Misery

Apprentice I am wondering about what you said recently about ‘remaining free of the prison of moodiness’. Could you say something about that? I mean, does that mean that you must be able never to be sad or melancholy?

Lamas No. Sadness is natural. Melancholy is also natural to a certain extent—if it is not artificially protracted. There is much in the experience of life which causes sadness, but sadness does not have to be crippling.

Apprentice And how does that work in the face of the death of loved ones?

Lamas Sadness should not be confused either with depression or with self-indulgent misery. If a lover, child, parent, sibling, or friend dies—this is sad. It is sad because the poignant poetry of personhood is no longer articulated. There is an energy which is used to moving in a certain direction and now that energy has nowhere to go. If there was no sadness in this there would have been no joy either—but the sadness does not have to be permanent. The fact that it is not permanent does not mean that we ‘get over it’. There is no reason ever to ‘get over it’—but appreciation dictates that we continue to appreciate and therefore continue to experience joy. Please do not misinterpret this. This is not some ‘rich tapestry of life’ kitsch—this is simply how it is. There is joy and sorrow and there is the one taste which can be found. When you discover that one taste, joy and sorrow continue to exist, but they are no longer mutually exclusive. Goddamn—maybe that is the rich tapestry of life, the opulent quilt of quintessential plenitude, the creative carpet of charismatic catharsis—or maybe, it is just as it is.