An Epistolary Essay In Forewarning of Melancholia--Part Ii

(continued from, "An Epistle Warning against Melancholia: an Allegory--Part I," where somewhere in late 18th-century Europe a friend, Laetitia, by way of a letter warns her beloved girlfriend, Euphoria--a young, gay and unsuspecting mistress--against the almost inevitable seductions of the infamous and maundering philanderer, Melancholia.). Melancholia’s third and final principle is the dissemination of nihilism, the philosophy that nothing actually exists and that existence and values are meaningless. It was Melancholia’s pernicious influence that moved King Solomon of ancient Israel to proclaim at the end of the Book of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity in this earth!” Melancholia would gleefully distort and warp Solomon's pronouncement to mean that all is utterly valueless, meaningless, and useless. However, despite Melancholia’s wishes King Solomon provides a qualification to his declaration: the one and only real meaning in life is to work, to enjoy the fruits of your labor, and to worship the Lord your God. But Melancholia instead deceives and proclaims, “God is dead! Read [the unborn, future] Nietzsche or Wittgenstein if you do not believe me!” If Melancholia has his way, he would have us all believe in the delusion that all is dead and meaningless and without value: that Life and the Self are meaningless, purposeless and intrinsically valueless; that Morality is non-existent and void; that Faith is subjective, relative, and thus devoid of reality and meaning; that Anomia is the norm du jour and the ne plus ultra! “Deal with it,” laughs Melancholia derisively, “for your kind matter to me not at all. You are temporary, short-lived, transitory…here today and gone tomorrow like a fleeting vapor. You do not even outlive the very dust that you trample on!” So how does one dismiss and put aside Melancholia’s negating nihilism? The answer is simple enough. Avoid, resist, and put out of your precious psyche—where the battle is either lost or won—Melancholia’s seductive, but baneful voice and suggestions! Do not let him or his lies in your mind. Instead, always safeguard it against Melancholia. Always be vigilant and watchful of your thoughts as well. If you follow these simple instructions, you shall be safe and well from Melancholia’s nihilism and numbing negativity. In conclusion, my dear Euphoria, simply shun Melancholia and all appearances of him to the highest degree. Do not allow yourself to flirt with him or carelessly permit him to court you. Do not let him beguile and charm his way into your mind and psyche with his frequent indulgences of your occasional—but only temporary—moments of emotional weakness, self-pity, and dejection. Finally, never admit or allow Melancholia into your realms of thinking and believing and hoping. So my dear, dear Euphoria—sister and friend of my heart and bosom—if you heed all my words of warning and exhortation (in this letter) against that malevolent Lothario of Despondency then you shall do well and ultimately survive to flourish once more! As to that last (part), I can promise you this myself. Because all I have written about to you thus far I know and therefore speak from my own experience, my dear sister. Till we meet again, dear friend! Au revoir!! Godspeed from Your Sister and Most Loyal Friend, Laetitia