Jan

13

Weltschmerz

Filed Under W 

Weltschmerz is one of those great German words (Schadenfreude is another) that is more than the sum of its parts, those parts in this case being “world” and “pain.”

Strictly speaking, only those people who can imagine a better world can actually suffer because of its current imperfection. And so, in any searing moment of Weltschmerz, there must always be lurking a counterintuitive optimism, as we compare what is with what someday needs to be.

Weltschmerz. If we suffer it, it is likely we will work to dispel it.

Owen Youngman

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