When people suffer it sometimes prompts them to try to understand the purpose of suffering. “Why me?” is a frequent refrain. But the answer to the question is that it comes to us all.
My wife has been going through some physical suffering for the last week. This prompted me to seek a solution for her in the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. And as I looked through the chapter summaries, I realized just how much suffering there is in life. There are so many illnesses that plague so many people.
But the physical suffering that is so common in the world is only part of it. There is also emotional suffering — the suffering that comes from loneliness, or from people being abandoned by spouses, or people losing loved ones to death.
And then there is the suffering of hopelessness that so many experience when whole cities are wiped out in tsunamis or hurricanes or earthquakes. For others, the suffering comes from violence, war, poverty and injustice.
There is no way to escape it. Suffering is a big part of life. But what is the purpose?
If God is compassionate, then why are the people who love Him put through so much suffering?
In the course of my life, suffering repeatedly has stripped me of the extraneous. Ambitions, careers, relationships and miscellaneous pursuits have all gone up in smoke. Over the years it has forced me to focus on the bare necessities of life.
It was immense physical suffering that led me to the awareness of an inner life. And I think that is the case for many, many people.
I remember the director of a cancer center telling me once that a lot of their cancer patients were actually glad they had cancer, as it led to their discovery of an inner life. And my wife last night told me she is glad she went through this recent bout of suffering. “I needed a wake up call,” she said.
So, with the theme of suffering on my mind, I was happy to stumble upon a 1986 Glow International interview with Eruch Jessawala, a disciple of Meher Baba, who expands on these ideas even further:
“God’s compassion is not according to our concept of His compassion. His compassion is that He would do His very best to get anyone closer to Him. And get him out of the rut of these constant reincarnations. So his compassion would always be directed towards getting people out of the maze of illusion, in one form or another. And the best way to get them out of illusion is to bestow upon them not relief from suffering, but more suffering. That’s His compassion. It seems ridiculous, it seems preposterous that the Compassionate One should shower upon us this suffering, but that is the only good weapon that He can utilize in order to make us turn towards him and face Him. All other little trinkets that may be bestowed upon you by others who are advanced on the spiritual path, and who have got some powers, they might give you limbs and they might give you sight, or they might even raise you from your death bed and all that; but that is not real compassion if it entangles you more and more in the mazes of illusion. So His real compassion is to get you out of the maze of illusion. And the remedy is that you always call out to Him. And when do you call out to Him? Well, when your fingers get burned or when your backbone gets ripped or hurt and so forth; then you call out with all your heart.”
It was the famous Sufi poet Rumi, who wrote in his discourses, “I am amazed at the people who must be dragged to Paradise in chains and fetters.”
It is amazing that people have to be dragged to spiritual freedom, but it shows the addiction so many of us have to illusion. It’s hard to resist. But that is because for most of us, our consciousness is only of illusion. Suffering helps this consciousness to lose its grip on us. And when that happens, when we can get a glimpse of the sublime, of the eternal, we see with our inner sight the Divine Beloved waiting to give us His embrace.
7 Comments
That’s a great quote from Eruch and explains the purpose of suffering very clearly. I’ll look forward to reading some of your other posts now that I’ve added your blog to my Google Reader. Jai Baba!
Thanks, Sean. Glad you liked the quote. Eruch was something else, wasn’t he? A great, great man.
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Let me know if you are ever planning a trip to Myrtle Beach. I’d like to meet you to say hello.
Hey!, Loved your post on The Purpose of Suffering. I’m interested in cancer horoscope and on Sunday found a similar comment in a local newspaper. Couldn’t have said it better myself!
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Dear Greg,
Thank you for this writing. I just read the purpose of suffering article and decided to respond to it. Two people given the identical situation won’t suffer identically. In fact one may not even suffer at all. Suffering is such a subjective thing. You can’t even look at another person’s situation and judge how much they are suffering by thinking about how much you would suffer in the same circumstance.
It is possible, and desirable to come to a point in your life where you truly don’t suffer in any circumstance. And I’m not talking about gritting your teeth and keeping a stiff upper lip and saying “I’m fine. I’m not suffering at all.” I’m talking about a new way of looking at every situation and seeing the benefit in it and seeing everything as part of a bigger picture. Then you will realize that everything that happens to you is a result of your own karmic action, (not God’s doing), but God is always there to see you through it. By remembering God, as He is and how He is and connecting with Him, (soul to Supreme Soul) you can burn your past karmic accounts and reduce the amount and the severity of the “suffering” that comes to you, and in time you won’t even notice it, or see it as suffering. Instead you’ll see it as a way to serve humanity through your stage of “not suffering”. God’s advice to humanity is “Don’t give sorrow and don’t take sorrow.” We all know it’s wrong to give sorrow but how many of us realize that it is actually a sin to take sorrow for any reason. If you take sorrow, (suffering) for any reason, then the karmic consequence of that is to receive sorrow. And it’s got nothing to do with God. It’s karma. It’s a law, like gravity.
I want to add, (if you’ll excuse me for speaking so much), that the whole world is suffering immensely right now. There is pain and suffering everywhere. It’s palpable. God isn’t causing it, but He is aware of it, (although as well as being loving He is detached). He has to come at this time into the drama because He is merciful. The only one who can bring peace to the world at this time, with the big mess that the world is in, is God. But He has a method. His method is to come Himself and teach and give knowledge. Only those who have this knowledge imprinted on their soul will take it again. The knowledge that we receive from God through Raja yoga shows us how to not suffer or take sorrow anymore. After we’ve stopped taking sorrow ourselves, He shows us how to benefit others and give them the knowledge to bring them out of sorrow and suffering too. The main thing is to consider yourself to be a soul, not a physical body. All fear and suffering comes in this life from considering yourself to be a body. Nothing can ever really happen to a soul. A soul never dies, only the costume of the body dies. See this life as a drama and see yourself and others as actors playing out their parts in the drama. Remain detached. Play your part lovingly, but always remember that the only one you really need is God. According to the drama, after there is immense suffering, there will be cries of victory as everyone realizes that God has come to take us all home to our home of peace. This piece of knowledge is imbedded in every religion. Everything that happens is for benefit. We don’t know the date or time, but we do know that it will happen suddenly and soon.
Live every day, (no every hour) as if it were your last. Live every hour in the best way that you possibly can, as an elevated being, which is who you really are. Recognize your own greatness, and recognize the greatness of others and love God with all your heart. Be good and stop chasing after limited desires. Just be a soul. Be happy. Realize that all the bad stuff you see is just drama. Let it go. Forget about it.