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Vinícius Lima Lousada |
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Sadness,
existential
emptiness and
strategies for
recovery |
“Do you know
why, sometimes,
a vague sadness
takes over your
hearts and leads
you to consider
life bitter?”
(1)
It amazes me,
every time I
read a page, the
relevancy of the
fundamental
works of
Spiritualism.
They are
up-to-date, as
far as their
content is
concerned,
because their
reading may
reveal concepts
of a
philosophical
and
psychological
depth that meet
today’s
existential
conflicts,
despite being
published so
long ago. One
example of what
I’m referring to
above is in the
message
“melancholy”,
published by
Allan Kardec in
The Gospel
according to
Spiritualism,
on item 25 of
its 5th
chapter. In this
masterpiece, in
which the master
is dedicated to
introducing a
study of the
Gospel of Jesus
in a more
spiritualistic
manner than
traditional
religions have
done before,
notably with the
help of Superior
Spirits,
highlights this
psychological
aspect, which I
intend to
meditate about
here.
Melancholy
according to the
Spirits
The Spirit
François de
Genéve, in a
page probably
dictated in a
spiritualistic
group from
Bordeaux, is
dedicated to
characterizing
melancholy
outlining the
scars it leaves
in the soul and
its spiritual
causes, and also
introduces
strategies to
overcome this
feeling,
inciting the
sufferer to
strongly use his
or her will to
escape the state
of prostration
that melancholy
leaves on those
who foster it.
In summary, the
spiritual author
characterizes
melancholy as a
feeling of
sadness that
overcomes the
heart leading
the individual
to see life with
bitterness. When
lingering in
this somber
position, one
may fall into
apathy,
weariness and
deep depression
under the spell
of the sad soul.
In this state we
judge ourselves
deeply unhappy.
However, the
Spirit, author
of the text,
does not neglect
the fact that
the aspiration
of freedom is
common to the
incarnated
Spirit. The
concrete
existential
conditions in
which we live in
make us wish,
unconsciously,
the joy of
spiritual
freedom – many
times
experienced in
the activities
of the
emancipation of
the soul -, in
the eagerness to
get away from
the problems we
face,
notwithstanding,
the fact that
these are
nothing but
trials and
expiations in
the script of
our spiritual
development, as
we see in the
Spiritualistic
Philosophy.
The trials
consist of the
struggles faced
in our corporeal
life that are
necessary to the
development of
the Spirit in
intelligence and
morality. On the
other hand,
expiations
consist of more
demanding
experiences born
out of attitudes
taken in
disagreement
with Divine
Laws. In this
way, in face of
“oppression” of
corporeal life’s
challenges we
feel smothered
in our
possibilities
and the
extraphysical
reality may seem
more attractive
because of what
we think of it
in the depths of
our unconscious
mind.
Certainly a more
in-depth
reflection on
himself allows
the individual
to realize that
the great
genesis of his
conflicts lies
within his
inner planet
which leads us
in any dimension
of life and
death does not
rid the pains
from the soul.
Allan Kardec, as
a pioneer of
psychological
studies from the
standpoint of a
Spiritualistic
Science, was
able to
register, as
found in
Heaven and Hell,
that each and
everyone
experiences a
state of
intimate
happiness in our
spiritual life
as it showed
itself, for no
one goes through
any magical
transformation
with the
phenomenon of
disincarnation.
By the way, the
Spirits who
co-wrote The
Book of Spirits
teach that “Man
is almost always
the perpetrator
of his own
unhappiness. By
practicing the
law of God he’ll
shield himself
from many evils
and provide
himself as much
happiness as his
coarse existence
can bear.”
(2)
However, it must
become evident
that we need to
verify the level
on unhappiness
that invades us,
whether it is
related to an
embarrassment
that the body
imposes to the
Spirit or it is
us experiencing
a feeling
originated from
moral pains
caused by us,
and it is up to
us to work hard
to overcome
them.
The soul’s wish
for freedom
shouldn’t mean a
death wish; on
the contrary, it
should establish
an impulse to
instigate the
person to seek
elevated
knowledge,
actions and
aspirations in
sync with the
development of
his own
potential, and
mobilizing him
towards all the
growth and
happiness that
are possible on
this Earth. On
the other hand,
the macabre wish
for death
reveals a
deepening of the
sadness that
configures the
pathology known
as depression,
well catalogued
by medicine. The
individual, with
the help of his
family, must
seek the
therapeutic
resources to
treat it.
Depression, as
we can see in an
interesting
article by the
interpersonal
therapist Iris
Sinoti(3),,
differs from a
mere sadness and
can be
understood as a
disorder of
humor that
shakes the
emotional
universe of the
individual. It
consists of a
very painful
subjective
experience that
produces a deep
feeling of loss
and degrades the
individual’s
psyche.
Depressive
processes are
marked by the
absence of an
existential
meaning and
alter the way in
which the person
deals with his
subjectivity and
the world. Also,
depression may
be seen as an
alert by the
soul in order to
send the ones
affected by it
out for a search
of meaning, and
the knowledge of
oneself as well
as to foster
self-esteem,
which is a very
necessary
psychological
strategy for a
healthy
encounter with
oneself.
Existential
emptiness and
the absence of
meaning
Last century,
whilst
dedicating
himself to
understanding
the loneliness
and anxiety of
modern man, the
American
psychologist
Rollo May (2011)
described
existential
emptiness as one
of the
fundamental
problems of the
time. When
referring to
“empty people”,
he talks about
the psychosocial
reasons of this
phenomenon in a
society like
ours,
unfortunately
anchored on
consumerist
values, where
many people are
destroyed by
those conflicts
due to
carelessness
about their own
subjectivity.
“The inner
vacuum is the
accumulated
result, in a
long term, of a
personal
conviction of
being uncapable
of acting like
an entity,
steering his or
her life,
modifying
people’s
attitudes
towards oneself,
or to exert
influence upon
the world around
us”. (4)
He highlights,
with a great
deal of
property,
established by
the years of
practice, that
people who
suffer from this
emptiness not
only ignore what
they want but
also what they
feel. It is
equal to say
that the ones
victimized by
existential
emptiness in our
society don’t
know themselves,
and experience,
as a
consequence, a
senseless life
forged in the
direction
imposed by the
collectiveness.
For that, a
social group
establishes
values built as
goals to be
achieved without
questioning
which, on their
turn, work as
regulators of
the life and
value of the
individual, even
if their ethical
consequences are
a little blurred
in the eyes of
common sense.
About the
psychological
phenomenon of
existential
emptiness, it is
good to take
into account
that, when not
knowing himself,
the individual
adheres to
values and
social norms in
a way that the
unavoidable
outcome is the
destruction of
his own identity
due to the
ruling of the
“dictatorship”
of wishes
outside his own.
In this context,
the lack of
autonomy leads
the individual
to adapt himself
more than to
realize himself,
a practice that
deters
creativity and
the
potentialities
of the being.
The person
simply adjusts
himself in a
non-reflexive
and non-creative
way to an ill
society, losing
track of who he
is and beginning
to behave in a
‘normal’ way,(5)
beginning to
live the
pathology of
normality in the
social
group.
A path for
overcoming the
non-identification
with the self
(6)
is highlighted
in The Book of
Spirits, when
(7)
the Benefactors
of Mankind call
us, according to
the record by
the master Allan
Kardec, into the
understanding of
ourselves
through a daily
analysis of our
conduct and
reasons. It is
about a
necessary
journey to
mental health as
much as to our
spiritual
progress. I
suppose
knowledge about
oneself is an
achievement that
allows the
Spirit to make
sense to his
present
reincarnation,
putting him in a
level of
self-educational
existence and,
by understanding
that, of a deep
and
transcendental
meaning.
However, the
existential
meaning afore
mentioned must
be ascribed by
the individual
in a permanent
exercise of
self-knowledge –
not by any
other,
notwithstanding
that
consciousness is
full of meanings
built culturally
in the present
life as well as
in
others.
When developing
Logotherapy from
his experiences
as a prisoner in
a Nazi
concentration
camp, Victor E.
Frankl (8)
also identified
existential
emptiness as a
phenomenon of
the 20th
Century which,
by the way,
still lingers to
our Century.
According to
this Austrian
psychiatrist,
besides
existential
emptiness
there’d be the
loss of some
basic instincts
of our ancestry
throughout the
evolution of the
human species
and, more
recently, the
reduction of the
importance of
traditions as a
support for
defining
people’s
choices. In this
case,
specifically, we
experience days
of a
post-modernism
that qustioins
the great
narratives, the
closed ways of
explaining the
world and
incites us to
intellectual
autonomy,
however, many
people surrender
to the numbing
of consciousness
or to nihilism
in this context
that challenges
rationality and
unfolds on
itself demanding
a reform of
thinking or a
change of
paradigm on a
personal and
collective
level.
To Frankel,
existential
emptiness is
usually apparent
in the boredom
that some people
feel, when they
identify the
lack of content
in their life
from the moments
of breaking the
routine that end
up, somehow,
making them
reflect about
it. Existential
emptiness, in
this line of
thought, is also
in the basis of
depression.
There are cases
in which the
individual seeks
to compensate
his frustrated
need for
meaning, with
power or
pleasure and,
naturally, in
the absence of
these a crisis
sets in leading
him to rethink
existence and
may induce the
seeking of
specialized
therapy. There
is a
contribution of
Logotherapy: to
invite the
individual to be
responsible for
his own life, in
other words, to
be the subject
of his own
history.
Strategies for
overcoming
sadness
A few strategies
for the soul to
overcome
sadness, from a
reflection
proposed by the
Spirit François
de Genéve, may
be summed up as
follows: a)
tough resistance
to the
impressions that
weaken our will;
b) taking into
account the
teachings of the
Superior Spirits
recorded by
Kardec, to wait
patiently the
return to the
spiritual world
that one day
will unavoidably
come; c) to keep
at sight our
mission in the
present
incarnation,
whether in the
family or
fulfilling the
several
obligations that
God confided us
with; d)
Strength,
courage to
endure those
impressions,
facing them with
determination.
In face of
what’s been
exposed, let’s
do a brief
meditation
around the
following
recommendations:
When sadness or
melancholy
approach us we
must try to
resist, as the
spiritual
benefactor
proposes, with
energy, that is,
with a
disposition in
the soul not to
give in to this
emotional state
for we have
reasons to
understand, in
the light of the
spiritualistic
thinking, the
meaning of the
present moment
as learning for
the immortal
beings that we
are. Will, which
is one of the
powers of the
soul, must be
strengthened by
the energy we
apply into it in
order for us to,
with a clear
objective,
change the
landscape that
is created
within
ourselves.
Meditation in
this case can be
a very valuable
practice.
(9) When
considering the
brevity of
reincarnation
and the
certainty of our
old age and
immortality,
life’s trials
and tribulations
seem almost
nothing because,
when looked at
from a broader
point of view,
may be
understood as
mishaps that
carry within
themselves
lessons for the
attentive
learner who
seeks to enjoy
every experience
that may enrich
his soul. This
knowledge, when
appropriate,
promotes the
patience which,
in its own way,
gradually leads
to inner peace;
and peaceful
people with
enough inner
strength to make
peace is what
the world needs.
We must consider
yet that, in
this
incarnation, we
have a number of
duties to
ourselves and
our neighbors,
beginning with
our home and
extended to
society. Let’s
keep in mind
that, when
sadness deepens
and inspire a
death wish, God
concedes “To
each one his
mission, to each
one his job.”
(10)
Therefore, by
knowing
ourselves we set
goals in sync
with who we are
and the way that
we can
contribute to
collective
progress,
turning
ourselves into
agents of the
transformation
of our reality,
beginning with
our intimate
world.
Finally, in face
of the dark
onslaughts of
pessimism and
sadness, let’s
remember the
lesson of the
lighthouse; even
when the nights
are stormy, it
stays unaffected
by the violence
of the sea
surges enduring
them without
collapsing and
beaming the
journey for
those who are at
sea. The
lighthouse
signals a safe
port. The person
who seeks to
deal with
sadness without
letting be
overwhelmed by
it – for to feel
it is perfectly
normal – may
beam the light
that is needed
in these days of
transition and
seeming absence
of references of
peace. He may
light up paths,
without
intention, by
the light that
shines in his
soul, bravely
projecting
itself in a
conscientious
process of
evolution in the
struggles of
life.
References:
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