Understanding Suffering

1025 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay on human suffering

Understanding Suffering

The suffering of man is a very complicated matter that is most likely impossible to understand completely. It is a subject that people have grappled with since the dawn of recorded history. In fact, suffering is evident in every form of art man has created. Suffering is in our paintings, our poetry, our music, our plays, and in anything else that is conceivable. But still, we as a whole still struggle with the idea of suffering. It is my opinion that some individuals may grasp the notion of suffering more than others, but that no one person will ever fully understand suffering in every form. A person may only understand his or her own personal suffering, not suffering as a whole. It is the next step to then say that "understanding comes through suffering," which I also believe to be true. It is impossible to fully know what the suffering of a person is like, unless you have experienced the same thing in his own shoes.

Death is the reward of Life Life is considered, by some, to be a journey towards death and the great reward of afterlife. This traveling process is held in many different views and is expressed in numerous manners in literature.

In these works it is very easy to see that they experience great misery, but it is impossible to understand their suffering. Their suffering can only be identified, and compared to an individual's own suffering. One must experience suffering in order to fully understand what it was like. It is entirely a personal experience. It is for this reason that understanding comes through suffering.

Suffering is one of the things that make us human, it is what lets us enjoy the good times and thank God for them. Because it is though suffering and trials of life that ...

... middle of paper ...

... try to do the right thing. Where Antigone gets in trouble is when she questions God, because she expected God to role out the red carpet for her because she did what was right in God's eyes. The thing we for get is that God isn't about to be judged by men it is always the other way around. The dog doesn't judge its master we don't judge ours. God is a being above everything he created us and allowed us to see evil and experience suffering as a gift. So we could better understand love and happiness. We are not able to question God on this one because he is omnipotent; he knows what is best for us. This is where faith becomes so important we must trust God for everything. Antigone had faith in the gods and trusted them to take care of her situation. We will suffer if we walk the path the Christ takes us down but we will also experience, the greatest joy known to man.

Show More
Related

  • Main Themes In Christopher Mccandless's Into The Wild

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    suffering hurts man spirit is does more good then constant happiness and power. We have to beat

    Read More

  • Suffering as a Common Denominator

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Sonny’s Blues” is a short story in which James Baldwin, the author, presents an existential world where suffering characterizes a man’s basic state. The theme of tragedy and suffering can be transformed into a communal art form such as blues music. Blues music serves as a catalyst for change because the narrator starts to understand that not only the music but also himself and his relationship with Sonny. The narrator’s view of his brother begins to change; he understands that Sonny uses music as an exit of his suffering and pain. This story illustrates a wide critical examination. Richard N. Albert is one critic that explores and analyzes the world of “Sonny’s Blues”. His analysis, “The Jazz-Blues Motif in James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”” is an example of how one can discover plot, characterization and jazz motif that builds this theme of suffering.

    Read More

  • moralant Free Antigone Essays: Do the Right Thing

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    The gods' laws come before mortal laws in Antigone's point-of-view, which is how I believe also. In death, you will answer to your god and no man will have control of your fate in the world that lies hereafter. Therefore by obeying the gods, hopefully, will result in a happy afterlife, which are what most people strive for in ancient times and now. If man does not honor you for noble efforts, your gods' will. Antigone's act was honorable. She stood up to the highest of powers so she could honor her brother, knowing the consequence would be death. Most likely she figured there is only a certain amount man can do to you, so she might as well stand up for not only her family and beliefs, but her gods as well (lines 377-389).

    Read More

  • Suffering In Fever 1793

    1537 Words  | 4 Pages

    Suffering is apart of life, just like joy and love is. We can never choose how life treats us but we can always choose how we react and get back up again. Through Fever 1793 we see up close and personal how suffering can affect us, and how sometimes it can affect us in positive ways. How suffering can help turn the page to the next chapter in our lives. How suffering doesn’t always mean losing but also gaining.

    Read More

  • Bhagavad Gita The Value Of Suffering

    625 Words  | 2 Pages

    The question of suffering comes up much when talking about, or practicing any religion. Many ask why people suffer, and what causes suffering? The various religions try to answer these questions in their own way. Pico Iyer’s editorial, “The Value of Suffering” addresses the questions of suffering and how it is handled. This article could be compared to the Bhagavad-Gita which also addresses and explains suffering through different stories of the interactions of humans and different Gods. One can specifically look at “The Second Teaching” in the Bhagavad-Gita, which explains the interaction between a man named Arjuna and the god Krishna. In it Arjuna is suffering because he does not want to fight in a war and with people whom he should be worshiping. Krishna says to fight because the souls of the people will forever live on, and because he needs to fulfill his Dharma. With what is known about the Bhagavad-Gita and how Iyer thinks about the subject, Iyer would agree with how the Bhagavad-Gita address suffering.

    Read More

  • Compare Antigone And The Bible

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despite its prevalence, suffering is always seen an intrusion, a personal attack on its victims. However, without its presence, there would never be anyway to differentiate between happiness and sadness, nor good and evil. It is encoded into the daily lives people lead, and cannot be avoided, much like the prophecies described in Antigone. Upon finding out that he’d murdered his father and married his mother,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Ashvaghosha's Buddhacarit The Life Of The Buddha

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    Suffering arises early in the story and is a theme is a them that will preside over the entire text, valuable to the reader because of The Buddha’s first Noble Truth: human life is consists almost entirely of suffering. When the Buddha is just a baby, the relief from suffering he will provide is predicted. “Be steadfast, therefore, give up anxiety, be cheerful, for your clan will flourish without a doubt; The one born here as your son is the leader of those overcome by the suffering in the world” (B 1.33). The

    Read More

  • Death and Emily Dickinson

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Death, the end of life: the time when someone or something dies” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). The definition of death is quite simple, the end of life is inescapable. I chose to write about death and impermanence because it is something we all must inevitably face. People often deal with death in a number of different ways. Although it is something that we must eventually face, it can be hard to come to terms with because the idea can be hard to grasp. Some of us fear it, others are able to accept it, either way we all must eventually face it. In this essay I will look at two different literary works about death and impermanence and compare and contrast the different elements of the point of view, theme, setting, and symbolism. The comparison of these particular works will offer a deeper look into words written by the authors and the feelings that they experiencing at that particular time.

    Read More

  • The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    to state suffering as the entirety of the first noble truth, is not enough because the expression of

    Read More

  • The Wound Dresser Analysis

    540 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pain and suffering is something that we all would like to never experience in life, but is something that is inevitable. “Why is there pain and suffering in the world?” is a question that haunts humanity. Mother Teresa once said that, “Suffering is a gift of God.” Nevertheless, we would all like to go without it. In the clinical setting, pain and suffering are two words that are used in conjunction.

    Read More

  • A Christian View of Suffering

    1558 Words  | 4 Pages

    Suffering is an individual's basic affective experience of pain or distress, often as a result of one’s physical, emotional or spiritual circumstance (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy 2006). Suffering can be classified as physical; for example pain caused by a dislocated knee, emotional; for example one’s grief over the death of a loved one, or spiritual; which is described as the state of being separated from the blissful nature of your divine self (soul). To suffer physically or emotionally is often unavoidable; however it can be argued that spiritual liberation...

    Read More

  • Suffering, Key of Happiness

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Brooks (2014), people seek happiness but indirectly obtain several tests that affects their emotions in many ways. Indeed, when people are is questioned about their past, memories coming back to her mind are often the most important positively as negatively. A positive event can be the birth of a child, success. In contrast, a negative event is often links to death, failure, a dismissal, and so on. Suffering or pain also gives us an outside perspective. Without a doubt, suffering makes us human we like it or not. For example, when a friend tells that she has failed an exam and we realize that we could get it easily, it is hard to understand exactly her emotion because we have never been in the situation. But when the same situation arises and you become the concerned, you understand the effect that this failure may have on you emotionally. In this sense, we understand that suffering makes people human because it helps them to be connected to a situation already happened before or which could happen in the future.

    Read More

  • The Four Noble Truths

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    Furthermore, even the happiest and carefree of people will eventually experience some kind of suffering. The Buddha taught people to recognize that suffering is part of life and that it cannot be avoided. However, this suffering does not only come from the body—it also comes from within. Those who experience loneliness, depression, anxiety, or cannot satisfy their needs and wants are suffering. Despite the negative aspects of suffering, Siddhartha also spoke of happiness through friendships, family life, or health. Though, the downfall to this is that happiness is impermanent—or annica—and will not end all suffering. Buddhists believe that the way to end suffering is to first accept the fact that suffering is a fact of life. The next aspect to recognize is what causes such suffering?

    Read More

  • Suffering In Pain, Perplexity And Promotion, By Bob Sogy?

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    As previously, stated God uses difficult situations as a way to improve the relationship we have with Him. Why suffering though? Frederick Sontag wrote in his book that evil or suffering are the best circumstances in which to find a God, unlike times where everything goes well

    Read More

  • My Opinion on Suffering

    377 Words  | 1 Pages

    God to help us get through these terrible times. We all have to try to

    Read More

More about Understanding Suffering

Open Document