What do you know about apathy?

[PhoenixAndTheAbyss]

Hi guys,

If you feel like sharing, I'd appreciate hearing what you know about^â€♥ 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