Christian Life 13 - On Suffering

 Now that we've spent some time pondering Impermanence, we have undoubtedly brushed occasionally on the second of our immutable facts, that of Suffering.  Before we begin to consider this fact, we must make one important distinction.

Here we are not talking about pain.  Pain is real.  Pain happens.  Pain may take the form of a headache, the grief of losing a loved one, even the empathetic pain we feel when we recognize the plight of the world.  That pain cannot be made to go away.  In fact, we don't even want it to.  Pain can be a great motivator.  It can lead us to the aspirin bottle, to loving our remaining relatives a bit more or turning to God for guidance as we endeavor to make our own little corners of the world a better place for those around us.  Pain can teach us things that pleasure cannot, to wit: patience, humility and our utter dependence on God.  As C.S. Lewis put it "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain.  It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." (The Problem of Pain)

None of which can be said for suffering.  Suffering is a delusion; a delusion of our own creation.  A delusion in which we abide at our own discretion.  We can end our suffering any time we choose.  Pain, it may be argued, is ordained of God, suffering is not.  God does not intend that we should suffer, so blaming God for one's suffering (or praying for God to remove it) is the height of ignorance.

As Richard Bach wrote in the Messiah's Handbook: "The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in tragedy and injustice.  What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly."

The Buddha addresses suffering in his Four Noble Truths.

1. DUHKHA - Life is suffering.  To be born is to suffer, to live is to suffer, to die is to suffer.

2. SAMUDAYA - The cause of suffering is fundamental ignorance of our own nature and the nature of reality.  We suffer because of our mistaken belief that things, including ourselves, are separate, independent and solid.  Our suffering is caused by our desires to maintain this false reality.

3. NIRODHA - Suffering can end when our egotistical desires are halted.

4. MARGA - The way to end desire and suffering can be found by following the Eightfold Path.

Jesus said much the same thing about suffering, but it is difficult to extract any single verses on the subject, since he expressed his ideas so frequently and with such fervor.  Reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) - especially the Beatitudes - with the small enlightenment we have thus far considered will undoubtedly lead the reader to new insights into the teachings of Jesus no matter one's past scholarship in theology.

The general idea is that suffering is the result of desire.  Some of our desires are easy to fulfill, others not so much, and some not at all.  If I desire a bologna sandwich, I can just walk into the kitchen and prepare one.  If I desire a fancy new sports car, that may prove a bit more difficult, but with persistence and saving it can be achieved.  If I desire world peace, I'm pretty much SOL.  In every case, though, my suffering over the matter at hand only happens as a result of the desire remaining unfulfilled.  Since some of those desires cannot be fulfilled, we will never end our suffering from the fulfillment of our desires.  This leads to a simple yet profound conclusion - to end suffering, we must end our desiring.

The perfect antidote for desire is gratitude.  While we're counting our meditative breaths, let us think for a moment about what we're breathing.  We're breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide.  Where does oxygen come from?  Plants.  Trees.  Trees and other plants take in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.  Take a moment to be grateful for trees.  When we're hungry, we eat.  What do we eat?  Plants and/or animals.  Where do plants and animals come from?  The earth.  So do the trees that produce our oxygen and provide our shelters, so does the water that quenches our thirst.  The earth is, in a very real sense, our mother.  She provides for all our needs.  She sustains us.  Without her, we would not live.  We are intimately connected with her.  Let us meditate on our gratitude to Mother Earth. 

Did you have to hunt or gather your food?  Did you have to filter your water?  Did you have to construct your own shelter, weave your own cloth?  No?  Meditate on all the people involved in the supply chain that brought all these things to you.  Meditate on your gratitude to all these people.  Remember them when you meet them in the street.  Consider how, like the earth, you are interdependent with them.  With the Earth and the other people on it, God gives us everything we need; air, water, food, shelter and clothing.  There are even a few perks thrown in for free like singing birds, beautiful sunsets, waterfalls and the Northern Lights.  Exactly what else do we expect God to do for us?  As you meditate on your gratitude over the next few weeks, pay attention to how your suffering diminishes.

Pax