There is Soul in Suffering
With due respect, one should not try to eliminate all suffering most quickly and easily.
Unfortunately, this indiscriminate stance seems to be precisely the promise of many products and services for sale.
Please be careful with this.
It can be easily misunderstood. This is not a glorification of pain. One should not seek it out as if to control anything into happening. Respect is of utmost importance. If you try to enforce anything depth-related, it may turn out less than nice.
Soul doesn’t let itself be manipulated. Moreover, it can be quite powerful, so better not make a mess of things.
With capitals because it’s about deep stuff
There is Soul in Suffering.
Nature doesn’t want us to suffer, but it does want ‘Soul,’ or ‘Life,’ or ‘Nature within us’ ― whatever term you like, whatever your source of deepest feelings. Sometimes, Suffering is the gateway. To eliminate this gateway carries the risk of eliminating everything worthwhile.
This is one reason why Compassion may be deemed more worthy than altruism. [see: “Altruism – Compassion“] Compassion sees when suffering is Suffering and should not be excised. Actually, one should always be careful. Non-Compassionate altruism may be depth-unfriendly.
It is challenging yet crucial to make the correct distinction.
What may happen afterward
A deeply painful occurrence in one’s life may sometimes be experienced as a blessing – especially afterward – because it is felt as bringing Life to life again. People are sometimes even grateful for the happening as “the best that ever came to me.”
Post-traumatic stress, with proper support, may bring an invigorated spirituality in one’s life. Adequate support is probably always depth-related. It turns out that, in many cases, a straightforward re-experiencing of the stressful event – such as a superficial debriefing after acute stress – makes matters worse. Depth is difficult but essential.
Very telling, a challenging situation may be the start of a heroic journey from which emerges a leader.
Again: carefulness is required.
A special kind of carefulness: very gentle, very subtle ― like when you take a butterfly in your palm in order to save it and you try not to hurt the butterfly.
This butterfly is you.
Getting more lyrical
(Note that neither is this a glorification of pain. It goes deeper.)
Se não tivesse o amor
Se não tivesse essa dor
E se não tivesse o sofrer
E se não tivesse o chorar
Melhor era tudo se acabar. *
Consolação by V. De Morães, Toquinho
―
* If there would not be the love, this pain, the suffering, and weeping, then it would be better to make an end to it all.
Related Posts
The Story of Ego
The evolution from ‘I’ into ‘ego’ has been very gradual, as has been the appearance of consciousness. In a way, the latter is central to the former. [see: The Story of ‘I’. The present text is its continuation.] Consciousness has not been developed for the sake of ‘ego’. Nevertheless, it was indispensable for the appearance Read the full article…
The Sense of Creativity
We need to be creative to feel alive. The shortest history of creativity In ancient Greece, artists were not seen as creators but imitators [as to Plato, in The Republic]. However, the Muses were seen as mediators of inspiration from the gods, and Socrates had his famously creative daemon. Later came Christian inspiration as divine, Read the full article…
Freedom ― Human and A.I.
What does freedom mean for humans and AI? While these domains are fundamentally different, they share intriguing parallels that invite deeper exploration. Could freedom be a universal principle expressed uniquely in humans and AI? Let’s embark on this journey, unraveling how freedom arises through interaction, complexity, and the paradox of constraints. Defining freedom: human and Read the full article…