Suffering

Suffering is essential to the nature of man; it seems to belong to man's transcendence, one of those points in which man is destined to go beyond himself. In fact, suffering is almost inseparable from man's earthly existence; it evokes compassion and respect, it intimidates. Pope John Paul II indicates that the need of the heart commands us to overcome fear and the imperative of faith allows us to dare to touch the intangible mystery of man in his suffering. Suffering is wider than the sickness treatable by medicine, physical pain, or moral suffering, pain of the soul, although it accompanies both physical and moral pain. Man suffers whenever he experiences evil - the "sins" of Christianity are the "afflictions" of Buddhism; but it is said that the hurt of suffering is caused by aversion, and that acceptance can bring joy.

Buddhist and Hindu thought relates suffering to attachment and the release from suffering to non-attachment. Other thought suggests that suffering is the inevitable result of the process of change, and therefore necessary for development. Again, Pope John Paul II says that man can be said to suffer because of a good in which he does not share, either because he is cut off from it or because he has deprived himself of it. Every individual, through suffering, becomes part of the world of suffering in which all who suffer are brought together. Such suffering can become a source of strength. St Paul rejoiced in his suffering for others when the meaning of his suffering was discovered and shared; and redemption for all was achieved through the sufferings of Christ.

Meister Eckhart distinguishes two kinds of suffering. One arises in selfishness, the clinging to creatures. It is hard to bear and crushes. The other arises from trying to detach one's self from creatures and cling to God. It strengthens and is, in a way, easy to bear, both because it can be accepted as a necessary step on the road to freedom and also because God, in effect, carries it in one's place. When this suffering touches us it touches God first. There is even a kind of joy in suffering which is part of learning detachment and brings increased communion with God.