After taking a couple of weeks off for the holidays, I am back with another topic for contemplation and discussion. The Spirituality Explorers' Discussion Topic for this week is:
I don't know 'why' there is suffering, but I sure know it engenders empathy. Suffering is one way you become united to someone you've never encountered. Suffering eventually enlightens and evokes wisdom. Suffering is divine.
Suffering, in many cases, makes us appreciate the more important things in life, such as family and friends and maybe even life itself. It can also teach us to learn from our mistakes. Compassion is the upside of suffering and can be a valuable, and beneficial tool, if used in a manner that benefits all of humanity.
If there was no suffering, we would not recognize joy. Also, our suffering makes us stronger, and in our strength we are better able to reach out and help others...doing it with empathy.
There is suffering because it is the nature of humans to fail to accept life as it is. Instead we do dreadful things to each other to try to gain our expectations. And then we blame it on some far off god we have invented.
Suffering is the "grade" that the universe gives us when we fail our worldly lessons. They are meant to encourage us to live differently, better, not a "punishment" ... though it may seem so ... it is a part of Karma. IMnsHO.
God uses fruit of your bad deed to create devotion in you
God grants certain desires also to uplift the soul gradually. God is preacher in this world He uses the fruits of your deeds to develop you spiritually. This world is called as Karma loka, where you develop yourself guided by God acting as preacher. This world is not to consume fruits of your good and bad deeds. For that the upper worlds exist; they are called as Bhoga Lokas. God uses fruit of your bad deed from the list of your punishments to create devotion in you; souls are like ignorant children only.
They will never become devotees by the real devotion here. They study for five minutes on giving a small stroke with cane. They become again mischievous forgetting the effect of cane. Similarly, a trouble is a cane, you will become devoted to God. You derive happiness, again you forget devotion [and] become yourself. The fruit of your good deed acts as a gap between two troubles.
The happiness gives a gap making you fresh for re-devotion. That comes again in the next trouble, another stoke of cane. Like this God uses your deeds in any sequence He likes as per the requirement of your spiritual development in this world.
When you are not changed you will face final enquiry after this rare human birth and you will be thrown to hell forever. If you are good for society without any devotion to God, you will be sent to heaven till the duration of fruit exists. [Then] You will come down to earth. God acts as a judge only after your exit from this human birth, not as a preacher at all. Therefore, there is no re-birth, certainly no human re-birth. Only for few exceptional cases, in which there is hope of future spiritual development, God grants human rebirth. The liberated souls, by his devotion, are always with God taking human re-births to assist God in human form here.
Suffering has so much purpose. One suffering must learn that they cannot always be undefeatable, and that they are unable to always overcome. They learn that there can be strength in enduring their weakness, and that humility is necessary to allow yourself to be served. Those who are confronted by suffering are required to extend beyond themselves an awareness of other's needs and pain, giving them the opportunity to grow and develop an even greater sense of their own purpose.
Suffering is the ultimate opportunity for growth and peace.
My own suffering brings me to the realization that I must depend on God. It is an illusion born of false beliefs I have, usually about how the Universe ought to be.
The suffering of others gives me an opportunity to show the love of God to them.
Suffering simply is. How I react to it determines how I will grow. Suffering reveals a lot about a person ... from the one suffering to the reaction of others outside the situation.
Take a look at the animal world. Is there suffering? Yes. Does an animal learn from suffering? How does an abused pet act? lab animals? in nature? on farms?
Each quality of suffering is a building block for a divine quality which can be awakened and developed. Once I was "yelling" at God - well, not yelling - but telling God that I'd had enough poverty, thank you very much. Then I remembered to be grateful for the poverty, and to acknowledge that it had been a good teacher for me. "What's the meaning of it, anyway? " I asked. I was told, "You're a real warrior now." "What do you mean?" I asked. "You've got nothing to lose," said God. Ah.
A few weeks later I was following God's direction to move again, this time from Portland over to Texas. So as I was driving along through that long, long stretch of west Texas on the way over to the Hill Country, that still small voice of God came through again. "Poverty builds Faith," it said. Ah.
My thoughts are that suffering is actually a gift -- the most effective mentor in teaching us compassion. Without the experience of personal suffering we'd most likely be doomed to selfish mediocrity though I wish we could grow through some other means.
Beryl, after reading your book, I know your comment comes from the heart. I often ask the same question about poverty, another form of suffering, and the poor. The answer is the same -- it (and they) teach us humility and compassion, which are two of life's greatest gifts.
In the book The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran, he writes about pain:
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; and you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief."
I believe that our pain and suffering deepens us. And our joy is even greater when we have experienced the depths of our pain.
From what has been written so far, it seems that there is an acknowledgment that good can definitely come out of our pain and suffering.
As a Father back in 1988, my best friend and his best friend, also our family friend, both 18, my only son, and both my elk hunting partners, were killed in a vehicle accident.
Now that was challenging for me, there was much mental pain and suffering that lasted for years even. The point being that prior to that, though I loved and respected young people that I knew who were more close to me, I had a thing against "teen-agers" in general, primarily based upon media depictions I suppose, as a bunch of juvenile "smart-asses", self centered egoistic me me me types ... "my" problem ? Yes, but it made me shun most of them for whatever reason at the time ... until the "accident" (for those that use "that" term) ...
Then I was inundated with caring grieving people from our rather small very rural community, most of them teenagers from the school where both boys had just graduated from a relatively few weeks (this was Labour Day) before ... and I was blown away by their compassion, maturity and wisdom as young people ... inside of those teen-age "exteriors" were REAL people, and I came to love them greatly having an entirely new opinion about ALL teen-agers to this very day. Now "that" was a great "gift" to me, that and the compassion that so many "others" showed that I had formerly felt a disconnection with in general ... over all a great learning experience ... and many years later, after my own spiritual "awakening," it ALL made sense from "that" perspective ... so as "bad" as it was, and my "now" knowing about the greater spiritual picture of it all ... I can actually say that it was a "good" experience, probably for ALL concerned ... because it was a part of God's greater plan and there are NO accidents in that. Everything serves a greater good !
Jerry, thank you for sharing this very personal example. It very much reflects what Gibran wrote. I understand better now the path that you have traveled to become the very compassionate and spiritually evolved man that you are.
I believe there are two categories of suffering. There is the suffering we bring on ourselves by failing to heed life's lessons. It can range from criminal actions leading to imprisonment, alcohol and drug addiction, or unresolved psychological problems to failure to manage personal debt, self-inflicted health problems, and failed relationships. In this category, I would suggest that the pain is optional and dependent on our own action or inaction and our own sense of responsibility rather than the assumption of victimhood. There is clearly a second category, and that is those events that out of our control. Hurricanes, blizzards and floods cause misery. War, pestilence and plague are out of our control. Those who attribute them to some sort of "bad karma" or to the anger of God at some supposed fault I believe are indulging in a vicious act of religious abuse, a spiritual malpractice inflicted on the suffering. It is not whether these acts have a "purpose," it is what we do in response to them, either as sufferers or as observers. We can face our problems and suffering squarely and with courage. If we are faced with grief, we can honor our feelings and do what is needed to resolve the grief, including having enough patience no to cut the process short. Grief over the death of someone close is rarely resolved in a week or month or two, it usually takes a year or two. It is not our job to "get over it," but to honor ourselves and our loved ones by doing the needed inner work. So it is with any problem. If I am caught in the midst of alcoholism, then I join AA and work my sobriety. If I am caught in debt, I get counseling and work responsibly to manage my finances. If I need psychotherapy, I gather the courage to walk into the therapist's office and do the work. Whether I am one who suffers or one who observes, I also have an opportunity to react with empathy, courage and love, and help others who suffer. I may help a man get into the New Warrior training and gain his true manhood. I may volunteer to do relief work. I may sponsor a new member of AA. The opportunities are endless. It is not, however, our fulfillment of tasks that are the most important. It is reaching out with honesty and love, with concern and sympathy. For those who grieve, the most important message may be to express your love, care and concern. Sometimes there is no "task" at hand but that which is emotional and spiritual. I pray we all find the strength of spirit to simply reach out and fill the world with love. In the end, that is what will transform a world filled with suffering into a world of strength and love.
Beautifully put, Lynn. I especially appreciate the last two sentences.
As far as the idea that there are two kinds of suffering, there is also the belief that even hurricanes and famine are affected by the human race consciousness. That what we believe and out-picture, our expectations as world citizens, creates these situations.
I am with Carla on that last ... and as far as Nature effects and affects, even that is a part of our "karma" to some degree or other ... not everyone in even the same areas experience "just" the same, or reacts so ... the spiritual realm is aware and involved in ALL ... IMnsHO.
Within each of us there are two kingdoms competing for our soul and our loyalty.
One side offers great physical comfort and pleasure, in this world, in exchange for little things like turning our head when we see wrong being done or going along with everyone else just because it is easy. All we have to do is fit in and enjoy the wealth. If we cause someone else a little pain, it's OK, it's their problem. If as a nation we cause millions of deaths in war, we only have to give in to the thought that we can't be wrong. It's the other guys' fault.
The other kingdom offers only a promise that we will find peace, understanding and eternal life. To achieve this eternal life we must forsake wealth and comfort. We must be willing to suffer for our belief and be willing to give our very life for what is right.
Suffering is the result of our greed, our willingness to turn our head and ignor the evil, our willingness to ignor the perfect law of our creator.
We are physically living in the kindom of Satan and he delites in our suffering. To say that suffering is just a result of Ying and Yang or some natural balance, is to surrender to a world and system that we were not created to suffer.
Based upon some of what Jimmy says above, I would like to point out that it is the "dualistic" thinking that seeks one extreme, the good (or so-called perfect) that is held out to be at one end of a scale with the "bad" (often seen as the evil involving those under the sway of Satan) at the other end ... such an end to be either avoided or warred against. In such thinking there is no allowable grey area middle ground, you are either for good ALL THE WAY or against it ...
Thus we have those that delight in materialistic riches NOW ... those that avoid such relying on the promise of their REWARDS coming after this earth life. Sort of what we have in separation of church and state where each's "leadership" keeps "their people" out of the others business (or some body will lose their tax exemption) (I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine) ... that way we have those supposedly that are materially RICH and their counter-parts that are "said" to be spiritually rich ... and everybody hates their opposite while one plays now who will pay later, according to the ones now materially poor expecting to play later.
It is the above "system" where one side believes there is an eternity for justice and balance (heaven and hell) while the other side sees "this" as all that is important, have fun now as there may be no tomorrow and sure as hell no eternity. In "both" cases it is believed by most that there is no active spirit (except maybe Satan's)participating day to day with us, with the "believers" seeing all of that "Divinity" as elsewhere in some more divine realm, where "judgment" will be administered from, "later". Dualism (+/-).
In the Trinitary picture it is Spirit as (=) in (+=-) that administers "Karma" (or Chi) (the accounting and balancing of the Yin (-) and Yang (+) REAL TIME as we go along. This being more of an Eastern esoteric (subjective) view while the duality is the Western exoteric (objective) view ...
One could well say that there exists a "duality" consisting of those two views ... but that one would be from the exoteric position of duality because the esoteric position of the other always sees spirit INvolved as the 3rd party of Trinity.
The one has judgment and the other has karma ... IMnsHO.
PS ... judgment LATER ... and ... karma NOW as one lives. Thus the people in the first camp see bad things happening as accidents with no connection to spirit ... accounting comes at judgment day. Thus all days can be "feared" as presenting potential UNwarranted 'accidents' or 'evil' acts "happening to them ... and of course then it usually means to them that some one else is to be Blamed or held accountable here and now. One reason (of many) why we have wars.
The esoteric view is that nothing happens that is not for the greater good or a lesson that needs to be learned from the Soul perspective ... as you sow so shall you reap ... thus do unto others as you would have done unto you ... as we are all one.
You can figure out which way of thought is the more peaceful I suspect.
Jimmy: "To achieve this eternal life we must forsake wealth and comfort."
I do not believe that we need to forsake wealth and comfort to have eternal life. A mainstream, traditional Christian would say that eternal life is ours based on our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our saviour. My personal belief is that life is eternal, that the soul outlives the body and is then reborn into another one (reincarnation).
Wealth is not our problem. It is when we obsess about or focus on money that we get into trouble. The Bible does not say, "Money is the root of all evil." It says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." And comfort, which of course has at least two different definitions, is not wrong in and of itself. As with money, it is when we make it our goal at the expense of our morals and values.
I think that there are reasons for suffering, which is one point of consideration, and there are causes for suffering, which is another altogether different point of consideration.
To deal with them in reverse order: the causes of suffering are many but chief among them is human activity. There is a line in an old Leonard Cohen song that goes "you are locked inside your suffering and your pleasures are the key". I have worked for more than half of my adult life with the poor. Poverty often comes with other issues attached to it. That Leonard Cohen line has had more and more resonance with me as time goes by. I see so many people whose choices based on the immediate gratification of drugs, of alcohol, of sexual promiscuity and of many other things that are "of the moment" lead them to long term suffering from which they seem unable to extricate themselves. I also see people who are causing a lot of suffering in those around them because they are emotionally damaged, because they feel victimized and want to strike out at others, because they feel ignored and impotent and by creating chaos they are at least having some effect on the world around them.
Human beings are often the author of their own suffering and even more often the author of the suffering of others.
However, there are also natural causes of suffering: disasters, accidents, disease. Many people are struck with these calamities and suffer through no fault of their own and with no one else to blame either.
Which leads to the question of the reasons for suffering. If we believe in a Supreme Being, a Creator of all things, and if we believe that this Being is a moral entity with a reason for the way that His reality is designed and Who is motivated by love, then there must be a reason for the natural suffering that occurs in His universe.
The human caused suffering is the natural result of our free will and our weakness that leads to poor choices. But the natural suffering is of another order.
I believe that suffering does have a positive aspect to it. Just as pain is the body's way of telling us to stop doing something that harms us, suffering can be an inducement to making positive changes in how we are living.
Suffering also tests and tempers our souls. Just as metal is tempered, and strengthened by fire, we can made stronger by having suffered. As Neitzsche observed "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
Suffering also does teach us empathy, as some one observed above. When we have "been there" we can truly appreciate what others are going through.
Suffering also helps provide contrast. If life were unrelentingly joyous we would take it for granted and stop appreciating it, become jaded. Because we have suffered we can also know true ecstasy.
Some suffering seems extreme for these reasons. How can the intense poverty of third world peoples be of any benefit to them? How can victims of debilitating and painful illnesses be made stronger by what they suffer, especially if the illness is lifelong or terminal? How can people who are permanently damaged by such things as sexual abuse during their childhood ever be empathetic or joyous again?
Well, if we look at life only as being the period between one person's birth and their death, then it is not really possible to reconcile the amount of suffering some individuals endure versus the amount of joy they know with the concept of a karmicly balanced universe. But, if life continues on after death, if there is an after life, if there are other lives through reincarnation, if there are other stages, other realities that we will move through after we leave this plane of existence, then the suffering we endure here, no matter how great, becomes much less important to the whole of our living experience.
I do believe that there is more to life than what we know and see. I believe our suffering here is part of what prepares us for the next stages, what ever they may be.
You are a very deep and thoughtful man, Rory. Are you by any chance familiar with the Unity church? I do believe that you would very much resonate with the spirituality that you would find there.
Thanks, Jerry, I appreciate your kind compliments.
Carla, yes, I am from Montreal but I no longer live there. I live in the tiny town of Bancroft in Ontario, about a three hour drive west of the Quebec border and about five hours from Montreal. Haven't been back to my hometown in a number of years now, though I am itching for a visit.
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After taking a couple of weeks off for the holidays, I am back with another topic for contemplation and discussion. The Spirituality Explorers' Discussion Topic for this week is:
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Comments: 29
If I gain the world and have not charity......
God grants certain desires also to uplift the soul gradually. God is preacher in this world He uses the fruits of your deeds to develop you spiritually. This world is called as Karma loka, where you develop yourself guided by God acting as preacher. This world is not to consume fruits of your good and bad deeds. For that the upper worlds exist; they are called as Bhoga Lokas. God uses fruit of your bad deed from the list of your punishments to create devotion in you; souls are like ignorant children only.
They will never become devotees by the real devotion here. They study for five minutes on giving a small stroke with cane.
They become again mischievous forgetting the effect of cane. Similarly, a trouble is a cane, you will become devoted to God. You derive happiness, again you forget devotion [and] become yourself. The fruit of your good deed acts as a gap between two troubles.
The happiness gives a gap making you fresh for re-devotion. That comes again in the next trouble, another stoke of cane.
Like this God uses your deeds in any sequence He likes as per the requirement of your spiritual development in this world.
When you are not changed you will face final enquiry after this rare human birth and you will be thrown to hell forever. If you are good for society without any devotion to God, you will be sent to heaven till the duration of fruit exists. [Then] You will come down to earth. God acts as a judge only after your exit from this human birth, not as a preacher at all. Therefore, there is no re-birth, certainly no human re-birth. Only for few exceptional cases, in which there is hope of future spiritual development, God grants human rebirth. The liberated souls, by his devotion, are always with God taking human re-births to assist God in human form here.
At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness, Sri Dattaswami
Suffering is the ultimate opportunity for growth and peace.
The suffering of others gives me an opportunity to show the love of God to them.
Take a look at the animal world. Is there suffering? Yes. Does an animal learn from suffering? How does an abused pet act? lab animals? in nature? on farms?
When does accepting become ignoring?
Once I was "yelling" at God - well, not yelling - but telling God that I'd had enough poverty, thank you very much. Then I remembered to be grateful for the poverty, and to acknowledge that it had been a good teacher for me. "What's the meaning of it, anyway? " I asked.
I was told, "You're a real warrior now."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You've got nothing to lose," said God.
Ah.
A few weeks later I was following God's direction to move again, this time from Portland over to Texas. So as I was driving along through that long, long stretch of west Texas on the way over to the Hill Country, that still small voice of God came through again.
"Poverty builds Faith," it said.
Ah.
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; and you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief."
I believe that our pain and suffering deepens us. And our joy is even greater when we have experienced the depths of our pain.
From what has been written so far, it seems that there is an acknowledgment that good can definitely come out of our pain and suffering.
Now that was challenging for me, there was much mental pain and suffering that lasted for years even. The point being that prior to that, though I loved and respected young people that I knew who were more close to me, I had a thing against "teen-agers" in general, primarily based upon media depictions I suppose, as a bunch of juvenile "smart-asses", self centered egoistic me me me types ... "my" problem ? Yes, but it made me shun most of them for whatever reason at the time ... until the "accident" (for those that use "that" term) ...
Then I was inundated with caring grieving people from our rather small very rural community, most of them teenagers from the school where both boys had just graduated from a relatively few weeks (this was Labour Day) before ... and I was blown away by their compassion, maturity and wisdom as young people ... inside of those teen-age "exteriors" were REAL people, and I came to love them greatly having an entirely new opinion about ALL teen-agers to this very day. Now "that" was a great "gift" to me, that and the compassion that so many "others" showed that I had formerly felt a disconnection with in general ... over all a great learning experience ... and many years later, after my own spiritual "awakening," it ALL made sense from "that" perspective ... so as "bad" as it was, and my "now" knowing about the greater spiritual picture of it all ... I can actually say that it was a "good" experience, probably for ALL concerned ... because it was a part of God's greater plan and there are NO accidents in that. Everything serves a greater good !
There is clearly a second category, and that is those events that out of our control. Hurricanes, blizzards and floods cause misery. War, pestilence and plague are out of our control. Those who attribute them to some sort of "bad karma" or to the anger of God at some supposed fault I believe are indulging in a vicious act of religious abuse, a spiritual malpractice inflicted on the suffering.
It is not whether these acts have a "purpose," it is what we do in response to them, either as sufferers or as observers. We can face our problems and suffering squarely and with courage. If we are faced with grief, we can honor our feelings and do what is needed to resolve the grief, including having enough patience no to cut the process short. Grief over the death of someone close is rarely resolved in a week or month or two, it usually takes a year or two. It is not our job to "get over it," but to honor ourselves and our loved ones by doing the needed inner work.
So it is with any problem. If I am caught in the midst of alcoholism, then I join AA and work my sobriety. If I am caught in debt, I get counseling and work responsibly to manage my finances. If I need psychotherapy, I gather the courage to walk into the therapist's office and do the work.
Whether I am one who suffers or one who observes, I also have an opportunity to react with empathy, courage and love, and help others who suffer. I may help a man get into the New Warrior training and gain his true manhood. I may volunteer to do relief work. I may sponsor a new member of AA. The opportunities are endless.
It is not, however, our fulfillment of tasks that are the most important. It is reaching out with honesty and love, with concern and sympathy. For those who grieve, the most important message may be to express your love, care and concern. Sometimes there is no "task" at hand but that which is emotional and spiritual. I pray we all find the strength of spirit to simply reach out and fill the world with love. In the end, that is what will transform a world filled with suffering into a world of strength and love.
As far as the idea that there are two kinds of suffering, there is also the belief that even hurricanes and famine are affected by the human race consciousness. That what we believe and out-picture, our expectations as world citizens, creates these situations.
One side offers great physical comfort and pleasure, in this world, in exchange for little things like turning our head when we see wrong being done or going along with everyone else just because it is easy. All we have to do is fit in and enjoy the wealth. If we cause someone else a little pain, it's OK, it's their problem. If as a nation we cause millions of deaths in war, we only have to give in to the thought that we can't be wrong. It's the other guys' fault.
The other kingdom offers only a promise that we will find peace, understanding and eternal life. To achieve this eternal life we must forsake wealth and comfort. We must be willing to suffer for our belief and be willing to give our very life for what is right.
Suffering is the result of our greed, our willingness to turn our head and ignor the evil, our willingness to ignor the perfect law of our creator.
We are physically living in the kindom of Satan and he delites in our suffering. To say that suffering is just a result of Ying and Yang or some natural balance, is to surrender to a world and system that we were not created to suffer.
Thus we have those that delight in materialistic riches NOW ... those that avoid such relying on the promise of their REWARDS coming after this earth life. Sort of what we have in separation of church and state where each's "leadership" keeps "their people" out of the others business (or some body will lose their tax exemption) (I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine) ... that way we have those supposedly that are materially RICH and their counter-parts that are "said" to be spiritually rich ... and everybody hates their opposite while one plays now who will pay later, according to the ones now materially poor expecting to play later.
It is the above "system" where one side believes there is an eternity for justice and balance (heaven and hell) while the other side sees "this" as all that is important, have fun now as there may be no tomorrow and sure as hell no eternity. In "both" cases it is believed by most that there is no active spirit (except maybe Satan's)participating day to day with us, with the "believers" seeing all of that "Divinity" as elsewhere in some more divine realm, where "judgment" will be administered from, "later". Dualism (+/-).
In the Trinitary picture it is Spirit as (=) in (+=-) that administers "Karma" (or Chi) (the accounting and balancing of the Yin (-) and Yang (+) REAL TIME as we go along. This being more of an Eastern esoteric (subjective) view while the duality is the Western exoteric (objective) view ...
One could well say that there exists a "duality" consisting of those two views ... but that one would be from the exoteric position of duality because the esoteric position of the other always sees spirit INvolved as the 3rd party of Trinity.
The one has judgment and the other has karma ... IMnsHO.
The esoteric view is that nothing happens that is not for the greater good or a lesson that needs to be learned from the Soul perspective ... as you sow so shall you reap ... thus do unto others as you would have done unto you ... as we are all one.
You can figure out which way of thought is the more peaceful I suspect.
I do not believe that we need to forsake wealth and comfort to have eternal life. A mainstream, traditional Christian would say that eternal life is ours based on our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our saviour. My personal belief is that life is eternal, that the soul outlives the body and is then reborn into another one (reincarnation).
Wealth is not our problem. It is when we obsess about or focus on money that we get into trouble. The Bible does not say, "Money is the root of all evil." It says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." And comfort, which of course has at least two different definitions, is not wrong in and of itself. As with money, it is when we make it our goal at the expense of our morals and values.
To deal with them in reverse order: the causes of suffering are many but chief among them is human activity. There is a line in an old Leonard Cohen song that goes "you are locked inside your suffering and your pleasures are the key". I have worked for more than half of my adult life with the poor. Poverty often comes with other issues attached to it. That Leonard Cohen line has had more and more resonance with me as time goes by. I see so many people whose choices based on the immediate gratification of drugs, of alcohol, of sexual promiscuity and of many other things that are "of the moment" lead them to long term suffering from which they seem unable to extricate themselves. I also see people who are causing a lot of suffering in those around them because they are emotionally damaged, because they feel victimized and want to strike out at others, because they feel ignored and impotent and by creating chaos they are at least having some effect on the world around them.
Human beings are often the author of their own suffering and even more often the author of the suffering of others.
However, there are also natural causes of suffering: disasters, accidents, disease. Many people are struck with these calamities and suffer through no fault of their own and with no one else to blame either.
Which leads to the question of the reasons for suffering. If we believe in a Supreme Being, a Creator of all things, and if we believe that this Being is a moral entity with a reason for the way that His reality is designed and Who is motivated by love, then there must be a reason for the natural suffering that occurs in His universe.
The human caused suffering is the natural result of our free will and our weakness that leads to poor choices. But the natural suffering is of another order.
I believe that suffering does have a positive aspect to it. Just as pain is the body's way of telling us to stop doing something that harms us, suffering can be an inducement to making positive changes in how we are living.
Suffering also tests and tempers our souls. Just as metal is tempered, and strengthened by fire, we can made stronger by having suffered. As Neitzsche observed "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
Suffering also does teach us empathy, as some one observed above. When we have "been there" we can truly appreciate what others are going through.
Suffering also helps provide contrast. If life were unrelentingly joyous we would take it for granted and stop appreciating it, become jaded. Because we have suffered we can also know true ecstasy.
Some suffering seems extreme for these reasons. How can the intense poverty of third world peoples be of any benefit to them? How can victims of debilitating and painful illnesses be made stronger by what they suffer, especially if the illness is lifelong or terminal? How can people who are permanently damaged by such things as sexual abuse during their childhood ever be empathetic or joyous again?
Well, if we look at life only as being the period between one person's birth and their death, then it is not really possible to reconcile the amount of suffering some individuals endure versus the amount of joy they know with the concept of a karmicly balanced universe. But, if life continues on after death, if there is an after life, if there are other lives through reincarnation, if there are other stages, other realities that we will move through after we leave this plane of existence, then the suffering we endure here, no matter how great, becomes much less important to the whole of our living experience.
I do believe that there is more to life than what we know and see. I believe our suffering here is part of what prepares us for the next stages, what ever they may be.
I am a Baha'i.
And I agree, Jerry, Roray has a very healthy and balanced view.
Carla, yes, I am from Montreal but I no longer live there. I live in the tiny town of Bancroft in Ontario, about a three hour drive west of the Quebec border and about five hours from Montreal. Haven't been back to my hometown in a number of years now, though I am itching for a visit.