Suffering does it have a good side?

frankiespeakin

I know this is a touchy subject.

Most people, hate suffering, and feel there is no good reason for a person to suffer. I feel like that often, but less and less often.

I think that our view of suffering either: increases its uncomfortableness, or decreases uncomfortableness. I'm sure everyone here will agree with that.

How does a person making peace with suffering?

Will life really be better if there were no such thing as suffering?

What is really the right view of suffering?

What role does love for our neighbor as ourselves play in our view of suffering?

Could there be a benign intelligence that causes us to suffering for good reasons?

Special K

WOW.!!! Lots of questions, questions..

Those questions aren't hard.........it's the answers that are tough.

Search within.. and each person is certainly different.

sincerely

Special K

Great questions Frankie. Evidently a s a tiny and vulnerable entity surrounded by everything that is not me, people, things and events that can harm or kill me, there is much anxiety, worry, fear -- suffering. This is the nature of believing oneself a bug trapped upon the busy sidewalk of the universe. However, is all this true? Am I this fragile and fragmented entity? Is it insane to question it? Or insane not to? Imagine if you could step back and clearly see that everything you believe yourself to be is simply not true, a made-up fiction of the mind. What if there was realization that all the bodily sensations and emotions, thoughts, beliefs and memories, fears and desires, are all just moving energy which moves around you and through you but does not touch the eternal purity and wholeness of what you really and truly are? What if you discovered your true-being as That, which embraces all of it without boarders, rather than being just a tiny broken fragment in a box? Who would there be to suffer then? Suffering, can be a blessing, if it motivates us to question our identity, leave all of societies dogma behind, and investigate for oneself down into the core of our being. j

Dansk

Life is suffering. Why? Because it's all transitory. To be truly happy one must be one with the universe. What's that like and how does one accomplish it? I don't know. I haven't succeeded yet!

Ian

Valis

Do you mean the self inflicted kind like a good spanking or a piercing or a tattoo? Or do you mean that perhaps there is some invisible bastard causing me pain for my own good? The former is my preference...Whatever doesn't kill me only makes me stronger....The latter....If he/she it ever becomes visible I'll be doing some pain infliction of my own! *LOL*

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

frankiespeakin

JT, (However, is all this true? Am I this fragile and fragmented entity? Is it insane to question it? Or insane not to?) Yes to know what we are Ultimately, is beyond our thoughts, and can't be felt with the senses of the physical body. If we knew the answers to those questions, you make would require us to see God, as he Really is. Which to me is imposible to do unless God strengthens us to so see Him for we need the Eyes of God Himself to see God Himself. Which would require unreachable humility for Him to show Himself to Us.

JamesThomas

Frankie, What you said may very well be pointing towards truth, and by expressing it in Christian Mysticism type language it sounds almost too grand, too unreachable to be attainable. What we are seeking is simply our natural and true being/identity; which we already are. It doesn't sound so impossible now -- does it. It's simply about being still, letting go, and seeing what is here that we did not see before. That said, there is a tremendous amount of energy seemingly apposed to clear seeing. The key is to step back and see nonjudgmentally the movement of this energy (composed of thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, ideas, concepts and beliefs). All of this, which we often identify with as who we are is not us, because we are now looking at it. What we truly are is bigger and closer than who we believed ourselves to be. What we truly are can in no way be placed in a box. It's not about doing or becoming or changing or earning, it's simply about seeing. Be still and know (see clearly and undeniably) that "I" (your true-identity) am God (the Source of all things). The mind makes it difficult, it is really extremely simple. But, don't make the mind an enemy. It is not. There are no enemies here. Put up your sword and be open and still and very, very present. This is not about going into some meditative koom-by-ya stupor. Trust, that God has already given you everything you will ever need to find what you seek. j

Phantom Stranger

Not to sound pedantic, but there are many who differentiate between pain and suffering.

As the saying goes, Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. Buddhist philosophy (I am differentiating from Buddhist dogmatic traditions) addresses these concepts very directly:

The Four Noble Truths are a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces -- suffering of a physical kind, or of a mental nature. The First Truth identifies the presence of suffering. The Second Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering. In Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance.

The Third Noble Truth... the truth of the end of suffering... through achieving Nirvana. When one has achieved Nirvana, which is a transcendent state free from suffering, spiritual enlightenment has been reached. The Fourth Noble truth charts the method for attaining the end of suffering, known to Buddhists as the Noble Eightfold Path. The steps of the Noble Eightfold Path are Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Moreover, there are three themes into which the Path is divided: good moral conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech); meditation and mental development (Action, Livelihood, Effort), and wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and Concentration).

From http://www.pbs.org/edens/thailand/buddhism.htm

JamesThomas

I am not a Buddhist, or of any other religion. Yet I agree PS. There is a difference.

The psychological suffering of a broken and frightened entity ends when there is no longer an identity to such or as such. However, physical and emotional pain remains. These are an intrinsic part of the infinity of life/God/Truth.

To end the identity and thus the suffering of a tiny boxed-in entity -- is to become nakedly and openly exposed to all of Life as it truly is.

There may be sadness or other emotions deeper than ever before, more tears flowing. Deeper ache seeing others suffer, as they are not so separate from you as before. More compassion and passion. Yet, there is a clear identity with an untouched Ocean of Stillness and Peace beneath.

Our true nature is within the unmoving depths, yet we are free to play in the movement of the waves, as they are not separate from who we really are. However, when all waves cease, what is ultimately True -- remains untouched.

j

Phantom Stranger

Actually, I'm not a Buddhist either... but they seem to have more figured out about human psych and emotions than the West.

The Western religions were good at avoiding trichinosis, though...

Suffering does it have a good side?

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