A sad person who is so involved with his sadness that he mistakes it for reality will have a hard time seeing himself as anything but sad. For him, the sadness is not a feeling that he experiences - it is him.
Interpretation
Sadness can become an identity for those who are deeply entrenched in it, making it difficult to see oneself beyond that feeling.
This quote by Mary Gaitskill delves into the nature of sadness as an emotion that can consume an individual so entirely that it transforms into a core part of their identity. When a person is overwhelmed by their sadness, it can cloud their perception of reality, leading them to believe they are defined by this feeling rather than merely experiencing it. This highlights the importance of recognizing emotions as transient, rather than static states of being.
In practice
A therapist might use this quote to help a client understand the distinction between sadness as a feeling and sadness as an identity.
What is faithfulness, anyway? Can you be unfaithful to your own feelings and faithful to someone else? Is it faithful to lie in bed night after night with someone you love but no longer desire while ardently dreaming of someone else?
Sometimes I write from the point of view of characters whom I would dislike as people, not as a perverse exercise, but because this cracks the story open and makes me see it in a way I would not see it naturally.
What are you thinking?” She asks. -That you are beautiful. That not everyone could see it. I almost became the kind of person who could not.
What I have learned from my work up to now, is to try to be open, but also protect myself by not letting the good and the evil get too much importance.
No verse is libre for the man who wants to do a good job.
You could say, in a vulgar Freudian way, that I am the unhappy child who escapes into books. Even as a child, I was most happy being alone. This has not changed.
All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination.
The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.
You can be young without money but you can't be old without it.
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