] = The Body Of You

I pray You find the Fourth, That You as Re-Presentative Whole to your body of...might ask, "What now may We say of Our Self?"

[ButterflyWoman]

I guess I tried to avoid the shame I felt by distancing this from "me". It's been easier to point to something and say "Hey, that is the problem and it wont go away, I've even given it a name".
Totally understand that. Been there, done that (I have been known to lapse into apathy/depression on occasion. Used to be quite severe at times. Now it's not really an issue, thankfully.)


Moving forward, it looks like I need to explore myself a bit, start asking questions again and build up an attitude of openness and honesty, to bring the apathetic parts of myself back to a place of awareness and understanding. I need to take responsibility for them so I can feel whole again. Perhaps then I can begin to change...
Absolutely. This is a huge step, and a huge realisation. :)