Inner Hollowness

Yesterday, I read a book on depression "Lost Connections" by Johann Hari. The following paragraph really made me wonder:

"Today they are all around us. Some one in five U.S. adults is taking at least one drug for a psychiatric problem; nearly one in four middle-aged women in the United States is taking antidepressants at any given time; around one in ten boys at American high schools is being given a powerful stimulant to make them focus; and addictions to legal and illegal drugs are now so widespread that the life expectancy of white men is declining for the first time in the entire peacetime history of the United States.

These effects have radiated out across the Western world: for example, as you read this, one in three French people is taking a legal psychotropic drug such as an antidepressant, while the UK has almost the highest use in all of Europe. You can't escape it: when scientists test the water supply of Western countries, they always find it is laced with antidepressants, because so many of us are taking them and excreting them that they simply can't be filtered out of the water we drink every day. We are literally awash in these drugs."

I was astonished to see such prevalent psychiatric disorders in the West which is far more wealthier than India. The entire world is running after money and power and the ones who already have it are more depressed than the ones who do not have it. In fact, even within India, my experience is that most of the patients with depression are from the rich class and the poor have more physical ailments and fewer psychiatric disorders. That brings a natural curiosity to my mind as to what is the fundamental cause of depression.

The author of the book has given a few reasons for depression including the following:-

1. disconnection from meaningful work
2. disconnection from the other people
3. disconnection from meaningful values
4. childhood trauma
5. crisis of respect
6. disconnection from nature
7. loss of hope
8. neurological changes

It struck me that all the reasons have a very fundamental similarity i.e. inner disconnection. The moment we lose that inner connection, we become restless and try to find meaning in one or the other thing. Some of us try to find meaning in the work, some in relationships, some in moral values (mostly in search of a tempting heaven or next birth), some in social validation, and some in imaginary future in the form of hope. We face different situations in our lifetime when things do not work the way we want. We face a crisis at the workplace and either our voice remains unheard or we are asked to do something that does not fit in our meaning of meaningful work. We face a crisis in relationships and people behave erratically or irrationally and there are constant conflicts in relationships making them unpleasant. We face the crisis of moral values when being good and behaving good becomes too burdensome like driving within the speed limit when every other vehicle is crossing the speed limit and honking ruthlessly. We also face a crisis of social validation when people are too mean and take credit for all the work we do or when society has a very different outlook. We feel a crisis of hope when things do not go our way for long and we are tired of waiting.

Can we see that all these crises are certain to come whenever we make some artificial meaning of life be it work satisfaction, strong relationships, morality, social validation, or hope? I feel that all these are just escape mechanisms because we are not able to bear the inner hollowness. We just try to make meaning around one or the other thing and naturally, that meaning exists only in our mind and therefore whenever there is a crisis, we feel depressed. 

Can't we learn from the cumulative suffering of humanity and work on our inner hollowness rather than making one or the other meaning of life and then suffering the phases of stress, anxiety, and depression in moments of crisis? Why do we lay the foundation of such crises? Why not make the building of our lives crisis-proof? It does not need much effort but an honest inquiry into our true nature. We just need to observe what all these meanings, we have made, are doing to us and to society in general. If we are honest in our inquiry and observation, it will not take much time to realize that whatever meaning we make, everything will fall apart. It's just a matter of time. We are just waiting for a crisis to happen. The immunity of the body can't be replaced with antibiotics and painkillers. They provide immediate relief and that's fine but they are not a long-term solution to the health problems. Finally one needs to work on immunity. Similarly, whatever meaning we make of life may work in the short run. However, we need to reestablish that inner connection to do away with the hollowness and as a natural consequence of this inquiry into the inner hollowness, a space gets created which is filled with love and compassion. There is no space for stress and anxiety in an inner world full of love and compassion.