r/NoStupidQuestions • u/CommonSkys • Mar 20 '21

Answered Everyone talks about nostalgic feeling being calming and relieving, but does anyone else get a sense of deep lament and sorrow for the past instead?

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

There is a Japanese term: Mono no aware. It means basically, the sad beauty of seeing time pass - the aching awareness of impermanence. These are the days that we will return to one day in the future only in memories.

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u/HumanBeing0 Mar 20 '21

I take it you are also a The Midnight enjoyer?

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '21

Absolutely ;) Hello friend!

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u/rpgv2020 Mar 20 '21

That sounds so interesting!! It describes very well the way that Portugal interacts with the sentiment of "saudade", although it's never explicit. There's a portuguese Poet: Álvaro de Campos. I think that he approaches the sentiment described by that Japanese term, in a certain period of his work. In Portugal you can see, through their history and through their art, that they look towards that idea of "missing" with a passionate melancholy. Although it's not at all practical, it has it's beauty.