The saddest thing in the world

I have a good friend who loves to ask me hypothetical and philosophical questions (mostly to divert the conversation from talking about himself, but perhaps he also genuinely wants to hear what I have to say; I guess only time will tell). The other night, he asked me what in this world made me saddest. After bantering about why in the world he would want to know the key to making me as sad as possible, I finally settled back and thought of my serious answer.

The saddest thing in the world to me isn't a physical thing at all. It's not a situation. It's not an event. It's a mindset.

Mindset: n., the established set of attitudes held by someone

I am a firm believer in the power of one's mind. The mind can drive us to action or keep us from moving into bad situations. It orders decision-making algorithms, triggers emotions, allows for interpersonal communication, and processes every taste, touch, sight, smell and sound that we encounter. Our brains are truly amazing gifts from God.

So what is this mindset that I find to be the saddest in the world? I'm not quite sure that a label exists for it, but the one that I think comes closest would be apathy.

Apathy: n., lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern.

I don't mean a simple lack, though. I'm talking about when you meet someone who has just completely given up on seeing anything interesting or wonderful in the world. The glass is always half-empty, if they even admit to there being anything in the glass to start with. The world through their eyes is lackluster and full of nothing important. They've lost their sense of wonder and excitement. In a sense, they are existing, but they're not really living anymore.

Have you ever met someone like that? My family used to say that kind of person could brighten a room simply by walking out of it. These people...these heavy-hearted gloomy souls wandering through life with no real vision of what is happening around them do indeed make me sad, but there is one subset of these particular people that makes me even sadder still. The saddest thing in the world to me is the combination of apathy and obstinacy.

Obstinacy: n., the quality or condition of being obstinate; stubbornness

When someone is so jaded by life that they refuse to see life differently, even if his or her view of the world is making him or her miserable, to me that is the saddest thing in the world. These people are so persistent in staying in the microcosm of darkness they created that they refuse to come into the light.

They have created a belief that what they have is either what they deserve or perhaps that it is all there is in this world. They can't see the beauty of a tree for the splinters. They don't see the grace of a sunset for complaining of the blinding light. They forget the joy of fellowship because a single person or group left them. And they are consistently creating thoughts to maintain this mindset. They reject any evidence to the contrary.

These people are not unlike a few characters in one of my favorite book series when I was growing up as a child. Having grown up reading The Chronicles of Narnia, I am ever amused and enthralled by how deep of thoughts Lewis entwined in his beloved tales. As an adult, I marvel at the magnitude of the lessons, though as a child they made perfect sense. But I digress.

In "The Last Battle", there is a group of dwarves who always stick together ("The dwarves are for the dwarves!"), even when they are thrown into a cold dark stable to die. What they fail to realize is the stable door has been transformed into a gateway to Aslan's Country. I won't go into the details of this country, what it really is or how the rest of the characters fair because my story lies with the dwarves tonight (and it has been so long since I last read this marvelous book that I fear to mess up any details).

There they sat in a beautiful green field surrounded by wonderful things, and they still huddled close together and muttered about how cold it was in the barn. Another character even stuck wonderful green grass next to their faces, but they angrily chastised him for sticking old hay in their faces. In their minds, they were stuck in that stable. Aslan describes it best:

"They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.” 

The mind is such a powerful thing. What we choose to do with it, how we choose to mold it, what we allow to go in and come out of it is so important. Through our minds we can be held captive or we can learn to soar. We can stare at a blank wall as we walk through life, or we can look around and take in the majesty and glory of the created world. 

The saddest thing in the world is that people think they must wait until they die before they are allowed to live. May we all never fall into the stable of cynicism. May we all maintain a healthy imagination. May we all live to the fullest each day we are given. May we use our minds to create a better world instead of entrenching ourselves in obstinate apathy of the beauty around us.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8, ESV