I’ve always wondered why is it that society, especially western society, has equated misery with holiness? It is obvious that as the Buddha once said, “Life is suffering” however, people seem to have this preconceived notion that ‘the more I suffer, especially unnecessarily, the holier I will be to God/society.’
Similarly why don’t people strive for joy instead of trying to avoid suffering?
I don’t know…maybe it’s just me, but these religious beliefs seem irreligious to me.
Dear Christian,
This is also a question I pondered over many times in my life. Why all this guilt, why the preconceived notion that depriving oneself from the joys of life may bring some sort of afterlife reward? Why is it that the image of Jesus in the cross, suffering, is the one that is used by the Church?
I don’t know how or when exactly this notion of suffering became the rule – especially in the Christian faith – but what I do know is that the religious experience goes beyond this vision. Compassion in my eyes is the real message of the great messengers of Humanity. It’s by focusing on their examples of life, their experience and their message that we can clearly see that there is a way out of all this guilt, which ultimately is this fear that binds and blinds people.
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In the Christian Orthodox & Eastern Catholic theology, a most central expression of faith (and not the only central one) is the icon of Christ the Pantocrator. Pantocrator means the All-Powerful, the Seeing All and Governing All, the Sustainer. The icon depicts Christ with the Bible in His left hand while His right hand is slightly stretched out. He is powerful and at the same time compassionate. And the icon does not show Him with any trace of suffering or humiliation. On the contrary, He is in His full glory, power, and mercy.
Pantocrator is, in many ways, the end of all ends, and a whole new beginning.
The cross is a reminder of what Jesus Christ did for this world and how much he Love’s us. He suffered and died for us so that we would not have to. We do not have to suffer in this world, in fact quite the opposite Jesus wants us to have life to the fullest. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – Jesus Christ (John 10:10) Jesus doesn’t want us to ever walk in darkness. “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12
Jesus simply requires our faith in Him as Lord and Savior and to repent of our sins, which every human is clearly guilty of. Depression, guilt, oppression, these all begin to fade away when you except Jesus as your Lord and Savior and begin to obey the Word of God (The Bible). “The only way to come through the darkness you are facing is by following the Light (Jesus Christ). I promise you as you walk this path, you will see how amazing God’s power is. You will be able to stand firm in faith and say boldly, who can be against us if God is for us? Forgiveness instead of resentment, joy instead of depression, peace instead of chaos, Love instead of hate will fill your heart.” -Gabriel
What about the glorification of pleasure and luxury widely prevalent in western culture and everywhere else? Dont you worry about that?
Exact:compassion,love,tolerance ect…
It was all made on purpose.Brainwashing.
I respect everyone beliefs,I try to understand,I try to see beyond,to be tolerant ect..but and but,it's no an easy thing to do sometimes!
For example when I see the Vatican,their representants..I want to swear so I should stop there.Bloody sects..
Have you ever seen the movie:”Stigmata”?
I think we should follow our heart and that's all.
When I was a teenager,I was into that catholic guilty mood thing,now,they can try to catch me..they can try.
Suffering is not always necessary for spiritual awakening, but in some cases is a way to find it. When I was reading The Fifth Mountain, to my consideration, after Elías lost the widow, he enter in a stage of darkness where his spiritual side start to slip away because of the suffering, but at the same time, that same darkness brought him to light. He realized that all that suffering was worthless if he did not transform it. In my case, I have suffer because of my father the abandon, but at the same time I have realized that I cannot rely on the suffering, I have to do as you say, bring happiness instead of suffering.
Suffering is one way for enlightement, but not the only way..
It is true that we get a lessons in life through suffering and guilt and many philosophies were created from suffering, however we -as human kind- tend to trap ourselves in the time of suffering and not let go of it to the next phase of our lives..
we have a stronger memory for suffering moments rather than happiness moments..
But, is this the message that all religions and prophets are trying to convey ??
i dont think so, no religion wants us to be trapped in the pain.. instead -whatever is your faith and whoever is your god- i beleive the reason for us being created is to appreciate and say ”thank god” through everything we experience in this life: when we see a beautiful flower, or being able enjoy the warmth of the sun, seing our kids growing, being healthy enough to work, also for being sick and poor because while we are watching the things we dont have and other people have , there is certainly some blessings we have and they don’t.. we just have to figure it out and enjoy it !
Thanks
Here I compare enlightenment to love.
In my natal home (New Mexico) were abundant altars dedicated to martyrs, usually females who had died savagely while protecting their chastity. After my parents divorced, my mother worked as a waitress. All her girlfriends were waitresses, too, and every single one of them suffered for love.
They would never have used the word “enlightenment” but love for them was a salve and a spiritual comfort and the answer to all their worldly problems. The word held magic and it didn’t matter if the one who said it had one iota of follow through. He could beat her, steal from her, father numerous children, but as long as he said the magic word, these women had hope.
Love led to suffering and in turn suffering could lead to love and forgiveness and momentary hope.
I listen to young women today, and some of them are the same as my mom’s lost and lonely girlfriends.
For me, religion is not unlike an abusive lover. The promises of eternal love are there, and the emphasis is on burdens, sacrifices, and redemption. They ask for us to sacrifice ego (individual identity) in order to gain grace. They make promises while we do all the work.
Dear Candie, I feel the same when I hear the word ‘religion’, as you said, I want to swear. I’m sorry if I offense someones’ religion or belief, but all the religions are means of controlling and brainwashing the masses. I see no super-creature, which sits above the sky and operates our lives and destinies and whom i have to afraid of and obey.
For me, God is everything in this world and first of all ME. Air, water, mountains, bacteria, people, their thoughts – everything is God, but first of all, God is YOU and ME. How strange, being afraid of yourself.
If you can’t find God inside of you, you won’t find him anywhere.
Just accept everything happening in your life. Paradise and Hell are here, depending on your choice; where you want to live.
Ermek.
perhaps it goes hand in hand with the system of education we are receiving, pre-conditioning us to that sort of life and us accepting it.
p.s. Sorry, I wrote the word wrongly above ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΝ.
ΘΕΛΜΑ
I think that fear and suffering was more emphasized in the Old Testament, that God appears to be a ‘Punishing Father! Religion goes with evolution of mankind and history. Then, as it was prophesied Jesus came, who as He has said: I did not come to demolish Old Testament but to complete it. It is the Εαγγέλιον = ΕΥ+ ΑΓΓΕΛΛΩ = good announcement, It is the message of LOVE, of JOY, as the Angels are singing in Bethlehem. It is the time for humanity to know the Truth.
From the metaphysical point, I believe, that the world of the tree dimensions, the material world, the world of separateness is the world of .. pain and tears, but by ‘knowing’ the Truth we are …freed from fear.
I, also, think, that the Cross is not only the symbol of Christianity but it has always been the symbol of the incarnated human beings, into matter: the four elements.
LOVE,
Thelma
I think is obvious.One reason is the passions of Jesus Christ.This is the most powerful example that sufference and pain leads to immortality.I guess.Is not my ideas,but I think is really obvious.And really,usually not the most happy people were those that remain in history.Almost all had a hard life.Just think at Mozart,died so young,or Byron,Shelley,Poe,we can go on with the list.Even great Shakespeare had a sad period at the end of his life.Or James Joyce,Virginia woolf,Oscar Wilde,were they happy?
I think it is about time we all start singing the same song.
I wonder if the idea of having to wait for your reward until you reached heaven was to give the poorer subjugated classes something to work toward and to keep them from revolting. If you are taught from a very young age that you pay for your seat in heaven by suffering in the world now, then that’s exactly what you’ll do, and you’ll be happy to do it. But, you’ll always be looking over your shoulder because of the fear that you’re not good enough and that maybe you aren’t doing all the right things.
Fearing God never made any sense to me. It is only a bully that will demand you give up everything and make you fearful if you don’t. I just never could see God in the role of a bully.
I agree with you Paulo. As a child I heard so many times that I should fear God, but no one explained to me what it means to ‘fear God’ and instead I took that ‘fear’ with me into every area of my life.
That fear became guilt and feelings of being unworthy of good because of Christ’s suffering on the cross for me. No sense in regretting what I was taught in childhood. Now that I know better, I’m striving to do better.
I do believe that life is meant to be enjoyed, but also requires the experience of all opposing emotions to understand any of them.
Maybe the willingness to suffer actually sets a person free. In the case of Christ, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, etc., their willingness to accept suffering as one of the possible consequences of their actions allowed them to live life fully. They were able to speak of new ways to live, love and befriend differing groups of people, and criticize governments and people in power because they did not fear emotional or physical pain as a conceiveable result.
In my professional work with people who are overcoming the effects of violence, I have observed that overcoming an extremely harmful experience requires a human to tap into every resource he or she has available. The pain aggression causes humanity claws at my core. Conversely, I have never seen the magnanimous capacity of the human soul more than when a person is pulling on every positive resource possible to combat evil with an even greater amount of kindness, peace and holiness.
Thank you Paulo, I appreciate the response. :)
It is fascinating that the image chosen for the statue in Rio is ‘Christ the Redeemer’ as opposed to the crucified Christ. It isn’t that I don’t believe suffering is a part of life… it’s just that to worship suffering in some bizarre ritual instead of reveling in ‘all that is’ seems ludicrous to me.
I believe this idea also transcends into how we treat others as well because this is how cruelty towards other faith spreads. The rationale being ‘if I make this person suffer for not following x or y then I’ll be rewarded’ whether through physical violence, the threat of physical violence or merely psychological/verbal means.
It saddens me a bit- I believe when people accept a balance of their pleasure their pain, their happiness and unhappiness that there will be a transformation.
Blessings,
-C
Exact:compassion,love,tolerance ect…
It was all made on purpose.Brainwashing.
I respect everyone beliefs,I try to understand,I try to see beyond,to be tolerant ect..but and but,it’s no an easy thing to do sometimes!
For example when I see the Vatican,their representants..I want to swear so I should stop there.Bloody sects..
Have you ever seen the movie:”Stigmata”?
I think we should follow our heart and that’s all.
When I was a teenager,I was into that catholic guilty mood thing,now,they can try to catch me..they can try.
is it possible home, as we all know is only joy and harmonious, that maybe here to truly experience the appreciation of joy and happiness we go through obstacles that may be sad. the understanding is that there is no reward for suffering, and that may be how we come to experience the kingdom of heaven here…*
I often thought about that, the cross, displayed in the bedrooms most of the times.
There is an option out of that one – the John Cleese’s one -”Always look on the bright side of life.” He is seen the light!
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