Daily Brain Food.
Thoughts of the day
The themes of suffering and resurrection consistently make their appearance in our lives (at least) once a year, for a week, during spring. For some, it is this week, for others, the week that just passed. Even for the non-religious amongst us, there has never been a more important time to consider the purpose of suffering, and the role it plays in our lives.
Rainer Maria Rilke wrote: ‘Wie vie list aufzuleiden!’, which translates into ‘How much suffering there is to get through!’ Getting through suffering makes it something unavoidable, and necessary. And it is.
Suffering is an essential part of being alive. We always empathise with a character in a story who has struggled before reaching their goal. It is why famous artists and writers frequently write about the value they see in suffering. It is a reminder that happiness is not a constant state, but a temporary one, like many others. Suffering eventually pauses. It may take a week, or slightly longer. But perhaps we should not see the time we spend waiting for suffering to end as time wasted.
“Whether you like it or not, you are committed to the human endeavor. I cannot ally myself with such a purely negative goal as avoidance of suffering. Suffering is a chance you take by the fact of being alive.”
― William S. Burroughs, Letters to Allen Ginsberg, 1953-1957