In its simplest terms, sadness is often thought of as the natural reaction to a difficult situation.

以最簡單的術語來解釋，悲傷通常被認為是對困境的自然反應。

You feel sad when a friend moves away or when a pet dies.

你在朋友搬走或寵物死去時覺得傷心。

When a friend says, "I'm sad," you often respond by asking, "What happened?"

當你的朋友說：「我好傷心」你的回應通常是問「怎麼了？」

But your assumption that sadness has an external cause outside the self is a relatively new idea.

但是假設悲傷是外在因素所引起其實是還算新的想法。

Ancient Greek doctors didn't view sadness that way.

古希臘醫生可不這樣看待悲傷。

They believed it was a dark fluid inside the body.

他們相信悲傷是體內的一種黑色液體。

According to their humoral system, the human body and soul were controlled by four fluids, known as humors,

根據他們的體液系統，人類的身體及靈魂都受到四種液體的控制，稱為體液，

and their balance directly influenced a person's health and temperament.

它們平衡與否直接影響到 一個人的健康及氣質。

Melancholia comes from melaina kole, the word for black bile, the humor believed to cause sadness.

憂鬱症源自希臘字 melaina kole，即黑膽汁，公認是造成悲傷的體液。

By changing your diet and through medical practices, you could bring your humors into balance.

透過改變飲食及醫療行為就能恢復體液的平衡。

Even though we now know much more about the systems that govern the human body,

即使現在我們對於控管人類身體的各式系統有更多的瞭解，

these Greek ideas about sadness resonate with current views, not on the sadness we all occasionally feel, but on clinical depression.

希臘人對悲傷的想法仍與現行的觀念共鳴，不過不是我們偶爾感覺的悲傷，而是臨床憂鬱症。

Doctors believe that certain kinds of long-term, unexplained emotional states are at least partially related to brain chemistry,

醫師相信某些長期無法解釋的情緒狀態與神經化學至少有部分相關，

the balance of various chemicals present inside the brain.

即各種化學物質在腦內的平衡。

Like the Greek system,

就像古希臘的系統，

changing the balance of these chemicals can deeply alter how we respond to even extremely difficult circumstances.

這些化學物質的平衡變化會深深地改變我們對極困難的情況的反應。

There's also a long tradition of attempting to discern the value of sadness,

還有一項悠久的傳統企圖要分辨悲傷的程度，

and in that discussion, you'll find a strong argument that sadness is not only an inevitable part of life but an essential one.

而在那項討論中，你會發現有項很強的論述說悲傷不但是生命中不可避免的一部分，其實還不可或缺

If you've never felt melancholy, you've missed out on part of what it means to be human.

如果你從未感覺憂鬱你就錯失了部分身為人類的意義。

Many thinkers contend that melancholy is necessary in gaining wisdom.

很多思想家聲稱憂鬱是獲得智慧的必經之路。

Robert Burton, born in 1577, spent his life studying the causes and experience of sadness.

羅伯特·伯頓生於 1577 年，花了一輩子研究悲傷的起因及經驗。

In his masterpiece "The Anatomy of Melancholy," Burton wrote, "He that increaseth wisdom increaseth sorrow."

在他的名作《憂鬱的解剖》一書中，伯頓寫道：「加增智慧就加增憂傷」。

The Romantic poets of the early 19th century believed melancholy allows us to more deeply understand other profound emotions, like beauty and joy.

十九世紀早期的浪漫派詩人相信憂鬱讓我們更深入地瞭解其他的深層情感，如美麗與喜悅。

To understand the sadness of the trees losing their leaves in the fall is to more fully understand the cycle of life that brings flowers in the spring.

能體會樹木在秋天落葉的悲傷讓我們更能明瞭生命循環帶來的春之花。

But wisdom and emotional intelligence seem pretty high on the hierarchy of needs.

但是智慧與情緒智能似乎位在人類需求層次的高處。

Does sadness have value on a more basic, tangible, maybe even evolutionary level?

悲傷是否還有更基本、更有形，甚至在演化層面上的價值？

Scientists think that crying and feeling withdrawn is what originally helped our ancestors secure social bonds and helped them get the support they needed.

科學家認為哭泣及感覺退縮原來是幫助我們的祖先確保社會聯繫，及幫助他們得到所需支援的方法。

Sadness, as opposed to anger or violence, was an expression of suffering that could immediately bring people closer to the suffering person,

與生氣或暴力對照，悲傷是痛苦的表現，這能立刻將人們與受苦的人拉近，

and this helped both the person and the larger community to thrive.

而這使受苦的人及更大的社群都能興旺。

Perhaps sadness helped generate the unity we needed to survive,

或許悲傷能幫助我們產生生存所需的團結，

but many have wondered whether the suffering felt by others is anything like the suffering we experience ourselves.

但是很多人也懷疑別人感受的痛苦與我們本身所體驗的痛苦是否程度相同。

The poet Emily Dickinson wrote,

詩人艾蜜莉·狄金森寫道：

"I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing Eyes - I wonder if it weighs like MIne - Or has an Easier size."

「我打量我遇到的每一個悲傷，狹小、刺探的眼，我想知道它是否沉重如我所感或更輕省一點。」

And in the 20th century,

而在 20 世紀，

medical anthropologists, like Arthur Kleinman,

醫療人類學家如凱博文，

gathered evidence from the way people talk about pain to suggest that emotions aren't universal at all,

從人們談論疼痛的方式收集證據，提出情緒並非放諸天下皆準，

and that culture, particularly the way we use language, can influence how we feel.

而文化，尤其是我們使用語言的方式會影響我們的感受。

When we talk about heartbreak, the feeling of brokenness becomes part of our experience,

當我們提到心碎，破碎的感覺就變成我們感受的一部分，

where as in a culture that talks about a bruised heart, there actually seems to be a different subjective experience.

但如果一個文化說受傷的心，那似乎就是完全不同的主觀感受。

Some contemporary thinkers aren't interested in sadness' subjectivity versus universality,

某些當代思想家對悲傷的興趣不在它的主觀性，卻在它的普遍性，

and would rather use technology to eliminate suffering in all its forms.

而且比較願意以科技來排除所有形式的痛苦。

David Pearce has suggested that genetic engineering and other contemporary processes cannot only alter the way humans experience emotional and physical pain,

大衛·皮爾斯認為基因工程及其它的現代科技過程不僅能改變人類感受情緒上及身體上的痛苦，

but that world ecosystems ought to be redesigned so that animals don't suffer in the wild.

還能重新設計世界生態系統，所以動物不再於野外受苦。

He calls his project "paradise engineering."

他稱他的計畫為「天堂工程」。

But is there something sad about a world without sadness?

但是沒有悲傷的世界，難道不也是一種悲傷嗎？

Our cavemen ancestors and favorite poets might not want any part of such a paradise.

我們穴居的祖先及喜愛的詩人大概一點也不想要這樣的天堂。

In fact, the only things about sadness that seem universally agreed upon are that it has been felt by most people throughout time,

事實上，大家對於悲傷只有一點是一致認同的，就是它是人類一直都經歷的現象，

and that for thousands of years,

而數千年來，

one of the best ways we have to deal with this difficult emotion is to articulate it, to try to express what feels inexpressable.

我們處理這種難熬情緒的最佳方法就是清楚的把它表述出來，試著表達這難以言喻的情緒。

In the words of Emily Dickinson,

用艾蜜莉·狄金森的話說：

"'Hope' is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -"

「希望是有羽之物，棲息在靈魂深處，唱著無言之歌，永不止息， 永不。」