Who Never Ate His Bread in Tears

               

                                Harfenspieler

Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß,

Wer nie die kummervollen Nächte

Auf seinem Bette weinend saß,

Der kennt euch nicht, ihr himmlischen Mächte!

Ihr führt in's Leben uns hinein,

Ihr laßt den Armen schuldig werden,

Dann überlaßt ihr ihn der Pein:

Denn alle Schuld rächt sich auf Erden.

                                          --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

                                            from his novel, Wilhelm Meister

The Harpist

Who never ate his bread in tears,

Who never lay awake for hours

Plagued by doubts and fears,

Knows you not, you heavenly powers!

Into life you lead every being,

You let poor man hurt foe and friend,

Then turn him over to suffering:

For on earth all wrongs are avenged.

                               --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

                               translated by Thomas Dorset

Last night I had difficulty sleeping--I woke up at 2 A.M.  Usually when I can't sleep and feel as wide awake as I did last night, I get up and read the newspaper online.  But I usually wake up at 4 A.M, not 2.  I decided not to get up, so I could be more energetic the next day, hoping that I would somehow doze off.  Then that poem of Goethe's came into my head.  I knew the German well, and to pass the time, I began to translate it into English.  By morning, the translation was finished.  I did get some sleep, I think, but I felt that I worked on the translation through the night.  Is it possible to translate while dreaming?  If it is, this is my first dream-translation of a major poem.

It is such a major poem that I decided to spend some time, while awake the next day, writing about it.


1.

I first became acquainted with this poem in 1964, during a course in German literature taught by someone I very much admired, Israel Solomon Stamm.  He was well-read, religious in a very philosophic way; he also had a good aesthetic sense, and  a good sense of humor to boot.  He spoke exclusively in English; his aim was to give his students a solid introduction to the humanities  He succeeded.  A very talkative man, he also listened.  (When a rather dour student asked him how he managed to be so happy and so confident, he replied without missing a beat, "Because I know I'm just as crazy as my neighbor!"  The dour student smiled.)

This was one of Professor Stamm's favorite poems by Goethe.  He especially admired the first stanza; he felt that the second stanza had much less of an impact. This is certainly a major poem; Goethe is saying a lot with an extreme degree of compactness and efficiency.
The first stanza asserts that if you don't know sorrow, you don't know life.  Goethe was not a traditionally religious man--Note that he uses the term, "heavenly powers" instead of the more usual "God."  It all sounds almost as impersonal as the laws of physics--Einstein's "God."  They  represent the mysterious source of everything.

Once you know sorrow, the subject of the first stanza, you are more likely to have access to how nature, specifically human nature, works; this is the subject of the second stanza. In this stanza, the powers seem to be very impersonal.  Without our consent we are born; whether we like it or not, we die; in between we fall far from what we could be .  The literal meaning of the German of the second line in stanza two, is "You let the poor human being become guilty."  The implication, the antithesis of the dogma of original sin, is that one is born innocent.  Once one is out of the womb, the environment and one's reaction to it inevitably lead to trouble.  The powers then consign one to suffering--Goethe sees this as  a passive process, the result of inexorable psychic laws.  The last line is very  subtle--A close translation is, "All misdeeds (debts)  are avenged on Earth."  Like a hurricane, wrongdoings must work themselves out before the tempest is over. The reflexive, that is, the passive form of the verb, is used; the process is inexorable and impersonal.  It is the most lovely definition of what Buddhists call karma that I know of.

I think this is one of the most beautiful and profound poems ever written.  Let's return to the first stanza now, and examine it under the aegis of evolutionary biology..


2.

What is the possible evolutionary advantage of knowing those heavenly powers through sorrow? .

"Knowing those heavenly powers" is another way of saying that one has attained  a profound understanding of life.Goethe's wise poem informs us that periodic sorrow is necessary if one is to achieve wisdom.  If a deeper assessment of human nature and of  the world offers a Darwinian advantage for survival, there must be a genetic reason for both pathological depression and what might be called adaptive or healthy  depression.  It all depends on the degree of expression of the genes in question--and of course enabling factors from the environment also play a crucial role..   Let me give an analogy.

Sickle cell disease is a serious disease.  Good modern treatment has lengthened the life-span and has eased the pain of those afflicted with this disease; prior to modern treatment, however, they died young and suffered much pain.  The gene that causes the disease is a one-point mutation, that is,one of the four bases that compose DNA codes has, by chance, been altered here at a single point--in this case from adenine to thymine.  Sickle cell disease is a disease of the red blood cells; each of the countless hemoglobin molecules in each red blood cell has two long chains, an alpha and a beta chain.  On position 6 of the beta chain one amino acid is replaced by another due to the point-mutation.  This causes the red cells to be defective and results in serious symptoms only if the sickle cell gene is inherited from both parents.  If the gene is inherited from only one parent, one has sickle cell trait which confers a distinct advantage for survival.  The mutation occurred in Africa where malaria has been and is still endemic.  If a person with the sickle cell trait is infected with malaria, the infected blood cell sickles and bursts, preventing the onset of the disease.  The vast majority of people with the sickle cell gene have only one copy of the gene, which is called the heterozygous state.  Indifferent nature, which works through chance, "caused" the mutation; Darwinian adaptation, which does not work through chance, actively preserved the gene, since it gives those who have it a better chance of survival.  It is, of course, not a compassionate process.  As long as the gene is of benefit to the majority it is preserved, even though it causes a life of misery to those unlucky ones who have two copies, or are homozygous, for this gene.

I think the same process might be at work with depression.  Depression is not thought to be inherited as a simple point mutation as is sickle cell disease; it is multi-factorial, involving several genes.  They probably all affect mood due to their effect on neurotransmitters, specifically serotonin.  Those with more receptors that bind serotonin tend to be more depressed.

Just like with sickle cell anemia, I think it very possible that those whose genetic makeup favors a more severe depletion of serotonin might be like those who have sickle cell disease, while those with mild impairment might be more like those with sickle cell trait.  In other words, the "mild impairment" might actually be adaptive, giving the affected individual a better chance of survival. Goethe's great poem is consistent with this interpretation.

There are scientific indications for this assertion.  Nature tends to preserve the health of those in their reproductive years, since the production of offspring is of primary evolutionary importance.  This process is much less concerned with degenerative diseases associated with old age; as long as they are not manifest during one's child-bearing years, the genes causing them can be passed on without affecting the survival of the species.  Depression is different.  It has a special predilection for the young.  It is also not to be assigned to disorders caused by modern living; the most primitive societies in the world contain individuals of all ages who are depressed. Depression is also not rare; about 30% of persons will have an episode of major depression some time in their lives.  This indicates that depression might convey an evolutionary advantage, thus assuring that the genes that tend to cause it are preserved.

What might those advantages be?  We've already mentioned a profounder understating of life, leading to better ways to adapt to it.  Sorrow enables us to see life as a path full of  problems to be solved.  Beneficial, adaptive sorrow causes us to ruminate and to analyze .  It encourages periodic periods of relative social isolation, enabling one to devote  time exclusively to problem-solving.   I do not think it possible to devote the enormous effort needed to create or discover the highest achievements of art and science without being dissatisfied with things they way they are.  Don't think Beethoven, Goethe or Newton worked only on weekends.  They were obsessed, they were dissatisfied.

The example of a Hindu sage is also informative.  Ramana Maharshi experienced enlightenment at an early age.  From then on, he informed his followers, he experienced the bliss of being--and never wavered from it until he died at the age of 70 in 1950.  He also stated that once the state of permanent bliss is achieved, all striving ceases.  He showed compassion to all, but life was no longer a problem for him.  His brain must have been overflowing with serotonin.  After his enlightenment, he went to a sacred hill and never left it until his death more than a half a century later.  Ramana Maharshi was a genuine sage; the point here, however,  is that great sages do not discover things like the theory of relativity or create things like the Ninth Symphony.  In addition, he remained celibate for life, hardly the goal of Darwinian adaption.  (This does not reduce in any way his spiritual achievement.)

Note that  the poem states, "Who never ate his bread in tears...knows you not, you heavenly powers: the poem does not assert,"Who always eats his bread in tears..."  We are talking about a sickle cell trait-like beneficial process here!   Pathological depression, if prolonged, is decidedly maladaptive; it shortens the life span and incapacitates those afflicted with it, sometimes even leading to suicide.  Although it is much less severe,  I am not making light of what I call adaptive depression; even sorrow that is only periodic is sometimes very difficult to bear. What almost destroys us can make us stronger, wrote Nietzsche--and the stronger, as Darwin proved, are more likely to survive.  Getting almost destroyed, of course, isn't enjoyable; the result, however, can be sublime.  (Hamlet is a good illustration of this process.  The melancholy, very intelligent, overburdened Dane becomes a veritable sage at the end of the play.  The irony is that just when he is able to become an outstanding king, he is murdered by Laertes.)


3.

What is the alternative to wisdom gained through sorrow?    Ethel Merman sang it best: "Life is just a bowl of cherries/ Don't take it serious/it's too mysterious." Superficiality!

That has always struck me as one of the most idiotic lyrics ever written.  Goethe's poem is sublime, the once-popular lyric is extremely banal.  How does one know this?  How does one become wise? By having eaten one's bread in tears through difficult nights; there is no other way. Only then can one really appreciate life's exquisite cherries, despite the terrible pits.  Goethe, as his poem indicates, knew this well.

The Harpist, a thing of beauty, is indeed a joy forever; here, in addition, truth is beauty and beauty is truth-- the joy strengthens and deepens, sounding the depths of our innermost well.