Sadness Has No End

Sadness, in Rav Kook's language, describes a sinking into a low, dull place that does not belong to the living spiritual world of the soul. A place of cessation, of pain that has no movement. A physical and psychic heaviness that gives a sense of death without a grave. And in the face of such a state, superficial encouragement is not enough. The Rav speaks of revival. Of a light that comes from a higher place. A light of faith, of aspiration toward something greater than ourselves, that breathes life anew. And according to the level of depression and despair, sometimes a great tiding is needed, and sometimes a single ray suffices – of meaning and hope and connection to a deeper essence, enough to revive a soul that has nearly been extinguished.

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