Pain is mandatory. Suffering is optional. Agree or Disagree?

Question

Perhaps i need to clarify...there will always be things in life that cause us pain, emotional or otherwise. However it is our perception to these things that can either help or hinder our spiritual growth. It is all about the choice we make when viewing the situation....instead of a stumbling block keeping us from our destination, we can choose to view these things as learning experiences....

hope this helps clarify my point of view.

blessings

)o( Trinity

Moo...i do not claim to know the answer. I only seek to open the perceptions of others and challenge them to see things from a different point of view. I mean no disrespect.....for there are tragedies that simply cannot be understood. This is when we rely on our strength and hope to get us through.

Answer 1

I like the idea of this question. I agree, that in life, one must and eventually will suffer pain. It is what one does with that pain, however, that will define them as a person. Some can take pain and what should be suffering and turn it into a learning experience. We are who we are because of the pain we have gone through. I personally have gone through several painfull things in my past, but I chose to see them as stepping stones instead of stumbling stones. I am stronger for them; I couldn't change them because that would be changing who I have become.

I know plently of people who also have had horrific experiences, but when you ask them if they have a good life, they smile, and say "of course." Because pain does not define them. It has made them. They chose not to suffer but to live.

I agree that in some instances this can be particularly hard. Think of a person dying of a terminal illness. And yet, there are some of these unfourtunate people that gather so much inner strength it puts the rest of us to shame.

I've seen poor people live with the greatest of dignity, or smile with the brightest smile. I've seen less fourtunate people have more depth and inner peace than those with everything they could ever want at their beck and call.

In the end, while many of us (as people) will go through painful experiences or even painful times, it is our choice to rise above it. It is our choice to not suffer but to live (to use the old cliche term: to make lemond aid out of lemons).

If people can do this because of their spirituality, more power to them. Pesonally I'm not saying spirituality is essential to overcoming suffering, but I think it does help.

Answer 2

They say that, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. That amused me until I find myself knee deep in lemons.

Before I begin making the lemonade, my natural inclination is to figure out how in the heck I attracted all these lemons!

Not only did they stop working pretty quickly, they ended up plunging me into even worse pain.

So here I am, contemplating how it was that I attracted all these lemons. Let's start the process there.

When there is a situation or circumstance we don't want, the first thing we try to do is to push it away. We get angry, we mentally plot against our perpetrators, and we obsess about what's happening to us.

In other words, WE MAKE WHAT IS HAPPENING WRONG.

Put the back of your hand to your forehead and get in touch with your Inner Martyr, we all have one.

In the history of the world, has the mere fact that something's not right ever caused it to disappear? Unfortunately, the answer to that is "No".

Mostly what we want when something undesirable occurs is what used to happen on TV episodes of Superman.

We want our super-hero to fly around the earth backwards, causing time to reverse so that we can go back to the time when what is WASN'T.

It turns out it doesn't matter one bit HOW I attracted these lemons. They're here and I must deal with them.

So the first step (and by far the most difficult) in the lemonade-making process is to simply accept what is. To not accept it is as silly as saying, I know everyone else says it's raining outside but I don't accept it. I don't want it to rain.

"I want the sun to be out. I reject the rain." They institutionalize people for that kind of irrational reasoning and yet we often think that way when we're juggling lemons.

The next thing to recognize is that eating lemons as they are will not kill us. They taste awful. They make the place behind my ears cramp up in an unpleasant way. But barring a severe allergy, they won't kill anyone. It is just that most of us wouldn't choose to eat them that way.

So these lemons I'm standing knee-deep in are not going to kill me. Leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

Initially, but even that can be resolved.

Sometimes what looks like the worst thing that could happen leads us to a major opportunity.

I know people who were laid off of jobs and thought their world would never be right again. A short time later, they found themselves doing work that was a much better fit and in which they were much happier.

There is an old expression, "When one door closes, another opens."

If we spend too much time looking at the door that closed, we miss the one that is invitingly open.

For example, sometimes a relationship will end and we are devastated. But then we discover that we're actually better off without it.

We may miss our friend but we are now able to face some of the negative aspects of the relationship we were turning a blind eye to while we were in it.

The final step to making lemonade is to be grateful for what happened and the lessons it brought. Anything painful brings lessons with it.

Your most important lessons been learned as a result of pain!

Once we can be grateful for the lessons learned, we can then drink the lemonade and enjoy the quenching of our thirst.

Pain is mandatory, suffering is optional.

Answer 3

Dear Trinity,

i think pain and suffering are both part of being human. i know some have answered that suffering is optional. But the truth is life is full of unexpected things and some of these things are tragic. In the face of such things- it doesn't mean that we have to be down- or without hope- but at the same time-- when we encounter death, tragedy, brokenness, it's part of being a person to suffer. When i see orphans, broken families, people strung out on drugs, is suffering optional in that i can ignore it and be apathetic. i think it's tough to be alive and not to be affected by one thing or another. We couldn't possibly become so fickle that we ignore the things going on around us. The world is full of great things, but is also full of hurting people.

Hope that makes sense. Kindly,

Nickster

Answer 4

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Answer 5

pain can be even a pleasure to some..

unfortunately most of the time the pain overcomes most people, and the people turn into small suffering animals doing their best to avoid or reduce their pain regardless of the consequences.

at the end, whatever hero the person might be, he/she whispers "mama" like a small child calling his/her best remembered protector.

Answer 6

trinity , I agree to both. Pain is mandatory
and sometimes optional in certain situations. Suffering is optional and sometimes mandatory in certain situations.

Answer 7

Agree. But not in the sense that you mean.

I'm assuming you're talking about religion stopping suffering, and I certainly disagree with that. However I do agree that we can stop suffering OF OUR OWN CHOOSING.

Answer 8

Life equals pain,but the degree in which we suffer is self inflicted.

Answer 9

Pain and suffering is optional

Answer 10

Agree. Pain will eventually occur, suffering is how you percieve it.