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The view or answer depends on personal opinion and personal experience. There is no one "right" answer. You could get 50 people going one way, and 50 going the other.
Some too might say it's neither A or B (like you've given), but maybe C or D; other possibilities to consider.
On the other side of the coin... do you focus on suffering, or move on as best as possible despite it? Looking around, you could find both approaches. Many these days want to celebrate their misery, for sympathy or bravado. Even then, one person's suffering might be another's minor inconvenience. There's a lot to digest; not a quick knee-jerk conclusion to reach.
Last edited by Thoreau424; 05-09-2022 at 05:53 PM..
the wisdom which is found in practicing a path of religion and spirituality
goes far beyond "cliche" or platitude.
of course if a mindset dismisses paths of religion and spirituality as cliche, then they are not able to see beyond a very superficial level (not going beyond the surface). The opening post topic asks readers to address that and explore it. a person can view life, events, situations, circumstances as random and superficial. or they can seek and find deeper meaning.
While there is some truth to that, it's also very cliche. As I recently found out...wait till you think you're getting a cancer diagnosis.
While there is some truth to that, it's also very cliche. As I recently found out...wait till you think you're getting a cancer diagnosis.
the wisdom which is found in practicing a path of religion and spirituality
goes far beyond "cliche" or platitude.
of course if a mindset dismisses paths of religion and spirituality as cliche, then they are not able to see beyond a very superficial level (not going beyond the surface). The opening post topic asks readers to address that and explore it. a person can view life, events, situations, circumstances as random and superficial. or they can seek and find deeper meaning.
so in response to the question posed by thread title, "Does suffering and adversity make sense from a religious/spiritual perspective?" my reply is yes.
the wisdom which is found in practicing a path of religion and spirituality
goes far beyond "cliche" or platitude.
of course if a mindset dismisses paths of religion and spirituality as cliche, then they are not able to see beyond a very superficial level (not going beyond the surface). The opening post topic asks readers to address that and explore it. a person can view life, events, situations, circumstances as random and superficial. or they can seek and find deeper meaning.
so in response to the question posed by thread title, "Does suffering and adversity make sense from a religious/spiritual perspective?" my reply is yes.
"Jesus Christ, Fanny Brice
Wolfie Mozart and Humphrey Bogart
Genghis Khan and on to H. G. Wells
Ho Chi Minh, Gunga Din
Henry Luce and John Wilkes Booth
And Alexanders King and Graham Bell
Ramar Krishna, Mama Whistler
Patrice Lumumba and Russ Colombo
Karl and Chico Marx, Albert Camus
E.A. Poe, Henri Rousseau
Sholom Aleichem and Caryl Chessman
Alan Freed and Buster Keaton too
And each one there has one thing shared
They have sweated beneath the same sun
Looked up in wonder at the same moon
And wept when it was all done
For bein' done too soon
For bein' done too soon"
Are the ass-whoopings of life all trying to convey a more important message from the powers that be or is suffering just a random part of life?
As an atheist I am quite sure they are not Messages From Beyond but I think it's a little over-determined to declare them random, as if that's the only other alternative.
Some things are just cause and effect.
Sometimes the causal chain isn't clear. Sometimes it is.
Some things are just dumb luck (be it seen to us as good or back luck).
Personally I have found my atheism quite helpful in dire straights, because I don't waste energy on the useless "why" questions. Many religions try to tie life up with a bow and tell you things like "god blesses the righteous and confounds the wicked". If you see yourself as righteous (or at least not wicked!) and faithful to god and something "confounding" happens then you have to jump through rings of fire and eat little pieces of glass trying to reconcile that experience with your personal dogma. I am unburdened by this.
Perfect example, one night at 10 pm I was just crawling into bed for the night when the phone rang. It was the duty nurse at the ER telling me that my son had come in with cardiac arrest and they were unable to resuscitate him. Now that kind of thing is bad enough without trying to figure out what god is trying to "teach" me or why he might be punishing me or my son, etc. I am not saying that experience was some kind of cake walk but at least it wasn't made worse by trying to make sense of something that is just fundamentally obscene in its own right.
My son's death turned out to be an accidental overdose of prescription meds (not a suicide, he died at work). So his mistake, too bad, so sad. It wasn't something for me to take personally. It certainly is easy to TAKE personally when a hole like that is ripped in you. But because I understand it's just life happening I was able to not exhaust myself railing at the universe for not being nice to my son or to me or my wife or his sister, etc. I can understand how grief and loss works, how it effects people, how others cope with it, and I can take care of myself instead of wondering why this terrible thing happened. Some things have no "why". The just ARE. In fact I have come to see it as disordered thinking that everything is part of some tapestry woven in to a master plan for your life. It is faux comfort when the tapestry comes crashing down around you. You pay for the self-centered notion that life is all about you when you bump into things that remind you that it is not actually about you at ALL.
"God is testing you." "Everything happens for a reason." "God never gives you a burden greater than you can bear." "That which does not kill you makes you stronger." I hate it when someone starts mouthing platitudes like these.
If there is a God, I'm pretty certain that he doesn't wish for us to suffer. God would never test me because since he is all knowing, he knows that I'm the kid who is always behind in her homework and if he gives me a pop quiz, I'll fail it every time. And no one has yet to give me a good spiritual reason as to why the holocaust happened. I see people laboring under a burden of suffering that is so great that they have no choice but to stumble and fall. I have been one of those people more than once in my life. Finally, that which does not kill you can make you a hopeless coward - at least for a while. That which did not kill me made me angry that it had not.
Some higher power does not hand out suffering, but life most certainly does. Some times we unknowingly do things that bring about our own suffering. Sometimes suffering arrives like a lightening bolt out of the blue - we have no idea as to why we should be subjected to such strong suffering. Karma? Fate? Or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time?
I have worked very hard to find "redemption" in my own suffering. Until I was almost killed by 3 heating seasons in a row where I unknowingly breathed in so much carbon monoxide from a faulty home furnace that I should have died but somehow didn't, I had no idea what people who suffer traumatic brain injuries go through. Now I have been given a deep understanding of their plight. Now that I know, I volunteer for the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition and I do my best to help others like me find medical care, housing, and disability benefits from the Social Security SSDI program. If I can help just one or two or three people who have suffered the same injuries as I, then I feel that I have made my own suffering serve a higher purpose.
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