Meaning in Suffering

With suffering comes change.

My friend, a renowned Tai Chi master and I were discussing whether there is meaning in suffering. I quoted Mencius: "When great responsibility is about to befall one, life appears to confound all undertakings. Thereby it stimulates the mind, toughens the nature and improves all deficiencies."

Unllike a deity, whimsically deciding to test our endurance, Taoism captures the evolutionary thrust of nature that is simply seeking the best of what it might be. Appreciating nature's tremendous power to renew itself, we discover that this same power is within us.

He offered the following quotes in return: "Those who have suffered know much which is denied to the continuously healthy: and those who have been exalted - have realized truths which are out of the reach of those who lead quiet, equable lives." Finding peace in quiet is an illusion.

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." This sounds like a Bushism, yet it reminds me of Gabriel Gibran's poem about Love: "But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears." With suffering comes growth.

A forest fire burns away old growth to prepare for the new. The same pollution that causes ocean temperatures to rise is often washed away in the very hurricanes that are generated.

Mohmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president blames the US for market collapse, while Bush blames Iran for terrorism. Yet, both are the voice of injustices that can no longer be swept under the carpet.

Black Elk would say: “You have noticed that truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. When people are already in despair, maybe the laughing is better for them; and when they feel too good and are too sure of being safe, maybe the weeping face is better.” Laughter, tears, the pursuit of change always breaks our defenses to remind us that we are natural creatures in a world that is endlessly changing.