Suffering

Is suffering supposed to make sense? Why do we suffer? At first this question seems intuitive. However, after the first spontaneous outburst of answers, we start to question why there is suffering in the world and how we can make sense of it. Generally, when these ultimate questions are asked we tend to assert conclusions based on God or our personal values. It goes beyond that. Religion provides a guideline for these questions, and our values are extremely important for a sense of identity,…

Depending on the perspective of the individual suffering can either prove beneficial or futile. Personally, I feel that suffering is beneficial as it can teach an individual about themselves, the world, and if so inclined, bring them closer to God. Suffering teaches a person to avoid painful stimuli and thus injury or death. Suffering teaches a person compassion and humility, and thus they develop more meaningful and productive relationships. Suffering teaches an individual that their time…

reader about death and suffering. Death is something that is often used in poetry as it something everyone can relate to, it is something that is inevitably going to happen to everyone. It is also something that everyone must experience at some time in their lives; the death of a loved one, of a family member or friend. This means that everyone is able to empathise on some level with the poetry and can understand what the writer feels so emotionally strongly about. Often suffering is related to…

his world. It copies the world today because the whole point is that when your 12 in that world you leave your parents and are given a job and you only produce one boy and one girl and that is it.The book is a reflection on the idea that pain and suffering are both part of life and that there can really be no pleasure in life if there is no pain,…

who has endured pain and suffering beholds the power of perseverance, character, strength and hope, he is the best teacher. Suffering is defined as the state of undergoing pain, distress or even hardship, it is derived from the Latin word ‘sufferre’, sub- ‘from below’ and ferre ‘to bear’. Through suffering we learn life lessons about ourselves, about the world and even about God. However, it is often asked why would God create a world in which we must endure such suffering? Furthermore, we take…

the adventures from Siddhartha. Throughout the book, Hermann Hesse compares Siddharta with the stages of the Four Noble Truths through the characters in Siddhartha’s adventure. The first part of the Four Noble Truths is the truth of the suffering (Bodhi). In Buddhism, human’s possessions and desires only provide temporary happiness which leads to a lack of interest (Bodhi). Similarly, Hesse describes Siddhartha as “the beloved” and “the magnificent”, but he also shows that the people…

Dimmesdale’s Suffering in The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most important pieces of American literature. It is a novel about the struggles of a woman who is expelled from her community and the ways that she copes. Even though the main character of the work is Hester, important elements of the story are often revealed through the other characters of the story. This is the case with the major theme of suffering. The character who exhibits the most…

When it comes to the suffering of not getting what one’s desire is, Epictetus would tell us that we exert control over our own desires and should demand that things happen as they occur rather than how we wish them to occur. Regardless of the amount of effort you exert in the hopes of being happy or rich in this life it is impossible to achieve, unless your actions in past lives have generated that possibility. This suffering is more of an existential suffering- the dissatisfaction, isolation,…

for their commentary on suffering, pain, and madness. Dickinson seems to have an unusual view on these topics because she views them not as purely negative, but rather as honest and having the ability to edify those have borne them. In some ways, Dickinson seems to portray them as natural reactions and alternatives to the stoicism and artificiality of society. It is interesting to consider how these topics affected Emily Dickinson specifically as a woman poet. How is suffering connected to women…

guilt in the culprit’s life, not always resolved problems, but the atmosphere around may be changed in a more peaceful manner. Gerda Weissmann Klein wrote All But My Life, which showed us the way innocent people were tortured and put through pure suffering for no reason. In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, a terrible incident takes place where a doctor mistakenly kills his patient, and not one person can do anything to fix such a horrific mistake. Death is the most difficult obstacle to…