No future? Lost hope? Can't see how things might improve? When we get into this negative state of mind, we lack energy even to do the easiest of things and nothing gives us much pleasure.
For Macbeth, life seemed to have a future -- one of power and status. Yet he also felt such things were insignificant. For he said: "Life is but a walking shadow... a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury - signifying nothing."
Perhaps he was feeling that only what the world could offer were mere illusions. Yet buying into illusions can be what gets us down in the first place.
Illusion of alienation
One example is the illusion of alienation. To lose contact with people we felt at home with, when we've gone away into situations that were unfamiliar
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When we can see what is needed in a situation and start to do something about it, then we can become energised and find a meaningful purpose.
It can lead to a sense of accomplishment, the appreciation from a neighbour, or the interest of a fellow worker - all meaningful experiences. Also our ideals and ethical principles of living can develop and take on new meaning as we try to follow them in daily life.
Illusion of condemnation
A third kind of illusion that leads to depression is to do with a feeling of guilt. One may have done something about which one is truly ashamed or on the other hand be unfairly blaming oneself; one's self-assessment may have been realistic or unrealistic. We are at risk of losing hope when we dwell on the illusion that we will suffer a future of punishment and torment.
Yet, let us realise that there are darker forces within the mind encouraging our self-condemnation and that we can gain some control over these. Just as we can receive creative inspiration from a higher source, so we are capable of receiving destructive impulses from a lower one.
Our power over our