There are things about thinking I’m really fond of. But not worrying. Worrying is perhaps the stupidest form of thinking we humans engage in. It can turn a perfectly fine situation into torture. It rarely helps-benefits anyone. It saps strength. And yet we do it all the time, from almost undetectably to dramatically. There is a huge difference between being aware of potential harm and worrying about it.
Is worrying built into the anatomy and physiology of the brain? GPT says it is:
GPT
Worrying is tied to the anatomy and physiology of the brain, specifically to structures involved in emotions, stress response, and higher-order thinking. Key areas include:
Amygdala: This region is crucial for processing emotions, especially fear and anxiety. It’s part of the brain’s threat-detection system, triggering responses to perceived danger. Overactivity in the amygdala is associated with heightened anxiety and worry.
Prefrontal Cortex (PFC): This part of the brain is responsible for decision-making, planning, and regulating emotions. The PFC helps regulate worry by assessing threats and helping the brain determine whether a situation truly warrants concern. When the PFC is underactive or overwhelmed, it can struggle to manage worry effectively.
Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC): This area is involved in regulating emotions and detecting conflicts. It helps you manage feelings of worry by moderating emotional responses and helping you focus attention. Dysfunction in this area can lead to overthinking or excessive worry.
Hippocampus: The hippocampus is important for memory formation. It interacts with the amygdala to help recall past stressful or dangerous situations. If it’s more active when recalling negative memories, this can contribute to persistent worry or rumination.
Hypothalamus and the HPA Axis: The hypothalamus triggers the release of stress hormones like cortisol via the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This system governs the body’s response to stress. Overactivation of the HPA axis, often in response to chronic worry or anxiety, can lead to a heightened state of physiological stress.
Worrying is essentially the brain’s attempt to anticipate and solve problems, but when these circuits become dysregulated, worry can spiral into anxiety. Certain factors like genetics, life experiences, and even disorders like OCD can heighten this response.
Doing all I can to prepare for or prevent what I worry about happening is not the way I want to live, so worrying is the price I pay for living with little or no preparation or prevention. Realizing this, I do more preparation and prevention until I realize I can only do so much to prepare for or prevent the unpredictable.
All anyone can do is be alert and attentive, and when being less than alert and attentive, take a nap.
We may be aware of the need to be alert and attentive, and yet we still worry. Seems hard-wired into our operating system, not an add-on. LIke having a psyche. I reckon living with psychological time always involves some degree of worrying.
A lot of worrying is tied to ‘me’; what will happen to me ? (Or mine) So, much of worry is psychological then. What happens to worry if the self-image dissolves? If we do one day also discover that, “we are the world”…is that the end also of worry?
The freer you are from the self image, the less you are likely to worry. I am speaking from theory here, since I am not terribly free from my self image. Less likely to worry about your self and others and the world.
Images are at the heart of worrying. Problem is they’re at the heart of everything for us human thinkers, pleasurable and painful. Living free from images would be a whole different ballgame!
is one part of my activity as a thinking human to fulfill ?
to bring the past into the future
to conquer the moment for its (my) needs .
worry about that activity
Being worried is an anticipation of something that may or may not happen. Not being worried means for many people “You don’t care about anything!”, which for them represents something that is wrong (like “if you are not jealous it is because you don’t love your partner”).
Now, we could start by asking ourselves why the self, the “me”, needs that anticipation. Or if there is a middle ground where there is neither worry nor total unconcern.
For example, let’s say I have decided to take a trip to an area at risk for infectious diseases. Does taking precautions (vaccinations, medications, etc.) mean that I am worried? Now, let’s say I have already arrived there and I only take precautions when the situation requires it, and for some reason I have contracted the disease, does that mean a lack of concern/worry?
Now, let’s say that every day I take a look at the world news, and I have the feeling that the world could be on the verge of a generalized confrontation. If I worry, is it the situation that worries me, or is it something else? On the other hand, many people don’t watch the news anymore because according to them “it’s depressing, and it’s all misfortune”. Is that a lack of concern?
p.s.:
If there’s a remedy when trouble strikes,
What reason is there for dejection?
And if there is no help for it,
What use is there in being glum?Shantideva’s Bodhicharyavatara - Chapter on patience, verse 10
Along similar lines is The Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Krishnamurti:
This is my secret, I don’t mind what happens.
The Senility Prayer
God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway
The good fortune to run into the ones that I do
And the eyesight to tell the difference
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This is my secret: I don’t believe him.
If Krishnamurti didn’t mind all the evil, harm, and destruction we humans do, he wouldn’t have been devoted to bringing an end to it.
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In that quote @rickScott posted, Krishnamurti was talking about himself, not about what the ignorance of human beings “gifts” to the world…
‘My secret is I don’t mind what happens’ All Krishnamurti meant by saying so was that the result of what he said or did was accepted by him no matter whether he succeeded or failed because he always did his best when saying or doing something. He worried about many things, and he should worry, of course, when things depended on other people’s behaviour. We know, for example , he worried about the future of the schools or about I Gandhi’s life (the Indian prime minister).
This secret of his implied that if no one cared enough to feed, clothe, and shelter him for what he had to say, he would have no reason to live and would not mind dying.
What’s interesting about this is that we expect to have the necessities of life in exchange for our labor or talent, or by begging. We care about what happens to us because we know we’re worth as much as we can do for others, and that we can be replaced, discarded, and find ourselves desperately seeking the necessities of life because we’re afraid of dying.
Krishnamurti had no doubt that he existed to talk about the human condition, and that he would not mind dying if no one wanted to hear what he had to say.
Why would anyone who has died to the world worry about whatever happens in the world?
For the same reason you will not neglect your drug addicted son/daughter even if you know there is nothing you can do to end his/her addiction. It’s compassion, not “worry.”
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