Suffering

August 2014

Why do we suffer? This question frequently arises, so to frame a possible answer we may wish to consider that suffering is part of the human condition and common to us all. We are everything become something, perfection become imperfect and spiritual become physical. This is neither easy nor without cost. We find ourselves infinite beings bound up in time and space and the confines themselves result in great suffering.

As our awareness of our individuality increases we navigate our way back to perfection by feeling our way along. On our journey, we bump up against conditions we must work our way through and this causes varying degrees of pain. It is not unlike our being in a dark room where we must find our way around by bumping up against furnishings and walking in to walls. The experience teaches us the size and shape of material conditions and gives us the opportunity to creatively use this knowledge. As a result we use our experiences to make a miracle of the ordinary and in this way to make the commonplace miraculous.

Although we suffer as a result of error, not all suffering is the result of error. It is often a sign we are upon the road to perfection and how we respond to conditions will hasten or retard our forward motion. The reason we suffer is of some importance but far less significant than how we deal with where we find our self. In this way suffering becomes an opportunity and not a consequence.

Weather we suffer physically or emotionally, we have an opportunity to grow immeasurably. This does not mean we are to withhold compassion for those who suffer. We must do what we find helpful to relieve suffering where we find it. However it is helpful to realize after we minister to those in pain, suffering is a call to deal with conditions physically, mentally and spiritually. Any less needlessly prologs suffering and creates a victim consciousness.

If we saw someone so frustrated they began beating their head against a stone wall, we would first restrain them form further damaging their body, then minister their bruises and finally show them a better way to handle their anxiety. The cause of their anxiety would not be as important as their developing the ability to constructively express their feelings. The same holds true for each of us, first to stop that behavior that is causing us physical or mental damage, then to get help to repair our body and mind, and finally to deal with our anxiety in  more helpful fashion.

There is no force that will prevail against simple kindness one to another. In a life dedicated to kindness there will be strife, there will be pain, and there will be suffering but in the end they will all be banished time after time, after time. We will suffer but we will not become the victim of conditions but the victor in all things. For some of us our healing is in overcoming conditions, yet for others it lies in the experience itself. Let us deal with our self, with those around us, with those conditions we experience with simple kindness and we have indeed made a miracle of our pain.