One thing most people these days seem absolutely certain about-and yes,this is a bit ironic-is that absolutist thinking is bad.Making inflexible demands of the world,then losing temper when they're unmet,is no path to happiness.Nor is seeing every issue in black and white,or refusing to be friends with anyone who doesn't share every one of your views.Absolutism is no healthier when turned inwards,either,where it manifests as perfectionism.Yet we all engage in absolutist thinking anyway,because it's easier:we cling to simple rules depression.It's easy to see why absolutism might trigger distress:the more rigid your map of the world,the more opportunities you're creating for that map to collide with the messiness of reality.
如今，大多数人似乎绝对肯定的一件事情是：绝对主义思维有害（是的，这有点讽刺）。对生活提出刻板要求，未能满足就大发脾气，这并非幸福之道。认为世间万物非黑即白、非观点毫无二致者不结交，这同样无法带来幸福。绝对主义内化时表现为完美主义，同样于健康不利。然而，我们还是都会陷于绝对主义思维，因为这更容易：我们执迷于简单的法则，以期在原本极其复杂的星球上生存下去。遗憾的是，这一人皆有之的习惯倘若做得过火，反而会阻碍我们身体运转：越来越多的证据表明，绝对主义思维可能引发抑郁症。不难明白绝对主义为何带来痛苦：你对生活的图谱越是死板，你所创造的令其与现实的混乱相冲突的机会也就越多。
