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Suffering is either manmade or beyond man’s control. The concentration camps of Hitler and refugee camps engendered by wars are all manmade suffering. Natural calamities and epidemic outbreaks are largely beyond human control. There is also much suffering we bring upon ourselves by our actions or attitudes.
Whatever
the type, suffering can never be a sanguine thing. No sane person would want to
embrace suffering for any reason. The most natural tendency for normal human
beings is to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Yet pain is an integral part of
life. There is no likelihood of your ever encountering a person who has not
experienced pain of some sort. The Buddha went to the extreme of defining life
as pain.
The
Buddha’s solution is to put an end to our desires. Desires are the causes of
pain. The Buddha is speaking about one kind of pain only, the pain we bring
upon ourselves through our passions and pursuits. And his solution is neither
practical nor desirable. What is life without desires, passions and pursuits?
Moreover, the Buddha’s solution won’t put an end to all the suffering
engendered by factors which are not in our control in any way, and much human
suffering belongs to that category.
Perhaps
the Serenity Prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr can give us a better solution. “Grant
me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the
things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” That’s the prayer. A
profoundly meaningful prayer it is. Much of our suffering can be tamed if we
change certain things like our habits, attitudes, thinking, and responses to
situations. We can change the situations that cause our suffering. If we cannot
change them, we need to accept them gracefully.
Suffering
cannot become meaningful, perhaps. But suffering can alter us in miraculous
ways. Serenity is only one of the gifts of suffering.
I walked a mile with Pleasure;
She chatted all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For
all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow;
And ne’er a word said she;
But, oh! The things I learned from her,
When Sorrow walked with me.
That’s
a poem by Robert Browning Hamilton, American poet. Suffering can teach us many
deep lessons of life. That is arguably the only blessing of suffering. Those
lessons constitute the meaning of suffering. Suffering can shake us out of our
complacencies and move us towards thinking about things that really matter in
life. It can make us better human beings. Suffering can be a potent force for
our personal growth and change.
This post is the 7th in a
series on Meaning of Life.
8th and the last
will be: Love: the ultimate meaning
Desire is the cause of pain is true to an extent. Heavy but much needed read
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it useful.
DeleteI'm still not able to understand what exactly is a suffering
ReplyDeleteRather, the meaning of suffering?
DeleteSometimes I feel it is all in our head. We just need to learn to be happy irrespective of the situation.
ReplyDeleteDiseases, bereavement, hunger, displacement... they are objective facts out there.
DeleteLoved your post! Extremely poignant and thought-provoking. Keep writing such posts I love reading your thoughts. #MyFriendAlexa #DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteWow, so succinct and profound, Tomichan! Such a gem this one! Have to read your earlier posts on this series.
ReplyDeleteWow, so succinct and profound, Tomichan! Such a gem this one! Have to read your earlier posts on this series.
ReplyDeleteWill be delighted to hear your views on the other posts as well.
DeleteSuffering is pretty subjective but I like your take on it. Nice work.
ReplyDelete#ContemplationOfaJoker #Jokerophilia #MyFriendAlexa
I don't deny the subjectivity of suffering. But suffering is universal and hence I thought of looking at it from this meaning perspective. Glad you liked it.
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