Why Thought Suppression is Counter-Productive
It is better to confront your thoughts and emotions and work through them. Trying to distract yourself, with speculative philosophy for example, is counter-productive.
Suppressed emotion tends to show itself anyhow in a deformed manner. Certain ancient philosophers (e.g. Socrates, Plato) tried to suppress their emotion in favour of ‘reason’. In not confronting and dealing with their emotions, they came to hate and reject this world in favour of another. In trying to idealise mankind in themselves through reason they only deformed it. That’s the real practical joke.
