Five Earthly Consolations for Sorrow

The chapter's central question

Summa Theologiae sees sadness as an exercise of the mind and a state of the body at the same time. Proper pleasure relaxes the soul, tears express inner pain outwardly, and the sympathy of a friend carries the burden. Contemplation of truth allows us to see wider goodness, and sleep and bathing restore our tired body. The reason there are multiple suggestions is because humans are beings with a body, relationships, and intelligence.

Read the complete essay

Aquinas's approach to sorrow appears in the Summa Theologiae, First Part of the Second Part, Question 38. Discussing pleasure, tears, a friend's sympathy, contemplation of truth, and sleep and bathing, he considers the body and relationships together. This is an argument within medieval philosophy and theology, not a treatment protocol validated by modern medicine.

1. Enjoy any pleasure: eat delicious food or listen to your favorite music.

2. Tears: Aquinas considers sorrow finding outward expression. This does not mean that a reader today must cry.

3. Receive sympathy from friends: There is no greater comfort than the look in the eyes of a true friend with whom you can share your sorrow.

4. Meditate on the truth: Read wise books and look at the big picture of life.

5. Sleep and bathing: He takes bodily rest seriously. This is a perspective on everyday care, not a promise that these actions alone remove sorrow.

The fact that the great philosopher, who was called a saint, advised a person in sorrow to ‘take a bath and sleep’ clearly shows how completely he respected the human body and mind.

Context and nuance

Thomas Aquinas deals with the passions in the detailed format of question-rebuttal-answer in Summa Theologiae, Part 1, Part 2 (I–II), questions 22-48. By reconstructing Aristotle's theory of the soul and ethics within the Christian understanding of human beings, we see that for humans with bodies, emotions are not accidental defects but natural movements of sensuous desires.

Turning this list into a simple ‘when you’re feeling down, take a bath’ recipe, warmth turns into cruelty. Thomas does not say that all sorrow has the same cause or intensity. These suggestions are not an all-purpose solution that replaces professional treatment, but are anthropological insights that advise us not to treat suffering people only as abstract souls.

Do not oversimplify it this way

Medieval ‘passion’ does not exactly overlap with the passive passion of modern Korean. Also, the categories of desire and anger should not be treated as if they were two brain circuits or personality types. This is a system that logically divides the movement of desires according to the way good or evil comes to them with ease or difficulty.

Philosophy in life

Have you ever felt guilty because of the emotions rising like fire in your heart, even though your head said, ‘I need to forgive, I need to stay calm’?

Share warmth with a friend: When you're having a hard time, don't shut yourself up; call someone you trust and talk about it for 10 minutes.

Primary-source guide

Primary guide: Summa Theologiae I–II, qq. 22–48, especially qq. 24, 25, 38, and 40–48.

Pathos Editorial · Reviewed 2026-09-12