[jcal93]

I find this really interesting, and definitely sad. I wonder if it's because as people become more educated, they understand (or at least perceive) that their individual life is insignificant when contrasted against the great big universe of things and beings, and this results in deep and profound unhappiness.

[sidlls]

It's (also) more mundane than that. Think about those minor annoyances one has with their partner in a relationship (friendship, romantic, doesn't matter--everyone has something they could pick nits about in their friends, spouses, etc.).

Now consider them to be multiplied and magnified by virtue of being literally one or more steps ahead, so to speak, in thinking about...anything. From an approach to doing chores, to planning recreational activities, to supposedly "higher minded" things (e.g. politics, philosophy, whatever), you name it: the smarter one is, the more likely there is friction in these everyday interactions by virtue of the fact that more and more of one's peers is simply not able to keep up as it were. Not to mention the same is true of other less mundane issues (politics, finance, etc.).

[NeuNeurosis]

Wow well said. I think this is the real core of the issue. I have experienced this since I can remember and people would get mad at me as a child for explaining how something worked or how to look at something from a different perspective. I struggle with sharing my understanding about anything due to the depth of explaining I have to do for people to understand why I arrived at my conclusion. One thing I have found helps as I get older is to let go of the feeling of importance of things going a certain way. I can now live with small mistakes and misunderstandings way better than when I was young.

[MonaroVXR]

I have the complete opposite experience right now and it's killing me. Even with dating. Gotta explain why I do this or that. Because bit it's contradictory in their eyes Any advice?

[NeuNeurosis]

Interesting, without context its pretty difficult to offer advice. From your comment, and I'm reaching here, you might not have a great awareness of how your actions/choices are perceived by others before you make them. You seem to in hindsight, which is great. Also it could be the stage of life you are in where the people you are surrounded by are still exploring options of how to live and are curious when they see someone make choices outside their realm or expectation. In either case it comes down to how much you want them to understand your what and why. I have really tried hard at accepting that most others are not going to see why I make my choices so what is the point of explaining any of them. This is all conditional on who it is and how much I love them but it is a constant in my thought process. Letting go of the need for people to understand your motivations is liberating, when you can achieve it. :) I hope this helps.

[tomc1985]

I think it is more that one has the ability to see "the man behind the curtain", and at how badly the deck is stacked against you for most things. Seeing and hearing the lies promulgated absolutely everywhere and knowing they are so where others do not.

[toomuchtodo]

What I don’t get is what keeps people around who have “seen the man behind the curtain”, and know enough to suffer from knowing.