The reason modern man is depressed is because he mopes. I’m not saying he has much of a choice. As he walks down the street, he is barraged with declarations of what he is. Since he visited the local dollar store, he is thrifty. By waiting for a gleaming, white, little man to appear on a pedestrian crossing sign, he is socially amenable. Back in his apartment, an epileptic pop-up ad tells him what he is lacking below the belt. In 1650, a man was just that; a living, breathing, eating, sleeping, sexual mound of flesh sometimes troubled with a Bertha Mason in his brain’s attic, but more often focused on procuring his next meal.

Modern man has so many simultaneous identities that they seem to intertwine, forming a knot indissoluble in the ether of modern society. Because the self is directed “outward rather than [inward] and depends for its self-esteem on its perception of how others evaluate it,” (f) is the best choice. Man is so tied up with himself that he has to look outside to truly examine the fused chord of his soul. Depression happens when man finally realizes that he can’t leave himself, and that the best thing he can do to recognize his identity is to vault from mirror to photograph, clinging to the nonexistence of an imaginary camera man.

I believe that depression in the modern era stems from the fact that life has become so complex, so diverse, so full of different paths, viewpoints, opportunities, it becomes almost inevitable that one will get lost in all of it. New fields of research and exploration are arriving everyday. Things are getting done quicker and people are constantly looking for new challenges and expecting others to do the same. The world moves at a much faster pace and expects everyone to keep up.
Percy mentions this when he talks about how science and technology has brought about an embarrassment of riches to keep oneself busy. This is certainly different from the way things were say five hundred years ago when ones religion may have been the sole concentration of ones’ life, or fifteen hundred years ago when most of the population’s main focus was simply to survive. Percy argues this assessment however when he mentions the “idle aristocracy and noblemen”. However, if we look at history, there is nothing that says that they didn’t get bored. As a matter of fact, a select few of these aristocracy ended up making some of the biggest contributions to science, art, medicine…etc, simply because they needed something to preoccupy themselves when they got bored. Newton wouldn’t have been able to spend his time frittering away over spatial motion if he were worried about food. Nor would Kepler have worried about planetary motion, nor Galileo about the Earth’s rotation if they were frittering away over where their next meal would come from.
However, now we live in a world less creative than years past. We focus more on entertainment in our spare time, when we do have it, which leaves us ultimately empty. Now, the world is so demanding of people’s time, we don’t have time to explore the self or our own creativity, ultimately leading to a depressed state of mind.

I would answer this question with choice. Before looking at the choices I answered it myself. I think that people are depressed because they have more of a sense of who they are than the world allows. So often we are told to make choices, and for me it wasn’t really about what I wanted being a choice but really, one of the choices having to be what I wanted. Things like picking a school, major, career path, religion, etc. are stifling when it comes to our complex personalities. As psychology and other such sciences discover more about who we are as people, the less our world around us can accommodate to that new knowledge. Speaking of choices, I chose f as my response to this question. We are very inner-directed. Percy talks about this in his examples of looking at yourself in a picture, mirror, or the window of an office building on the street. All the time we are analyzing and evaluating ourselves, and when that doesn’t come out right we feel failure, which creates depression. The idea is also present in Chapter 7: The Misplaced Self. The townspeople are in awe of an actress, but what they aren’t aware of, at least at first, is that she is probably envious of someone herself. Everyone has heard, “The grass is always greener in someone else’s yard,” and it is true. We are all wanting, and just like a child, we cry when we don’t get it.

When looking at history and the current time something glaring sticks out about depression. Depression didn’t have time to exist in the past because people had to work all day to just get by, the people weren’t depressed in their minds, they were tired and every possible good thing that could occur was relished. All these people had were their families and their jobs, and that is what they were to themselves, a painter, butcher, mason, or farmer. Now today we so much lee way in who we are do to free time. Answer (g) states that we no longer decide who we are but use out side choices to describe who we are such as psychiatrist, clothes, cars, homes, and many other things that are material. By modern standards we have to build ourselves upon these material things, and when we have trouble figuring out niche that we fall into we fall back on someone to tell us where we belong. The easy argument against this is the most depressed people in today’s society are the busiest, such as lawyers, brokers, and businessman. This is because of envy of the free time that others have, but if they get that free time they feel that they have lost who they are and the wanting to work and wanting for free time becomes an endless cycle. The best argument for this is hard laborers. They have one of the lowest suicide rates of any job. You never here a person of that way of life say that they are depressed. They cherish the money they got, their family, and their jobs. The majority of American society through laziness has lost the will to define themselves through their families and work, they find it through shrinks and material objects. Madonna explained it best, “We live in a material world.”

Without question the source of depression in the modern day is embodied in option (f). People are so confused about who they are that they give up attempting to identify themselves and begin to emulate others who they believe personify the “ideal person.” Moreover, they base their opinion of the “ideal person” on the opinions of others because nothing feels better than to “fit in,” which is evident in the reading in several locations.
The most recent example of this is in Walker Percy’s thought experiment “The Last Donahue Show.” The first assumption about Penny, a pregnant fourteen year old in the skit was that she was not well educated in school about how to protect against pregnancy. The reality was that she got pregnant because her best friend was pregnant and she thought babies were “neat.” Also, the example involving fashion and its influence on people demonstrates this concept. People in New York City began to wear medical greens at disco clubs after seeing interns and nurses wearing them.
The reason it is so difficult to remedy depression is because it is a direct result of our discomfort with the influences of those around us; those who we say we want to be most like because they have the characteristics we “see” in ourselves. The truth is most people are blind to who they really are because their “self” is in a room of their soul with no light in which they’ve never been to before. As a result, it is easier to make assumptions about the silhouette than it is to find the light switch. Only when people are willing to make the effort to find the light (whether it be religion, politics, sports, or whatever) will their depression end and they will make the best friend of all, themselves.

There are many reasons for depression in today’s world. I think, in response to question (I), my answer would be something like choice (e). With advances in science, scientists have learned more about our universe than past generations could have ever known. As a result, many have begun to put their faith more into science than into religion. This leaves some educated minds with a feeling of disillusionment and uncertainty. “Science seems to disprove the existence of God, so what is my purpose here?” Seems to be a question that is on many people’s minds. Where, in the past, virtually everyone in America was raised as a Christian and never questioned dogma, many Americans (especially teens), are finding it harder to believe. This leaves many to think of themselves as “nought.” In the past, we were able to look to religion to fill a gap in our lives. In much the same way as Percy describes fashion governing our actions (“this is you”), we were able to define ourselves as men or women of God, and that was enough. When you lose religion, just as when that ultra-fashionable hat goes out of style, you lose a set definition of what your purpose is. Lack of purpose creates a breeding ground for hopelessness, which leads to depression.

Percy presents very legitimate explanations for depression. Options (e) and (h) are the ones that stand out to me the most. In a nutshell, I think option (h) says that pretty much everything in life is stressful and can cause one to become very depressed. Stressors are everywhere, and are necessities of life to an extent to where we become ill (depressed). For example, who wouldn’t get depressed if they had to give a presentation to a firm, only to get shot at, and (with the exception of putatively bad news, whichever way one may take it) then wonders about his/her future with their current job? (Percy, 62-63) This is of course only one example, but Percy spells it out clearly in this option, where depression could range from family life, personal life, problems in the world, and the like. I think the key is how we cope with depression. For some, it could be just to keep busy, whether it be school, work, etc. That way you would not become occupied with boredom, devoting useless and wasted time to yourself to melt and bury yourself in a chair wondering why life is even worth living. Percy gives an example of how you are a colonel trying to defend Greece against an assault from the Soviets (as opposed to being a tourist or curator, if you will). What I got out of this is that the colonel is at least occupying himself by doing something. Albeit he is in a situation where he has to be involved, at least he’s busy doing something. He's not bored that's for sure.
Option (e) stood out for me the most because it applies to my life. I think that no matter what happens or what you do, as long as you have a faith in something – it doesn’t matter what religion or God or what not you believe in – if you let faith guide you in life, you’ll be alright. I particularly liked the part on page 76 where Percy points out that the only adults who are never depressed include the likes of chuckleheads, surfers, and Christians. Keep the faith. It is what it is.

Depression is an incredibly powerful force in our society. I don’t know if depression is exactly the right word for what I’m describing, but I’m talking not so much about a medical condition or just being sad, but a current of negative thought that undercuts everything we think and do. The section that spoke the most to me out of the reading was the one titled “The Envious Self”. It was best summed up by the description of the chapter: “Why it is that the Self – though it Professes to be Loving, Caring, to Prefer Peace to War, Concord to Discord, Life to Death; to Wish Other Selves Well, not Ill – in fact Secretly Relishes Wars and Rumors of War, News of Plane Crashes, Assassinations, Mass Murders, Obituaries, to say nothing of Local News about Acquaintances Dropping Dead in the Street, Gossip about Neighbors Getting in Fights or being Detected in Sexual Scandals, Embezzlements, and other Disgraces”. I think the cause of much of the depression in our society can be traced to the feeling we sometimes get at funerals, where amidst all the sadness and loss you think to yourself “at least I’m not the one in the coffin”. Next to death, we feel so much more alive. Death is that one persistent thing in our lives that we can’t conquer, and that we really know so little about. Even when you completely commit yourself to religion, there is always that nagging doubt in your mind that there is nothing in the next life, that one day death will steal away from you everything you’ve accomplished. It is that fact that makes us take perverse comfort in death and tragedy, the fact that it happened to someone else and not to us. It is that contrast between life and death that contributes to the perverse feelings of happiness or acceptance or comfort or whatever we feel within ourselves at the occurrence of disaster. It is that contrast that clarifies the living world that we continue to inhabit when others pass beyond it.

I feel people are depressed despite numerous opportunities because modern life is more difficult, complex, and stressful than it has ever been before. Take college for instance. Even though everyone is given the chance to obtain an education, most people take on more challenges due to that education. College is a chance to gain a “higher” education and thousands more are attending now than in the past. Because of this jump in college enrollment, the job market is now a fierce competition. To set oneself out from the rest, an individual generally has to attend a graduate school because the typical undergraduate degree just isn’t enough anymore. With the stress of wanting to outshine the competition, many students and their parents go into debt. Who wouldn’t feel depressed about owing money before a job is even obtained?

As Percy mentions in chapter 11, “You are depressed because you have every reason to be depressed.” Owing money is a big obstacle and depending on how much money is owed can depend upon how depressed one can get. A lot of times a debt is so large that one feels as if it will only be paid off to gain more debt, say their children’s education. Percy suggests a stressful situation on page 62, “You are making a sales presentation to representatives of the biggest prospective corporate customer in the history of your firm. You’ve been suffering some anxiety and sleepless nights…you’ve been somewhat depressed.” Here Percy is explaining how a difficult life can cause depression because of stress. Anyone would be anxious about a presentation such as the one described. A good presentation could mean all the money and work you put into school was well worth it and could lead to a promotion which would lead to a raise and by default a decrease in debt. But, a bad presentation could be just the opposite, a demotion or even a pay cut.

Depression can arise from a multitude of factors but the complexity and stressfulness of the modern day I take to be a huge factor. Stress can bring on worry and worry then can lead to depression about jobs, money, or even how someone perceives themselves as a person. Back a few hundred years ago, life was simpler. Not every one was given the opportunity to go to school and it was a “given” that they would become say a farmer or a housewife. While I am sure depression occurred in some, the simpler life of the times made it an occurrence that was few and far between.

Walker Percy has struck a chord in American culture with choice (g). The idea that “despite embarrassment of riches, [the American self] is in fact impoverished and deprived” due to “the self [consenting] expropriations of every sector of life by its appropriate expert.” Not unlike the person who defines himself or herself through the clothes he or she wears in chapter 2, the definition of self has become a part of American consumption. With the recent arrival of experts in the area of psychological studies, people look to such trained professionals to tell them who they are. The modern, over-privileged self has lost sovereignty over it's own self. Instead of defining one’s self by living life in the direction desired, people take a more passive method to life. He or she will look to professionals who promise to take the complicated process of finding oneself out of the picture, and simply tell them who they are utilizing their ‘trade techniques.’ Therefore, finding one’s self is no longer looked upon as a life-long journey, but as an area of consumption. When modern people have problems with self-image, they can seek out professionals in the area of depression to be told what the problem with their self is. How is this any different from a woman distressed over her appearance going on a shopping spree at the nearest clothing store and buying clothes to redefine herself? Just like a customer at a clothing store who is “not much without [an article of clothing]”, over-privileged (yet, deprived) people of modern day are nothing until the words of a paid expert tell them who they are. Has the over-abundance of conveniences in American culture deprived the American people of a self, therefore condemning them to depression?

In Walker Percy’s Chapter 11 to Lost in the Cosmos, Percy, in question (1), asks the reader what their explanation of depression is. While reading the choices, I was a bit torn between answers, and so the two I’ve narrowed it down to are answers (f) and (h). “The self nowadays is other-directed rather than inner-directed and depends for its self-esteem on its perception of how others evaluate it.” In Chapter (8) The Promiscuous Self, Percy explains how “it [the self]… needs to exercise every option in order to reassure itself that it is not a ghost but is rather a self among other selves.” The need to verify one’s own self through others is a normal characteristic of our modern age nowadays – which is in itself very sad. Knowing how modern life has digressed to this state of loss of self, my explanation touches also answer (h). “Because modern life is enough to depress anybody” is sad but true. How can our state of self and the consequences to such (eg. Wars, troubled homes, modern cities) not depress someone? Now, it seems accepting our state of depression as it is and moving forward despite it is the only way to reach satisfaction.

After reading and understanding Question (1) in Chapter 11, it is evident that the only answer to correctly address the question is (f). “Because the self nowadays is other-directed rather than inner-directed and depends for its self-esteem on its perception of how others evaluate it- something like a beggar in a crowd with his had out.” This answer is most correct because as we read in previous sections of “Lost in the Cosmos”, people depend on what other people think of them to stay happy. Percy talks of this need for approval in the pre-quiz on pages 7 and 8 when he is talking about admiring yourself in the window of a shop on the street. Here he talks about seeing yourself as others see you, getting a picture of your object-self, the need to be approved by what you look like to other people. Society has formed a label for what looks good and what doesn’t and it is important to fit that mold in order to be happy in a lot of cases. This is why choice (f) is the most logical one for why people are depressed, they are too worried about what others think to think about what makes themselves happy.

In answering question 1 of Walker Percy’s chapter 11 in Lost in the Cosmos, I would choose multiple explanations for the reasons people are bored in the modern day, but I would say that option (f) is the most interesting and correct choice of the eight choices given. In most of Percy’s book, he focuses on the idea that the self is not found because individuals are attempting to find themselves in groups and clubs. They define themselves not by who they are within, but by who they can associate themselves with in their everyday life. Option (f) states “the self…is other-directed rather then inner-directed and depends for its self-esteem on its perception of how others evaluate it.” Referring back to the beginning parts in the book, especially the section titled “The Self as Nought: Why most women, and some men, are subject to fashion,” the idea that the self needs external feed back to form itself is an example of option (f). Society is forming and influential on each aspect of the person, from the inner self to the outer dress that people choose. Percy explains that the society as a whole is more influential in the formation of the true-self then the individual themselves. This is why I feel that option (f) would answer the question in the most accurate way. Throughout the book this idea is referred to multiple times.