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Sadness is part of the human experience,

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but for centuries there has [br]been vast disagreement

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over what exactly it is and what,[br]if anything, to do about it.

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In its simplest terms,

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sadness is often thought of

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as the natural reaction [br]to a difficult situation.

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You feel sad when a friend moves away[br]or when a pet dies.

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When a friend says, "I'm sad,"

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you often respond by asking,[br]"What happened?"

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But your assumption that sadness[br]has an external cause outside the self

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is a relatively new idea.

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Ancient Greek doctors didn't[br]view sadness that way.

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They believed it was a dark fluid[br]inside the body.

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According to their humoral system,

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the human body and soul were controlled[br]by four fluids, known as humors,

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and their balance directly influenced[br]a person's health and temperament.

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Melancholia comes from[br]melaina kole,

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the word for black bile,[br]the humor believed to cause sadness.

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By changing your diet[br]and through medical practices,

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you could bring your humors[br]into balance.

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Even though we now know[br]much more about the systems

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that govern the human body,

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these Greek ideas about sadness

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resonate with current views,

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not on the sadness we all[br]occasionally feel,

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but on clinical depression.

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Doctors believe that certain [br]kinds of long-term,

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unexplained emotional states are at least[br]partially related to brain chemistry,

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the balance of various chemicals [br]present inside the brain.

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Like the Greek system,

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changing the balance of these chemicals[br]can deeply alter

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how we respond to even extremely[br]difficult circumstances.

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There's also a long tradition[br]of attempting to discern

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the value of sadness,

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and in that discussion,

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you'll find a strong argument[br]that sadness is not only

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an inevitable part of life[br]but an essential one.

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If you've never felt melancholy,

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you've missed out on part of[br]what it means to be human.

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Many thinkers contend that melancholy[br]is necessary in gaining wisdom.

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Robert Burton, born in 1577,

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spent his life studying the causes[br]and experience of sadness.

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In his masterpiece[br]"The Anatomy of Melancholy,"

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Burton wrote, "He that increaseth wisdom[br]increaseth sorrow."

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The Romantic poets of [br]the early 19th century

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believed melancholy allows us to more[br]deeply understand other profound emotions,

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like beauty and joy.

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To understand the sadness of the trees[br]losing their leaves in the fall

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is to more fully understand the cycle[br]of life that brings flowers in the spring.

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But wisdom and emotional intelligence seem[br]pretty high on the hierarchy of needs.

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Does sadness have value on[br]a more basic, tangible,

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maybe even evolutionary level?

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Scientists think that crying[br]and feeling withdrawn

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is what originally helped our[br]ancestors secure social bonds

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and helped them get the support they needed.

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Sadness, as opposed to anger or violence,[br]was an expression of suffering

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that could immediately bring people closer[br]to the suffering person,

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and this helped both the person[br]and the larger community to thrive.

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Perhaps sadness helped generate[br]the unity we needed to survive,

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but many have wondered whether[br]the suffering felt by others

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is anything like the suffering[br]we experience ourselves.

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The poet Emily Dickinson wrote,

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"I measure every Grief I meet[br]With narrow, probing Eyes -

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I wonder if it weighs like MIne -[br]Or has an Easier size."

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And in the 20th century,[br]

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medical anthropologists,[br]like Arthur Kleinman,

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gathered evidence from the way[br]people talk about pain

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to suggest that emotions aren't[br]universal at all,

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and that culture, particularly the way[br]we use language,

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can influence how we feel.

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When we talk about heartbreak,

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the feeling of brokenness [br]becomes part of our experience,

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where as in a culture that talks [br]about a bruised heart,

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there actually seems to be a different[br]subjective experience.

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Some contemporary thinkers [br]aren't interested

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in sadness' subjectivity [br]versus universality,

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and would rather use technology to[br]eliminate suffering in all its forms.

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David Pearce has suggested[br]that genetic engineering

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and other contemporary processes

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cannot only alter the way humans[br]experience emotional and physical pain,

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but that world ecosystems [br]ought to be redesigned

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so that animals don't suffer in the wild.

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He calls his project [br]"paradise engineering."

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But is there something sad about[br]a world without sadness?

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Our cavemen ancestors and favorite poets

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might not want any part [br]of such a paradise.

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In fact, the only things about sadness[br]that seem universally agreed upon

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are that it has been felt by most[br]people throughout time,

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and that for thousands of years,

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one of the best ways we have to deal[br]with this difficult emotion

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is to articulate it, to try to express[br]what feels inexpressable.

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In the words of Emily Dickinson,

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"'Hope' is the thing with feathers -[br]That perches in the soul -

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"And sings the tune without the words -[br]And never stops - at all -"