Faith and Depression

The first thing that needs to be covered, even before covering depression, is faith. One of the first misteps is confusing happiness with Christian Joy.

Happines is, as a great many people throughout history have observed, short-lived. As defined in this series of posts, happiness must be short-lived. It is a human pursuit (the United States’ Declaration of Independence discusses this briefly). It is a human pursuit precisely because it is short-lived.

An example would be stories told at a wake. The (living) participants would be in the midst of grieving, but a funny or happy story is told. Everyone smiles and is happy either listening to the tale, or recalling it from their own memories. However, the grieving hasn”t stopped, but a brief, superficial, surge of happiness is experienced.

Another example would be a devoted loving married couple, who have just had a fight. The love and devotion of the marriage hasn”t changed, but is overlain with anger. Once the anger disapates, the underlying love and devotion has not changed.

The lesson here is not to apply a single emotion across multiple emotional or relational levels. Or put another way, don”t simplify the complex, and don’t define human emotions as simple.