Suffering often brings lessons

Suffering often brings lessons

The Buddha used the term ‘ dukkha’, a Pali term which is often translated as suffering, but would probably be closer to ‘un-satisfactoriness’. It would include all kinds of suffering, like mental, physical, emotional, financial etc. and would basically mean not getting what we want, or getting what we do not want, or being forced to give up what we hold dear. Physical illnesses, financial issues, relationship issues, poverty, unhappiness---these and much more form dukkha. To express the truth of this suffering/ dukkha, Buddha spoke about the four noble truths of Buddhism, which include the reality or inevitability of suffering, the cause of suffering, freedom from suffering and the path of freedom. The eight fold path of Buddhism is meant to lead us out of this suffering.

We all experience suffering of various kinds and to varying degrees, on a day to day basis, No one is free from suffering, whether it is lack of money, disease, disharmony with others, abuse, feelings of unhappiness, lack, fear, anger, jealousy, or the problems of old age. And when we suffer, we automatically search for solutions to bring a quick end to the suffering. When we fall sick, we seek out a doctor, undergo tests, and take medicines or undergo surgery, so that our suffering can be relieved. When we have relationships issues with our near and dear ones, we try to talk it out with them, using emotion, logic, reason, or threats, or we seek professional help of a counsellor, and try to get out of the suffering, When we lack money, we try to find a job, borrow from others, or take a loan. At any given time, we are faced with suffering of some kind, and we are constantly seeking solutions for the same. That is human nature.

While no one knows all the reasons why we suffer, it is often conceptualized that suffering could be karmic in origin, an effect of some cause in the past, or it could be part of our soul's plans or soul contracts we have entered into, before birth. This is one set of reasons for suffering. Another set of reasons is so that we could learn lessons, so that we could break patterns, dissolve emotional blocks which we carry inside us, dissolve generations of trauma we carry, and to evolve and vibrate higher. Life is but a journey of moving from lower to higher vibrations, and suffering, very often, acts as a catalyst, to accelerate our learning and evolution. Very few of us would be willing to evolve and raise our vibrations in the absence of suffering. When all is well, we rarely think of spirit or soul or vibrations. It is only when suffering strikes, do we turn to prayer, faith, hope, spirit, or God.

Any suffering that we face, can be tackled in two ways. From outside in, or from inside out.

Outside in, means we try and find solutions to our suffering in or from the outside world. In such cases, we rarely agree or accept that we are a partial or complete cause of the suffering. We often lay the blame of the suffering on the weather, or environment, or politics, or viruses, or stock market collapse, or bad behavior from others. We then go about trying to correct these things. (like going to a doctor when we are sick, and curing ourselves with tests and medicines). Inside out, means we understand that nothing happens without our participation, knowingly or unknowingly, we agree and accept that we are creators or co-creators here on earth, we accept that we are a part of the divine with the power to create (both wanted and unwanted stuff) and while trying to find relief from the outer world (like taking a loan to tide over a crisis, or taking medicines to cure ourselves of a disease), we also undertake an inward journey, and explore how we could have contributed to this state of things. We take responsibility, and we try to see what lessons there are to learn, and what patterns we need to break, so that we are not faced with similar challenges or sufferings in the future.

The first approach, of seeking causes and relief in the outer world also works, but we often don't learn much in process. Once our suffering is over, either by taking a pill, blaming and manipulating someone to behave as we want them to, or by taking up more jobs, we tend to go back to the same behavior and vibrations that we held before the suffering struck us. Since we don't take responsibility, and don't really learn any lessons, we tend to get these sufferings again and again, as a pattern, till we become aware or awaken. The outside in approach is also time consuming, expensive and often temporary. It also often involves incurring more karmic debt, especially in cases where we use force on another, to get things done. If a husband or wife or parent uses force to make the spouse or child behave in a convenient manner, their suffering might end, but they have incurred more negative karma, which they will have to pay off, in the future, often with a huge interest.

The inside out approach is very quick and inexpensive, but requires a tremendous amount of truth towards oneself, acceptance, taking responsibility, and courage, all non-material qualities. The outside in approach often involves taking help of material resources.

We are free to choose either option, or a mixture of both. And we shall be rewarded accordingly. But if you start to see suffering as a challenge, a catalyst for change and evolution, it will stand you in good stead, in the long run, often brining more joy, happiness, peace and wisdom.