Making Sense of Suffering

How do we make sense of suffering? What is the difference between hardship and suffering? The problem of suffering (or evil) is a perennial question wrestled with by philosophers and theologians throughout history.

Struggle with Suffering

For example, the nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote extensively on suffering. In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard wrote,

“People unable to bear the martyrdom… unintelligently jump off the path, and choose instead, conveniently enough, the world’s admiration of their proficiency. The true knight of faith is a witness, never a teacher, and in this lies the deep humanity in him which is more worth than this foolish concern for others’ weal and woe which is honored under the name of sympathy, but which is really nothing but vanity.”

Similarly, the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky — who spent four years in a Siberian prison camp, said, “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and deep heart.”

In my recent interview with Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko, The Good Life Method authors revealed some insights. Blaschko explained, “All things — pass away, and in this life, we can try to obscure the facts of pain, suffering, and evil, or we can rearrange our lives in response to this fact.” We can try to hide and ignore the pain or encounter it.

The early sixth-century philosopher Boethius wrote this in his Consolation of Philosophy while in exile awaiting execution.

“A wise man ought not to regret his struggles with fortune any more than a brave soldier should be intimidated by the noise of battle, for the difficulty is a natural lot of each. For the soldier, it is the source of increasing glory; for the wise man, it is the means of confirming his wisdom. Indeed, virtue comes from that virile strength that is not overcome by adversity. And you, who are advancing in virtue, should not expect to be weakened by ease or softened by pleasure. You fight against any fortune, neither despairing in the face of misfortune nor becoming corrupt in the enjoyment of prosperity. Hold fast to the middle ground with courage. You can make of your fortune what you will; for any fortune which seems difficult either tests virtue or corrects and punishes vice.”

The world is full of suffering — it is an inescapable fact. According to Friedrich Nietzsche, “To live is to suffer; to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” This well-known quote is challenging; finding meaning (or the why) behind our suffering is not always knowable.

To conclude, the French novelist Marcel Proust put it this way, “We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.”

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