Little Thing 270 : Paradox of Tragedy

 

I came across the term 'Paradox of Tragedy' when I was reading Susan Cain's Bittersweet. 

What is the paradox of tragedy? The simplest way to explain this is how normally humans avoid misery and suffering, yet somehow we also invite these feelings into our lives by watching sad movies, reading fictional stories about other people's misery, viewing tragic arts, and listening to melancholic music. 

I did read Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life knowing that it is a story about pain and suffering, I continued watching 13 Reasons Why knowing it could lead to nowhere near happiness, I listened to The Album Leaf's album knowing that I would sob when I really get into the music. Why do we do that? Why do we put ourselves in certain situations knowing the pain that it could bring to us?

So that is my question at 4 am in the morning today. 

This question was not original from me alone, past philosophers questioned this too - thus the term 'Paradox of Tragedy' was created because they were puzzled about this too. How come humans welcome certain kinds of pain and derive pleasure from it when the same thing if it happened to us in real life would only bring misery and sorrow? How come we voluntarily choose these stories or songs to 'enjoy'?

What makes it so appealing to us?

Perhaps it is one of the ways for us to engage with the powerful emotions that rest deep inside of us without having to live with the real consequences so that we can reflect on it just like we experienced it ourselves. The ability for us to imagine, be empathetic enough to feel, and perhaps even prepare for future pain. Or perhaps somehow we need an emotional release to restore it to its balanced level again:

"sometimes, however, the emotions build up like water behind a dam and demand release. Enter tragedy". - John Morreal

I don't know. Perhaps, I would want to feel like I'm not alone in such pain, when I read painful stories, watch fictional miseries, or listen to melancholic songs, I feel like I'm not alone. Maybe that's that. Or maybe I feel the beauty in the suffering itself. It makes me feel connected to my soul, or have a spiritual connection with the higher power, it makes me feel human, it makes me feel small and so fragile. 

There is this Japanese term "mono no aware" or the gentle sadness of things, that refers to how short and fragile every existence is, and also the need to appreciate it for its beauty - it is short, it is fragile, so you need to appreciate the time that you have with it. 

There is a melancholic beauty in falling in love, knowing that it won't last. There is pain in giving birth, knowing that we will die. It's the transience and bittersweet nature of everything. It is not necessarily morbid, I mean, you can't deny the beauty of sakura flowers when they are in full bloom, knowing that it will only last for a short time. Life is so short.

We enjoy it while it lasts. 

You need to understand the impermanence of everything to appreciate the things that we have. You may ask, when a flower withers, is it still a flower? Yes, it is. 

 

Here's Hammock's song for you: Mono No Aware.