Question: An elder was asked: “What is sadness?” “Being sad means always thinking about yourself,” the elder replied.
How simple it really is, and how complicated it is at the same time. Can a person not be sad?
Answer: I do not know; I keep myself occupied.
Question: You keep yourself occupied, but not to avoid sadness, right? Not for that?
Answer: No. Even if I did nothing, I would not be sad.
Question: Do you ever feel sadness at all?
Answer: No.
Question: Why? Everyone feels it, but you do not.
Answer: I do not let this feeling develop within me. That is the first thing.
Second, I find more information about development than I can absorb or encompass. Because of that, I do not feel sad.
Comment: So you always have horizons—more and more.
My Response: Yes, you could say that.
Question: The opposite of sadness is joy. Can one be joyful all the time?
Answer: No.
Question: So one way or another, should such a movement be there?
Answer: Yes, it is natural for a person.
Question: To reach joy, do you need to feel sad?
Answer: To reach joy, you need to realize that what you have is just ordinary life. Therefore, you cannot be in constant joy or some kind of euphoria. But, in principle, you cannot be sad either. You can be in a neutral state and thus feel that you are floating.
Question: And then there will be joy, and then all these states? Joy will come, and then you float again, and so on?
Answer: Yes, in small doses.
Question: Why does the Creator give us these states, including joy and sadness? Why does He give us all this?
Answer: Without this, we would not be able to notice time at all. Only through these opposing feelings: from joy to sadness, from fear to happiness…
Question: Is that why we feel that time is passing?
Answer: Yes.
Question: So what is time?
Answer: It is the alternation of such feelings.
Question: So is time the alternation of these states?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Is that all?
Answer: What else could there be for a person?
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/17/24
Related Material:
New Life 320 – Happiness And Sadness
Joy For The Sighted And Sorrow For The Blind
Work In Joy