Suffering can seem like the end of all ends or it can seem like your heart wants to break. In the end our hearts do not completely break or rip from our body. We can use suffering as a learning tool and a tool to strengthen who we are in life. I will discuss how my own suffering has allowed me to thrive in life and continue on without falter. I will also discuss how I believe God and religion plays a part within the role of suffering. Lastly, I will discuss how forgiving your arch enemy can be more beneficial then drowning in revenge. In summary, suffering is natural in life but each person in the world can either flourish or sink in despair but the benefits of using suffering to grow in this world is more rewarding then drowning.
Suffering
To allow you to put aside the pain and suffering takes a tremendous amount of will power. I always feel amazed by the people who can easily forgive when they have been wronged. I think that learning to give the gift of forgiveness can mature and alters a person life in many of areas. I believe that the will power to forgive disables the strength that one’s adversities have over them. Once you can get past the hatred, sorrow, and pain you open your soul up for spiritual directions in areas that you were not aware that were there before. This allows you to become a better person when you can give a precious gift that your enemy never expected. Frankl wrote that “ The way in which a man accepts his fate and all that suffering it entails the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity –even under the most difficult circumstances to add deeper meaning to his life (CITE). Frankl understood that suffering does not always have to be negative but it is in the way we take in our suffering and use it to strengthen us. Sometimes that gift of forgiveness can change the route your enemy was following in life. You give them a gift of forgiveness which allows them to have a role model to follow. In the end forgiveness can be powerful to alter the life’s of both the person who did wrong and who they did wrong
of suffering is most beneficial. However, answering this question about suffering becomes increasingly more difficult with the
After reviewing the work of David Hume, the idea of a God existing in a world filled with so much pain and suffering is not so hard to understand. Humes’ work highlights some interesting points which allowed me to reach the conclusion that suffering is perhaps a part of God’s divine plan for humans. Our morals and values allow us to operate and live our daily lives in conjunction with a set of standards that help us to better understand our world around us and essentially allows us to better prepare for the potential life after life. For each and every day we get closer to our impending deaths and possibly closer to meeting the grand orchestrator of our universe.
The rattling story of Joseph told of a man who must struggle with the most horrid betrayal from his family in which he learned to forgive them and even helped them flourish in later life. Justified by a need to make them properly atone for their sins, Joseph put his brothers through hell and back. In the end, Joseph ended up feeling happier for reconnecting with his family and saving them from the ominous hands of the famine that plagued Canaan. Although it may seem that the Bible suggests exonerating those who have deeply wronged one shows weakness and too much leniency, forgiveness allows one to become a stronger person and allow for the restoration of bonds amongst once-close companions.
The question of suffering comes up much when talking about, or practicing any religion. Many ask why people suffer, and what causes suffering? The various religions try to answer these questions in their own way. Pico Iyer’s editorial, “The Value of Suffering” addresses the questions of suffering and how it is handled. This article could be compared to the Bhagavad-Gita which also addresses and explains suffering through different stories of the interactions of humans and different Gods. One can specifically look at “The Second Teaching” in the Bhagavad-Gita, which explains the interaction between a man named Arjuna and the god Krishna. In it Arjuna is suffering because he does not want to fight in a war and with people whom he should be worshiping. Krishna says to fight because the souls of the people will forever live on, and because he needs to fulfill his Dharma. With what is known about the Bhagavad-Gita and how Iyer thinks about the subject, Iyer would agree with how the Bhagavad-Gita address suffering.
This is one of the reasons why humans do not normally imagine themselves living a hard future but a simple one. Therefore, we try to avoid feeling or thinking about pain as it is prefered to live a life without it. Even so, in order to try to stay away from it, we need to understand ourselves and the cause of our pain. All of us tend to search for happiness but sadness disturbs it. Could we consider happiness as happiness if we did not feel pain at all? or Could we be happy if we had not experienced pain at all?. Despite reasoning that happiness comes from pain and vice versa, we can’t avoid asking ourselves about the point and purpose of suffering. Does it makes us better people? Does it helps us to empathize when someone is going through a painful situation?. Sadness is our answer to pain and we can overcome sadness over time. But pain is always there although at some moments it becomes less of a burden for ourselves and unnoticeable for other people when we are experiencing joy. Sadness can’t be hidden, pain can. We learn to live with it and if we don’t accept it the pain conquers and defeats us. If we could not
Why do the innocent suffer? This question has been asked for ages. Jewish sources, from the earliest to the latest, have tried themselves to answer this. It occurs to every single person with an interest in religion or not. We all know cases of good people who suffer terrible pains for no obvious reason. From a religious side of life this disturbs me because it seems to contradict certain basic Jewish beliefs. In particular, we believe: God is omniscient (He knows everything), God is omnipotent (He can do anything), and God is just. If these beliefs are right then how is it possible that innocent people suffer?
...ence with hardly a moment's notice. Suffering also arises in the knowledge of our own mortality and our physical limitations. The human being is well aware that the body will one day fail in one way or another. Finally, there is the suffering that comes from the struggle between the individual existence trying to fit with the existence of civilization. Due to the fact that human beings require social connections for both protection and emotional support, the formation of societies and civilizations is inevitable. Human suffering is ultimately an unavoidable aspect of life.
Forgiveness is a process. You can still feel the pain, see the events behind your eyes, and feel the loss of the people around you but you have to find a way to forgive. People think that if you forgive someone you are forgetting or saying hey I would hang out with this person now because we’re cool but thats not at all what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is righting the wrong for yourself because you want the injustice you feel to leave. It’s acknowledging to that there a wrong that was done to you and you decide how you want to think about it not anyone
It is easy to place the blame on fate or God when one is encumbered by suffering. It is much harder to find meaning in that pain, and harvest it into motivation to move forward and grow from the grief. It is imperative for one to understand one’s suffering as a gateway to new wisdom and development; for without suffering, people cannot find true value in happiness nor can they find actual meaning to their lives. In both Antigone and The Holy Bible there are a plethora of instances that give light to the quintessential role suffering plays in defining life across cultures. The Holy Bible and Sophocles’ Antigone both mirror the dichotomous reality in which society is situated, underlining the necessity of both joy and suffering in the world.
Suffering is an individual's basic affective experience of pain or distress, often as a result of one’s physical, emotional or spiritual circumstance (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy 2006). Suffering can be classified as physical; for example pain caused by a dislocated knee, emotional; for example one’s grief over the death of a loved one, or spiritual; which is described as the state of being separated from the blissful nature of your divine self (soul). To suffer physically or emotionally is often unavoidable; however it can be argued that spiritual liberation...
Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feeling and attitude regarding an offense; let’s go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender. Walter (1984) stated that forgiveness is a voluntary process that usually requires courage and multiple acts of the will to complete. In Walters' view, the person who has been hurt has two alternatives: to be destroyed by resentment which leads to death, or to forgive which leads to healing and life. Sonja Lyubomirsky calls forgiveness is a natural resolution of the grief process, which is the necessary acknowledgment of pain and loss. It is a powerful choice that can lead to greater well being and better relationships.
Suffering is not something that one can choose to, or choose not to partake in. To continue living day to day in a state of suffering is not easy. Not being able to escape from the suffering obligates the person to learn to work hard to get past the low points in life. A significant factor contributing to happiness is a sense of accomplishment. People are happier when they feel like their efforts are making a change and that their diligence is worth something. Suffering through difficult parts of life increases a person’s contentment with themselves and with their life, as they feel like they have overcome something they thought they were incapable of. For instance, in the article “Beyond Money” by Ed Diener and Martin E.P. Seligman, it is stated that “Some people consider paid work to be an unpleasant activity that must be suffered in order to earn money. Research, however, indicates that people obtain pleasure from their jobs” (45). Having endured through hardships in order to get to a better place in life makes people feel like they are worthy of being happy as they have worked hard to get where they are- that they are capable of more. Happiness is not solely a result of the end product, but rather the journey, and suffering provides a journey to embark on, to find
Forgiveness is freedom. There is a key that opens the door to healing, happiness and peace, that key is forgiveness. Forgiveness starts from you and it is the greatest gift you can give yourself. Forgiveness of both self and others is the most powerful tool we have, and it is readily attainable to all of us .Take a step of creating a kinder humanity by forgiving someone in your life. If you are convinced and ready to forgive, you may be wondering where to start. My suggestion is to start small by letting go of the grudges, bitterness and anger.
Forgiveness is the act of releasing an offender of any wrong or hurt they may have caused you whether they deserve it or not. It is a decision to let go of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group of people. When we choose to forgive, we’re wiping the slate clean, cancelling a debt, or as I love to say, “Letting it go.” In the Bible, the Greek word for forgiveness literally means to “let it go.” This concept, “forgiveness,” is easier said than done. Majority of people find it very difficult to let go of offenses and hurts caused by others. I really do believe that most people desire to let it go, but we lack the knowledge of how to do it. As believers, we are instructed by God maintain an attitude of forgiveness.
A strong Christian lesson on the true nature of forgiveness can be found in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount: