You wont regret it if you can read the whole thing: In medieval Europe approximately one of every five infants died before their first birthday, and only half of all children survived to the age of ten. The average family buried half of their children when they were still little, and the children died at ho,e, not sheltered away from eyes and hearts. Life for our ancestors was filled with far more suffering than ours is. And yet we have innumerable diaries, journals, and historical documents that reveal how they took that hardship and grief in far better stride than do we. One scholar of ancient northern European history observed how unnerving it is for modern readers to see how much more unafraid people fifteen hundred years ago were in the face of loss, violence, suffering, and death. Another said that while we are taken aback by the cruelty we see in our ancestors, they would, if they could see us, be equally shocked by our softness, worldliness, and timidity. We are not just worse than past generations in this regard, but we are also weaker than are many people in other parts of the world today. Dr. Paul Brand, a pioneering orthopedic surgeon in the treatment of leprosy patients, spent the first part of his medical career in India and the last part of his career in the United States. He wrote: In the United States...I encountered a society that seeks to avoid pain at all costs. Patients lived at a greater comfort level than any I had previously treated, but they seemed far less equipped to handle suffering and far more traumatized by it. Why? The short response is that other cultures have provided its members with various answers to the question What is the purpose of human life? Some cultures have said it is to live a good life and so eventually escape the cycle of karma and reincarnation and be liberated into eternal bliss. Some have said it is enlightenment -the recognition of the oneness of all things and the attainment of tranquility. Others have said it is to live a life of virtue, of nobility and honor. There are those who teach that the ultimate purpose in life is to go to heaven to be with your loved ones and with God forever. The crucial commonality is this: in every one of these worldviews, suffering can, despite its painfulness, be an important means of actually achieving your purpose in life. It can play a pivotal role in propelling you toward all the most important goals. One could say that in each of these other cultures grand narratives-what human life is all about-suffering can be an important chapter or part of that story. But modern Western culture is different. In the secular view, this material world is all there is. And so the meaning of life is to have the freedom, to choose the life that makes you most happy. However, in that view of things, suffering can have no meaningful part. It is a complete interruption of your life story-it cannot be a meaningful part of the story. In this approach to life, suffering should be avoided at almost any cost, or minimized to the greatest degree possible. This means that when facing unavoidable and irreducible suffering, secular people must smuggle in resources from other views of life, having recourse to ideas of karma, or Buddhism, or Greek Stoicism, or Christianity, even though their beliefs about the nature of the universe do not line up with those resources. ...it is because the meaning of life in the United States is the pursuit of pleasure and personal freedom that suffering is so traumatic for Americans. All other cultures make the highest purpose of life something besides individual happiness and comfort. It might be moral virtue, or enlightenment, or honor, or faithfulness to the truth. Lifes ultimate meaning might be being an honorable person, or being someone whom your children and community look up to, or about furthering a great cause or movement or seeking heaven or enlightenment. In all these cultural narratives, suffering is an important way to come to a good end to the story. All of these life meanings can be achieved not only in spite of suffering but through it. -You know who
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 21:28:54 +0000
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