No act to more than blind the pain
The German language has a word which – as my German friends tell me – is only rarely if at all used, yet it made its way into other languages: “Weltschmerz”
On wikipedia it is described as “a deep sadness about the insufficiency of the world”.
Since childhood we are taught comforted to see the world as “not fair”, to perceive life as “not perfect”, and to excuse ourselves when there is “nothing you can do about it”.
For most situations, it proves to be a rather cosy mindset. We live on a spectrum:
Neither powerless nor omnipotent.
We can affect the world but not in its totality.
Responsibility seems local, not global.
Occasionally we turn the head, a facade cracks, and our gaze falls upon something so inherently wrong and real that “nothing you can do about it” stops being comforting.
It happened to me this week when I saw a report on the news and couldn’t shake it off. “How can this even be?” “In this day and age?” “Why is nobody doing anything?” “How can [deity of your choice] let this happen?” “How can I let this happen?”
Regular readers of my blog are probably asking by now “And where is George? Isn't this a blog about self-talk anymore?”
Well, it is. But talking about self-talk should include what isn't.
Personally, I don't consider Weltschmerz to be self-talk, it isn't a dialogue. At its core it is merely this feeling of pain too big to comprehend, sitting and screaming opposite to silent helplessness and impotence.
George isn't here at the moment. He will be back any second and help me to avert my gaze. Distract me again to find my speech again.
For maybe escapism is the direct opposite of it all.
The German language has a word which – as my German friends tell me – is only rarely if at all used. For you can't live a life in the blinding illusion of helplessness and impotence.
Next post: “Impatient Padawan”
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