faith2dea

"I sometimes wonder why I am so easily frustrated, so quick to complain. My computer breaks down.. (the driver in front of me won't move fast enough) my car won't start. Admittedly these are petty annoyances. But they feel so constant, like a stone in my shoe that I can't shake out. I tell myself my outsized response to such things is not merely a symptom of immaturity but a sign that I may be suffering from a hidden condition. I call it paradisus absconditus, otherwise known as the "paradise lost syndrome."  Let me explain. You may have heard of something called "phantom limb syndrome," a condition in which a person feels sensation in an amputated limb. Maybe paradise lost syndrome works in a similar way. My theory is this - that whether or not we know it, each of us has some kind of primeval memory of paradise. We have an instinct that tells us we belong there (paradise- our intended state of being), and when that instinct is thwarted, as it alway...