Welcome everybody to Depression to Expression. This is going to be an amazing video. Please stay tuned. You might learn a little something. The classic philosophical question. Why live? Why continue to go on? What's the meaning of life? Why am I here? Why face discouragement and suffering when the end just results in death? I may be suffering at this very moment. So why continue to go on? I believe the first thing we have to do when we ask ourself these these pretty complicated questions these heavy questions around meaning and life and how we're feeling and consciousness and reality and how we experience life on on an individual level we need to think about how we differ from animals. We are an animal we evolved but the way we differ ourselves from animals. Let's let's go back to the 1700s with this guy you may know Renee Descartes a French philosopher. I'm French too. Maybe if I go to ancestry.ca Do a swab. Maybe he's related to me. Do we look the same? He was the guy who said the difference between animal and man is that we can reason an animal is based solely on instincts. It is our ability to reason and think about our thoughts. That really separates us from the animal kingdom. Way to go Renee Descartes. Love you buddy. Let's fast forward to 1755 when this guy Jean-Jacques Rousseau comes into the philosophical game and he says the Descartes listen it's not just reasoning that separates man from animal. What makes us us and Rousseau says it's this notion of perfectibility and on a read you something and he wrote in 1755 the discourse on the origin of any quality. There's a notion of perfectibility broadly speaking the capacity to improve oneself over the course of a lifetime whereas the animal is guided from the outset by instinct is a man are speaking perfect from the start from birth. It is clear that an animal is led by an hearing instinct common to all members of his species from which it can never really deviate. It is in this respect that the individual animal is deprived both from liberty and the capacity to improve oneself. It is programmed by nature and unlike man cannot evolve further. Man on the contrary has the capacity to forge a personal history whose progress is by definition open-ended and unlimited. Oh the English language makes me feel so good man on the contrary has the capacity to forge a personal history whose progress is by definition open-ended and unlimited. That last those last few words open-ended and unlimited that's a sneak preview to the future of depression to expression and I won't get to that just yet but think of those words. Now that's beautiful and that's what makes me get up every day and that's why living is so special and that's why consciousness and being human and being just completely immersed in reality is so special and magical take religion and god out of it. I'd like to think that's our meaning right there if you're discouraged on what to do if life seems a little too complex at the moment. What makes me feel better personally is knowing that that I can forge my life that I can create my own path that I can create a history a Scott St. Marie history what's the path I'm carving for myself where do I want to go what do I want to learn who do I want to meet who do I want to become it's an incredible feeling if you're discouraged that life has no meaning that gives me meaning right there that you have control that you have the ability to change that instincts aren't only programmed like an animal as human beings we have the power to change ourselves we have the power of possibility our futures are infinite you know when we get discouraged when we can't find the light at the end of the tunnel when everyone else seems to be doing everything right and we seem to be falling behind when we play that comparison game maybe ask yourself a few questions am I learning and my becoming who I admire and do I like what I do if you're feeling discouraged and you're in a hole right now try to simplify things right ask yourself those three questions those three questions there I like what I do with my fingers ask yourself those three questions I keep it simple at the end of the day you know the day may not have been as productive as you would have liked because it was tough getting out of bed you had a late start you didn't get as much done as you had thought but was the strength still there was the will still there did you learn a little something and if you answered those questions like with a yes I learned something and yes I'm proud that I got out of bed I'm proud that I went to that meeting I'm proud that I ate today I'm proud that I wrote my journal that I went to my therapist that I called someone I'm proud that I did the laundry today you know I put an 80% effort today and I learned something it doesn't have to be something tangible it can be I learned something about myself that's the human condition right there you're forging your own path you're developing strength at this very moment that gives you meaning I'm going to ask you for a little favor here scott's asking you for a favor please don't give up please don't give up know your own strength keep forging your own path create a history that you're proud of and become someone you admire stay strong everyone and keep being you like comment subscribe you got this