We rarely hear people use the word sorrow anymore in everyday conversation. In today’s society we hear a lot about people being depressed or suffering from various other personality disorders. If someone said, “Mike seems to be in a state of sorrow of late” or “Sara is sorrowful” it would sound odd to the modern ear. However, what many people today classify as a personality disorder could be considered to be under the realm of what Samuel Johnson believes to be the nature of sorrow. In the following paragraphs, I am going to examine Samuel Johnson’s Essay # 47 from the rambler which is on sorrow. Then I am going to relate Johnson’s notion of sorrow to modern parlance regarding depression. Finally, I am going to discuss Johnson’s advice regarding dealing with sorrow to my personal experiences.

            First, let’s delve into Johnson’s characterization of sorrow itself. It is Johnson belief that sorrow holds a unique place among that the things that agitate the mind of man. Furthermore, it does not seem to have a natural cure such as other problems like fear or desire. (The natural cure of fear being flight) In short, Johnson believes that sorrow is when we are focused on some desire or experience in out past which we can not regain or “make right.”

            Let’s pause for a moment to examine this idea of sorrow further. It is a profound statement that Johnson makes that “sorrow is a state of mind in which our desires are fixated on the past without looking forward to the future.” Most states of mind or emotions seem to be able to relate to the past, present, and future. For example, happiness can be felt about your present state, about something that occurred in your past, and about something that you anticipate happening in the future. Johnson also when prefacing things that may cause sorrow uses words like “sudden”, “unexpected”, and single blow. This leads us to wonder if sorrow can be experienced because of an expected event or even a future event.

            Here is an example of what I mean; we may know that a loved one is ill to the point where they can not recover and will eventually die from their ailment even if we do not know the exact date of their future passing. In this case, could we not feel sorrow about the future loss of our loved one and the eventual loss of being able to do the things that we cherish with that person whether it be give them a hug or have a conversation? Even though we are in a state of sorrow about the eventual loss and the fact that we will not be able to regain as Johnson puts it those experiences with our loved ones after they are gone can we not also while in a state of sorrow simultaneously look forward to future experiences with that person which may occur before they actually perish? Or does the mere fact that one can still think and anticipate a future experience of possible joy or happiness make it so that we are not in a true state of sorrow? I don’t have the answers based on my hypothetical example and neither does Johnson’s Essay # 47 on the nature of sorrow.

            Though I have some qualms about Johnson’s exact ideas about the nature of sorrow and the possible times that we can experience it, his description of sorrow is weighty and beautiful. Case in point, Johnson when describing characteristics of sorrow Johnson says “”keep our minds always in suspended in such indifference that we may change the objects with out emotion.” This type of indifference and detachment from our normal pleasures if it where being experienced by a person today would most likely lead a psychologist to conclude that someone was suffering from depression.

            This leads us to the question is sorrow synonymous with depression and merely our lexicon has change from Johnson’s time to our current time or are there clear distinctions that can be made between the state of feeling depressed and the state of feeling sorrow? Here are some of the symptoms that the National Institute of Mental (NIMH) Health states are symptoms of depression:

·         Persistent sad, anxious or "empty" feelings

·         Feelings of hopelessness and/or pessimism

·         Feelings of guilt, worthlessness and/or helplessness

·         Irritability, restlessness

·         Loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable, including sex

·         Fatigue and decreased energy

Many of these symptoms are things that Johnson describes in his essay on Sorrow. Johnson’s proise describes the NIMH idea of “empty feelings with the line “he must feel no melting fondnees, no warmth of benevolence, nore any of those honest joys which nature annexes to the power of pleasing.” The last line of that state ment regarding honest joys of nature may be a reference to sex which is one of the things listed on the depression symptoms. Earlier Johnson uses the talks about how sorrow can darken gaity; this also seems to coincide with the symptoms of depression particularly the loss of interest in pleasurable activities and the feelings of hopelessness and pessimism. Thus, we may be speaking of Johnson’s sorrow when we speak of someone suffering from depression in today’s sociaty.

          Johnson’s remedy of sorrow can be summarized in 3 words: Employment, exercise, and motion. This I agree with wholeheartedly and have learned to practice in my own life. In fact, I have tried to make it part of my daily routine in order to stave off feeling of depression or as Johnson would most likely call it a feeling of sorrow. The winter months seem to be the time when I find it hardest to fight off sorrow. This is because the roads are bike paths are frequently icy which forces me to take the bus into the city to go to work instead of riding my bike. The daily lack of motion on my commute of just sitting in traffic on the bus amplifies anything which may lead me into a state of sorrowfulness. Conversely, when the weather is not too harsh and I ride my bike along the Charles River path from Watertown into Boston the exact oppossite occurs. I find that things which might have felt like a world of troubles bearing on my soul during the winter months may feel more like a feather because of the constance exercise and motion that I get from my daily bike commute. Other people who I know that either commute via bike or walking or make considerable daily time for exercise in motion have reported similar results to me. In this and many other regards, Johnson appears to have been ahead of his time.