Grief, Sorrow, Depression, Nourishment

Art, Grief, Sorrow, Depression, Nourishment

When anyone seriously pursues an art – painting, poetry, sculpture, composing – over twenty or thirty years, the sustained discipline carries the artist down to the countryside of grief; and that descent, resisted so long, proves invigorating…As I’ve gotten older, I find I am able to be nourished more by sorrow and to distinguish it from depression.

--Robert Bly

My observations: Bly switches from grief to depression, but I think the message is that there is a distinction between grief and sorrow also. Many years ago, I encountered a beautiful definition of sorrow in the voluminous material of the kabalah course I was taking. It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack to find it now. However, I think there is a significant distinction worth understanding between grief/depression and sorrow. Perhaps they are all ultimately nourishing in their own way, but I related to the distinction Bly is making.