I’m going to digress from my usual pontificating on politics, technology and working life. I want to talk about something that is a lot more personal than all that. Sadness. I’m feeling a little melancholy today, and have been thinking about the subject.
Sadness is something that every human being has and that they must deal with daily in some way or another. There is so much in this world to be sad about. Everyday I read/ listen to/ watch news that should fill me with sorrow. But like most of us, I manage to separate myself from the stories on genocide, random shootings in our cities and soldiers dying in wars that were never necissary. These are things that we all just “turn off”, because it would be just too overwhelming to grieve for every life lost or ruined.
But there are other types of sadness that are a little less aggressive. Like when you are listening to a piece of music that touches you to your very soul. I couldn’t possibly count the number of times that I have found tears coming while listening to a aria or symphony. This type of sadness is not a bad thing, but is tied to something beautiful.
There is also the sadness you feel when you when you see a child smile that totally innocent smile that just melts your heart. Or when your dog knows that you are having a bad day and sits on your feet. You may say that this is the part of love that hurts, and I would agree. But there is a link between love and sadness that makes the whole thing go round.
In Chogyam Trungpa’s “The Sacred Path of the Warrior”, he describes a sadness that we find when we have lost our fear and have come out of that caccun that protects us. This sadness is empathetic and all embracing. It is something that you feel for all of humanity and it makes you want to give the whole world a hug. I am by no means saying that I have lost my fear, but I know this sadness.
So sadness is not always a bad thing. Sometimes it will nurture us, sometimes it will incapacitate us, and sometimes it will connect us to those around us in a more profound way than we could ever put into words.
But on those days when sadness is front and centre and there is nothing that will help to alleviate the symptoms, all of this is little consolation. All you can do is think about the suffering of the world and gives thanks for the compassion that you feel for the others that suffer with you.
