Let me begin by saying that trying to pinpoint the beginning of sadness – the true moment when a tear was shed not out of irritation of the eye, but irritation of the emotions and the first time a pang in the gut was felt not due to a contaminated piece of food but a contaminated feeling – is not something humans are ready to understand. One might compare it to the attempt to travel across the Universe. This is not an impossible feat, it is simply beyond our understanding or capabilities for the time being. We must advance our tools, our motivations, our dedications to discover the way.
With that being said, let me delve into some popular theories as to what we may assume is the logical start of the birth of sadness.
It begins with knowledge.
This theory is not a far stretch, given the theology of other religions and groups of people throughout history. Christians, for example, believe in the notion of original sin, the biting of the apple by Eve. As soon as this act is committed, Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden (Sadness of Lost Innocence, Sadness of Losing God.) The ancient Greeks, for example, tell a story of Pandora releasing sadness (among other things) from a box. Where sadness begins is really just up to speculation. What is known for sure is that there can be no sadness without knowledge – of happiness, of sadness, etc. Whether it began with a box or an apple, nobody knows for certain.
Another popular theory states that sadness is the child of fear and pain. Perhaps a caveman got too close to a fire once and thought, “I am sad I cannot contain the awe within me,” or, “I am sad of the threat of danger,” or maybe, “I am sad because this hurts.” Perhaps an ancient Aztec woman witnessed a bolt of lightning strike in the distance, and thought, “I feel sad I cannot know this any closer,” or perhaps she too felt the (Sadness of Unconstrained Awe.)
These are the details that Tristologists (people who study Sadness) love to debate with a sense of unwavering fervor and joy. Believe it or not, the origins of sadness are not always sad. As you may already know, sadness cannot be known without also knowing happiness. Tristologists are in a position to recognize and apply this notion more than anyone else. They mold their lives around the idea of the happiness in hope and the hope in happiness. They rise out of it like a loaf of bread.
Tristologists are not only Tristologists, they are lovers and dreamers and artists. They drive cars, swim in the ocean, make love, and visit amusement parks. They are normal people with normal lives, they are living around the sadness in the world like a ghost in the room. When you are trained in the art of sadness, it is difficult to extricate it from yourself. Some Tristologists are truly sad beings, and they find a comfort in the sadness they surround themselves in. Some are happy, and only wish to understand people who are sad. It goes all ways. They are singers and dancers and farmers. They are your neighbors, your bosses, your grocery clerks.
They are anybody who can read a body like a paleontologist reads the fossils of bones, which are really just copies of life. They find, interpret, study, and release sadness back into the world, like wild animals. They know that if you cage sadness and try to contain it, it can turn on you, like Siegfried and Roy’s tiger. It becomes broken and sadness folded in on itself is a dangerous thing, like splitting an atom.
Perhaps containing sadness is the original sadness.
