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Suffering

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Suffering

The world is full of human pain and suffering, both physical and mental. Sometimes we suffer because we do not get what we want or need. We also suffer if we have to endure something we don’t want. Make a list of all the examples of suffering you can think of:

September 11th – World Trade Center Volcano disasters


From your brainstorm you may have already noticed that suffering can be divided into many types. For example, suffering which is individual, self-inflicted, medical and wide scale are all different types of pain with different causes.

Although there are many types of pain, most suffering can be said to be caused by one of two things:

!  human action

!   the natural world.


All suffering is a result of either human action or the natural world. Make a list of suffering, categorizing your examples as either having natural causes or human causes.

Human Causes Natural Causes September 11th – World Trade Center

Volcano disasters


The problem of evil

The fact that suffering exists can be a problem for believers who are faced with the question:

Why would a benevolent (or all loving) God allow suffering in a world which He created?

Philosophers call this question, ‘The Problem of Evil’.

70,000 people died in this earthquake in Peru.


Epicurus

In around 300 BC, the ancient thinker Epicurus put the problem as follows:

‘Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is not omnipotent. Is He able but not willing? Then He is Malevolent. Then whence evil?’

The problem arises if one believes that God is all powerful and completely loving which is a belief held by the three major world faiths: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.


Natural evil

Many theists (those who believe God is all loving and all powerful) respond to the problem of evil by suggesting that a lot of suffering is caused by nature.

In the same way that foxes kill rabbits to survive, so too can humans be killed or injured by the planet’s natural cycle of birth and death.

!   Can you think of a case of suffering where this is true?

!   Can you think of a case of suffering caused by nature where this explanation is not enough?


Freedom

Theists suggest that the remainder of suffering is caused by humanity’s free will, which they refer to as moral evil.

The writer and Christian philosopher C S Lewis was a believer of this argument which states that:

‘Humans are free to do good or bad. Even an omnipotent God could not logically create humans who are free to do only good. Therefore evil is an inevitable consequence of human freedom.’

!   Can you think of a case of suffering where this argument makes sense?

!   Can you think of a case of suffering caused by humanity where this explanation is not enough?


Was Hitler’s freedom to commit evil so precious that it was worth the destruction of the freedom of his six million victims?

Is it any comfort to those who suffer that they do so for the sake of freedom?

Could freedom be possible at a lesser price?

If God created people who can’t fly, why couldn’t God create people who couldn’t kill or injure each other?

The Holocaust: six million Jews murdered

Is man’s freedom worth such a high price?


The problem of evil – summary


Christian response to suffering

Although not all Christians believe in the literal truth of the story of Adam and Eve, most believe that it illustrates the causes and effects of suffering in the world. Do you know this story?

Christians believe that when we suffer, it is a cause of either human choice or natural order. When we suffer, God also suffers and He does not want to see his people in pain. In fact, through faith in God, suffering can be eased and will come to a complete end once we reach heaven.

To understand human suffering, God sent his only son, Jesus, to die on the cross.


Jesus dies on the cross


Jesus’ agony in the garden

Before Jesus’ death, he was in the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples. Although the disciples knew Jesus needed them, they kept falling asleep. At this time, Jesus showed his humanity through his loneliness and fear of suffering, asking his father to prevent his death if possible:

‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ (Mark 14:36)

!   Why is this story important for Christians?

!   How do you face opposition, failure and rejection?

Jesus chooses not to run from his death but dies on the cross.


Jesus’ suffering


Who was Maximilian Kolbe?

St Maximilian was born Raymond Kolbe in Poland on 8 January, 1894. In 1910, he entered a Franciscan Order and was sent to study in Rome where he was ordained a priest in 1918.

St Maximilian helped to ease another man’s suffering in the name of Christianity. Can you think of anyone else who has helped to ease suffering?

In 1941, the Nazis imprisoned Father Maximilian in the Auschwitz death camp. There he offered his life for another prisoner and was condemned to slow death in a starvation bunker. On 14 August 1941, his impatient captors ended his life with a fatal injection. Pope John Paul II canonized Maximilian as a ‘martyr of charity’ in 1982.


Buddhist response to suffering

Buddhists do not believe that suffering is a philosophical problem at all. In fact, Buddhists try to see suffering as having a place within our world. Buddhists call suffering dukkha which translates as pain and suffering, and also includes minor irritations.


The Noble Eightfold Path consists of the eight steps by which a person can achieve Nirvana. This is the path by which one ceases to desire and thereby ceases to suffer. This path leads to a form of meditation which enables a person to reach enlightenment.

The Four Noble Truths

For Buddhists, suffering means never being satisfied. The idea of reaching a state where we have everything we desire and nothing we dislike is impossible. We should therefore seek to find peace with the life we have been given.


The Four Noble Truths


Right mindfulness Right effort

Right concentration

Right livelihood

Right speech

Right views

Right intention

Right action

How do you these steps could be put into practice?

The Noble Eightfold Path

Do you know what any of the eight stages are?


Practising the Noble Eightfold Path


All life is suffering – your views

Think of three things that you really wanted and eventually got.

Do you agree with the Buddhist view that ‘all life is suffering’ due to our own futile desire for perfection?

!  When you got these things, did they make you happy? !   If so, how long did the feelings last? !   Is there anything different you want now?


Discussion

!  What was the cause of your suffering? !  Explain the details of your suffering !  Who else felt your suffering? !  Has your suffering now come to an end? !  Did you learn or gain anything (however small) from your

time of suffering? My dog died last

year I broke my arm when I was eight

My parents are divorced

Everyone suffers at some time in their lives. Think of a time which involved suffering for you.

suffering - paignton community and sports academy suffering is a result of either human action or...

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