Suffering

Some say, "If there is a God, why does the child in the wheel chair suffer?"  This is an argument against the existence of a creator or god, or whatever you want to call your higher being.  The suffering argument is compelling because, I believe, suffering is inherent with life.  Life and suffering go hand in hand.  How can I say that? Well in the areas of learning, jealousy, and situation, suffering plays huge rolls.  These three areas are experienced by everybody to some degree or another.

Teachers will tell you, that it is common to get academic problems wrong before you learn the right way.  What happens when you get a math problem wrong in class?  You suffer embarrassment and sometimes humiliation.  Your suffering becomes a motivator to learn.  Some martial arts teachers and gym trainers say where there is no pain, there is no gain.  Well, what does the child in the wheel chair do?  How does this motivation to learn help him/her?  Children are marvelous learning beings.  They will learn almost anything you teach them.  The child in the wheel chair can learn how to live in the wheel chair or learn to make a better wheelchair.  Oh but that may not what you were thinking.  You may want the child to live a normal life and able to walk without the wheelchair.   Well, let's look at the next point, jealousy.

What do you want?  How do you get to the point of wanting it?  Jealousy is wanting what others have.  It's often accompanied with the idea that you cannot get it.  Therefore, you suffer anguish and/or rage.  The question often comes up: should you have it?  A man may covet another man's wife.  That is a classic notion.  It's often the case that men lust after many men's wives.  Shhh!  That's a man's secret.  How about being jealous of the rich?  That is extremely common.  The poor suffer and don't think the rich suffer so they figure money will relieve all suffering.  This is not the case.  Rich people suffer just like poor people.  They pay bills and taxes.  They lose money.  They have relationship problems.  They have problems with their children.  They suffer disease.  They suffer anguish.  They also suffer jealousy.  It is very human to want what we cannot have.  So the child in the wheel chair also wants to walk like everybody else but cannot.  He/She can wallow in jealousy or rise above it.  Accepting your situation is important and healthy.

Everybody is in a situation.  You cannot escape.  You will always be in a situation.  The good news is that situations can be changed.  Pain is electronic stimuli to your brain indicating that there is something seriously wrong.  If we go back to the saying, "no pain, no gain," then were inclined to bear the pain.  There are many cultural influences and traditions that may make you bear the pain.  Yet, pain is due to a situation.  Many times you can change the situation to lesser the pain or get rid of it entirely.  Comfort is the opposite of pain.  Comfort is also the opposite of suffering.  Can the child in the wheelchair change that he/she is in the wheelchair.  No, he/she cannot.  Can the child in the wheelchair get more comfortable?  Yes, he/she can.  Change your situation for the better.  Even a little change helps a lot.  Of course, when there is not change to be had, and you run out of options, you would be enticed to seek the ultimate situation changer: death.  Society does not allow this, yet still there are, on average, 30,000 suicides a year in the United States.  I believe they represent 30,000 problems we have not been able to resolve yet.  These people have not found a solution to their suffering.  This is extreme suffering.  It's not their fault that they suffered.  It's our's, society's, fault that their suffering was not relieved.

Why do people suffer?  People suffer whether in great ways or small way.  All people suffer.  The big lie is that you're the only person suffering.  It's not true.  More often than not, there is a solution to your suffering if only your willing to accept it.  You can learn something new, you can accept your situation, or you can change your situation in one way or another.  I believe it is inevitable for physical life to suffer.  I believe that life is scarce in this universe.  I believe that life is a rebellion against the status quo in this realm.  Life is, and therefore life suffers.  Life fights against the entropy of thermal dynamics.  That's because life is not static.  Life wants to propagate life in every aspect of meaning.  Helping the poor, healing the sick, fighting injustice, and making babies propagates life.  Life is always fighting, therefore life is always suffering in some way.  So, going back to the notion that suffering denotes the absence of deity, I say the presence of suffering denotes life fighting something, and the presence of life denotes deity.