People experiencing a panic attack, or a high level of anxiety, often feel they cannot breathe, as if their lungs aren’t receiving enough oxygen.
They take deep breaths, and the deeper they breathe, the more oxygen goes into the bloodstream. As the oxygen rate increases, the body objects to breathing this hard, so the delusional, hypochondriac sufferers again feel like they cannot breathe. They force themselves to breathe more and consequently pass out, or maybe someone hands them a paper bag to breathe from. After they pass out or start breathing from the paper bag, the oxygen level in their blood decreases, and they recover almost immediately.
It’s such a pitiful delusion when people suffer from what they think they’ll benefit from and benefit from what they think they’ll suffer from. The only reason for this situation is that they fail to see the truth as it is.
Unfortunately, the reaction people give to statements of truth is the same as those they give when in delusional states. When they realize that everything passes, that desires create agony, that happiness and unhappiness are consequential states of being, that justice exists only in the human mind, that love as they know it is dependent on conditions and not objective at all, and that there’s no stable and eternal self, they might start to think that the truth is dark and full of unhappiness and fear. Just like how people with anxiety poison themselves with oxygen, delusional people regard the truth as the enemy and start to poison themselves instead.
Happiness can only be found where we can see the truth as it is. To seek happiness anywhere else is to lose your keys in front of your door yet search for them in the gutter.

Cem Şen