On worrying

[duriyah]

Found through journal surfing:

"If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?" --Shantideva"

Comments

[_boy_]

I can understand interpreting the quotation to state that worrying is useless. I don't see in the quotation any implication that worrying causes more problems.

You're right, I was reading this quote as "worrying is useless"; the "worrying causes more problems" was an extrapolation from my experience, not necessarily intended by Shantideva.

I tend to agree with unnamed525 that the quote presents a dichotomy, and that the two options ... are a vast oversimplification, to the point of falsely representing the matter.

Meh. I can see how the dichotomy is oversimplified (probably for rhetorical reasons as you mentioned), but I still don't think that it is technically a false dichotomy - when it comes down to it and all efforts are exhausted, either something is within your power to change or it is not. In either case, it is suggesting that worry is pointless.

What I find to be an oversimplification is that the quote doesn't address the degree to which "worry" is within a person's control and to what degree it is involuntary - self-judgement and obsessive purity are as pointless as worry. To me, the point of the quote was to strip "worry" of its rationality, to rob it of the illusion of being a reasonable response. If it moves from this to being a yardstick to judge one's ability to "stop worrying" or to bolster some illusion of "rugged individualism"/"spiritual materialism", then it's no longer useful. It should be a comfort, not a crop, IMHO.