Melancholy

Humans wonder why they experience phases of sadness. Sadness that seems to have no obvious cause. They feel like floating through life, neither drowning nor staying afloat. Taking deep breaths, they perhaps reminisce or think deeply about the purpose of life or how missed opportunities would have made their lives different. Sitting at the window side in a car, staring outside, and watching everything pass by swiftly makes them reflect on how fast life passes by. Taking a stroll on a windy, gloomy day they acquiesce to their inability to change the past events of their life. There's this longing, longing for something unknown; maybe to love or be loved, to attain happiness, or to just stop fighting with the world and submit to whatever comes their way. Sunsets reflect the warmth inside them and as the day departs and the night arrives, they embrace the loneliness the night brings. Sad music and poetry burn them from within but they have developed a zest for this sensation. Being among people and alone at the same time is something they are used to. They desire happy moments but think not of them as the sole driver of their existence. They do not force happiness or sadness but submit to the nature that surrounds them. There is otherworldliness in them somewhere, that probes them to seek something higher. Having a melancholy attitude, they think too much and feel too much. The sight of suffering makes them question their ingratitude. They struggle to find meaning in suffering for that helps them to stay somewhat hopeful. With time, however, they grow used to this pensive mood, and thinking of being in any other state seems strange to them. Their heart hurts but the pain has become a form of ecstasy. Poet Emily Dickinson wrote, "I measure every grief I met with narrow, probing eyes. I wonder if it weighs like mine or has an easier size." 

Many conflate depression with melancholy but I believe that not everyone who has a melancholy state is depressed. Depression is rightfully defined as a state that one should not be in. Depression is not just being sad it is a clinical illness and should be treated accordingly. Being in depression is like hitting a brick wall from where there seems no return. Depression might be because of factors within or without a person who is affected by it. Contrary to all this, melancholy is an admission that just as much happiness is a part of life, life would be incomplete without sadness. Melancholy is not a disease; it is a visitor. Perhaps one should even seek it from time to time.

If one briefly studies the history of melancholy, it would come as a shock to many of us living in the modern world that historically attitudes and temperaments were not associated with factors outside but those within. Ancient Greek doctors, according to their humoral system, believed the human body and soul were controlled by four fluids known as humors. Melancholia was associated with black bile, one of the four fluids, which was believed to cause sadness. According to the ancients, by changing one's diet and through medical practices, the imbalanced humor could be brought back into balance. Ibn Sina in his magnum opus, The Canon of Medicine, also dedicated a lengthy discussion on these four fluids. Furthermore, historically there was also a long discussion surrounding the usefulness of melancholy. Many argued that melancholy was the only humor that was necessary for one to gain wisdom. Robert Burton in his book, The Anatomy of Melancholy, wrote, "He that increaseth wisdom increaseth sorrow". 

The society we live in today tends to emphasize happiness and cheerfulness and frowns upon phases of sadness. In my opinion, sadness is just as integral as any other human emotion for each one teaches us something about life. As a result of treating melancholy as an unwanted visitor, we develop a repulsive attitude towards it which only causes more tension. One should develop an attitude of acceptance and admit that existence, for the most part, is about disappointment and suffering.

In my opinion, melancholy does not come to destroy us but perhaps to have us question greater aspects of existence. Abu Hamid al Ghazali, a Muslim Polymath, summed this up in the most profound of ways. He wrote,

"If a man ceases to take any interest in worldly matters, conceives a distaste for common pleasures, and appears sunk in depression, the doctor will say, "This is a case of melancholy and requires such and such a prescription". "Thus far their wisdom reaches", says the Quran. It does not occur to them that what has really happened is this: that the Almighty has a concern for the welfare of that man, and has therefore commanded His servants, the planets or the elements, to produce such a condition in him that he may turn away from the world to his Maker"