I’m starting a new “Quotations” category. Here’s the first:
Unhappiness equals idealized images minus reality.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a link to the exact source. I heard Dennis speaking on the subject on his national radio show. If you don’t believe me, here’s another guy that quotes him, charlesnorth.blogspot.com. He seems a decent fellow.
Anyway, back to the quote. I find it quite interesting. To phrase it in other words: gazing upon an ideal status of being, while knowing the truth of our actual status, is the source of unhappiness. This “status of being” could be the owning of tangible objects, but more profoundly, it could be the makeup of character. Wishing we were something that we are not could indeed cause unhappiness or depression. However, for the optimistic it could also be a great motivator to attaining a more ideal status.
The quotation isn’t perfect. I think it should read, “One of the sources of unhappiness…” The comparison between want and have isn’t the only source of unhappiness. Maybe it’s the most frequent reason for unhappiness -in the minds of those who feel sorry for themselves, but I think the source of the most exquisite unhappiness would have to be the spiritual separation of man and God, when it is brought upon ourselves from our own agency. The notion I’m referring to is called “spiritual death,” and is caused by sin, or in other words, the deliberate disobedience of God’s will.
With that said, I think the quote could very well read:
The greatest unhappiness equals the knowledge that the choices we made were opposed to the ones achieving our fullest potential, which potential was to become the idealistic image of God.
Posted by Marshall 
