Sadness

Proverbs regarding depression, despair, despondency, discouragement, downheartedness, fretting, gloom, heaviness of heart, hopelessness, melancholia, sadness, sorrow, unhappiness, worry.

When these proverbs were written, perhaps 3,000 years ago, alcohol was a commonly accepted elixir. (Potions from herbs would have been associated with Pagan magic but wine was manmade and therefore devoid of evil forces.)

Today we are more enlightened. If chemical assistance is needed we use much safer remedies from manmade pharmaceuticals, instead of drowning sorrows with drink. And thank God we have such alternatives. Even though modern medicine is far from perfect, without it there would be much more suffering in the world than the current 2.5 million deaths annually attributed to alcohol..

Even so, people cling to Proverbs 31:6-7 (see below) as biblical sanction to go out and get sloshed. "...let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more" may subdue their misery but can only make things worse in the longer term.

Yes folks, we at seiyaku.com are against the evils of drink!

(See also Alcohol Criticised)

All the days of the afflicted are bad, but one with a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Prov. 15:15 (read whole chapter)
A person's folly subverts his way, and his heart rages against the LORD.
Prov. 19:3 (read whole chapter)
As Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so the eyes of a person are never satisfied.
Prov. 27:20 (read whole chapter)
The leech has two daughters: "Give! Give!" There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, "Enough" -
the grave, the barren womb, land that is not satisfied with water, and fire that never says, "Enough!"
Prov. 30:15-16 (read whole chapter)
Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitterly distressed;
let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more.
Prov. 31:6-7 (read whole chapter)

Source: World Health Organization

From The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.