Question:

Dear Sevara ~

This evening I was reflecting on the essence of balance and the yin and yang - having a harmony and balance of the male and female spirit within each of us.

I feel this balance leads to a creative power within, then we are in equilibrium with the universe ~ But I wonder if the aspect of light and dark, positive and negative also make up this balance - Can suffering give us strength in the sense of searching for the divine powers of light and love? In this sense when a sad event occurs in our lives ..it may at the same time spark a loving blissful light upon our paths of heart ~

Answer:

The issue is not so much that bad/negative/difficult experiences are beneficial but rather that they are a fact of existence. It is really only our consciousness that decides what is good and what is evil. To the Universe, everything just IS. We each therefore have our own individual point of view of what is healthy, what is righteous, pious, as well as what is evil, cruel, and even what is painful as we each have our own pain thresholds. But these definitions are merely variables that can depend on your religion, gender, what decade you were born in, or your physical and mental conditioning. Be aware that if the suffering is too great or if one is not prepared to deal with the burden, one may be crushed by its weight and seek unhealthy ways to end the pain, such as through the use of drugs, or even suicide. This is the risk one takes in believing that only through suffering can spiritual growth occur.

It's not so much that suffering exists to give us strength, this is somewhat egocentric, but rather the fact is that the conditions which lead to suffering simply exist, and they exist not only for humans but also all life forms, planets, stars, solar systems - all that is of nature is subject to birth and decay and in between the two is the period sustaining. Because these conditions arise we must deal with them, and we will each deal with them in a way that is unique to our experiences, character, self-esteem, belief systems, and so on.

Fortunately, that same strength that you speak of can be learned without the actual suffering. Whatever wisdom suffering teaches us can be grasped by understanding the nature of suffering. We have all had many lifetimes to experience suffering, so we may also draw upon that. Moreover, by developing empathy and compassion, we can "vicariously" sense the suffering of others. Buddha, though born as a prince, saw the suffering of others and a desire arose to find a way to end it which he described in the Four Noble truths and the Eight-Fold Path. There are so many different ways in which a human can suffer; we need not go through them all. The best we can do is to accept the sorrow or pain with grace and dignity and emerge through it with a deeper understand of the human condition: that we are all on this tiny planet grasping to find a few precious moments of love and happiness amongst the many struggles of life.

Ultimately, there will come a point in our Soul's journey when we will decide that we have suffered enough and thus begin our search for liberation. To attain enlightenment is to attain the cessation of suffering.

Suffering does offer us ways to grow, become strong, learn from mistakes, be humble, to understand what it is to live in a physical form, but through right effort and right actions we can avoid much suffering by surrendering our individual will to the Divine Will.

Blessings,

Sevara