Finding meaning in suffering
These past few months I’ve been thinking about the meaning of suffering. Everyone experiences struggles at some point in their lives. Suffering is a reality that all of us can notice — even if we do not accept or embrace it. But, why suffer? Why does suffering seem like an everyday reality that we constantly face and can’t figure out?
I have a few theories. Nowadays, happiness is linked to pleasure, and, consequently, suffering is viewed as another word for evil. Our hedonist, individualistic and narcissistic culture rejected pain, sacrifice, and suffering because, at first glance, they don’t bring us pleasure. If pleasure is seen as “good” and something that gives us happiness, suffering can only be seen as “bad”, giving us unhappiness. From my perspective, there is a misunderstanding of concepts. Of course, happiness is something good. Happiness is linked to goodness, and we can see it in all the classical literature. From the stories of princesses up to “heroes” like Don Quixote, Hercules, Frodo Baggins, or Ivanhoe, we always see the “good” person being rewarded for their goodness with happiness. But we also see a lot of struggle, pain, and suffering all over the stories, which teach us that redemption only comes after suffering.
Suffering serves as the necessary “blows to hack away what is superfluous from the huge block of marble”. When you suffer, you start seeing life in a different form. I would say that pain transforms us into more human beings, more compassionate, more empathetic to others, and more mature. If life would be only good moments, how could we differentiate happiness from sorrow, considering we do not know the second one? I found out that suffering is kind of the shadows and dark brushstrokes of a big and beautiful painting. They highlight and bring more beauty to the colorful inks.
I remember a quote I saw once, from the South Korean artist Yun Hyong Keun: “true sorrow is connected to true beauty”. That reminds me of another quote, from the book “The Idiot”, by Dostoevsky: “Beauty will save the world”. If beauty is set apart from goodness and truth, it becomes an idol. When we, more than accept, embrace our suffering and let the pain change us and make us stronger, then we’ll find redemption. And happiness.
