“Religion is the opium of the masses.” – Karl Marx

August 16, 2024

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Weltschmerz is a literary concept describing the feeling experienced by an individual who believes that reality can never satisfy the expectations of the mind, resulting in “a mood of weariness or sadness about life arising from the acute awareness of evil and suffering.”

The term was coined by the German Romantic author Jean Paul in his 1827 novel Selina, and in its original definition in the Deutsches Wörterbuch by the Brothers Grimm, it denotes a deep sadness about the insufficiency of the world (“tiefe Traurigkeit über die Unzulänglichkeit der Welt”).

The translation can differ depending on context; in reference to the self it can mean “world-weariness”, while in reference to the world it can mean “the pain of the world”.

The modern meaning of Weltschmerz in the German language is the psychological pain caused by sadness that can occur when realizing that someone’s own weaknesses are caused by the inappropriateness and cruelty of the world and (physical and social) circumstances.

“Religion ist das Opium des Volkes.” – Karl Marx

This statement was translated from the German original, “Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes” and is often rendered as “religion … is the opiate of the masses.”

The full sentence from Marx translates as: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” Wikipedia