What We Know About Suffering and its Purpose

Cover photo: Soheyl Dehghani on Unsplash

The word ‘suffering’ is often related to something evil – pain, sorrow, distress, or unease. Some people suffer from chronic pain, while others from depression, anxiety, addiction or trauma as a result of a loss or injury.

But did you know that suffering has driven humans to create a plethora of inventions? Suffering is not negative at every turn. It can be used as a tool to grow or as a force of good. A bitter medicine, if you will.

Suffering is an inescapable part of life. It has been present throughout human history and is a sea everybody, from the rich to the powerful to the lowly and powerless, must sail.

Now, given that we all have to suffer, it pops the question ‘How should we suffer?’

Should we be hostages to suffering, getting a ticket directly to hopelessness? Or instead, use suffering as a springboard to jump and reach the life we want?

Suffering brings strength to the surface.

“Suffering makes us noble.” Nietzsche

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The Meaning of Suffering and Why It Matters

In the early 90s, a closed ecological system, or vivarium, called Biosphere 2, was built in Arizona as an experiment to analyse the possibility of supporting life on a different planet.

The investigation included eight people, small crops, farm animals, insects, and trees.

But the trees inside the enclosed space didn’t reach maturity; they grew weak and fell. The reason was that the trees needed exposure to wind in order to grow strong stem and roots.

As with the trees in this project, if someone is always in a protected environment, out from the stress of life, this person will become defenceless and feeble.

To develop an iron-willed character, a powerful body, and a vigorous mind, suffering and adversity are necessary.

A Brilliant Teacher

But suffering is more than an inevitable result of the difficulties that lead to personal growth. Suffering is an excellent teacher.

We could even say that suffering captures the real essence of life, coming with great wisdom.

“Suffering is the ultimate liberator of the mind. Suffering can make evident errors in our ways and point to the necessity for change. Suffering is also essential for empathy. Unless we suffer, how can we know what others are going through in times of hardship?” Nietzsche

Suffering Makes Us Live to the Fullest

Another sunny side is that apart from teaching, suffering increases our ability to enjoy life.

To know joy, you must feel the pain of suffering – for one to exist, so must the other. Light needs the contrast of darkness to radiate its brilliance.

How can we recognise happiness if we haven’t experienced the opposite? Happiness and unhappiness are brothers, twins that either age together or stay small together.

Alright. But if suffering is imperative to fully enjoy happiness, then why do so many of us fall into states of chronic depression, pessimism, resentment, negativity, and despair?

We Are Growing Weaker

Society has become so spoiled by the modern civilisation, that people are losing their resilience and their ability to deal with adversity and stress.

The easy access to pleasure and comfort, the abundance of consumer goods and free time, medicines to cure many diseases, in addition to the lack of physical activity, have turned us into shiftless and weak individuals.

Another way to put it is, we are living in a bubble, dwelling in an easy world. Our bodies and minds are turning soft since we normally prefer the safe path.

Remember the trees from Biosphere 2? They grew weak and fell as they didn’t have the wind and resistance to grow stronger.

Comfort has amplified our sensitivity to pain and suffering to the point where many consider the simple thought of grief an attack against their entire existence.

We ought to stop sailing on this ocean of pleasure and comfort. We must work harder, move more, challenge ourselves, face adversity, push the limits.

Benefits of Suffering

Suffering creates the necessary stress that propels us forward towards evolution and success.

“It is the tension between the warring ends of the bow that gives the arrow the power to fly, as it is the tension in the strings of the lyre that gives rise to melody. This is what is meant by saying ‘war is the father of all things.’” Iain McGilchrist.

With courage and the right attitude, it is possible to withstand the worst of life’s miseries while ascending with more depth of character, greater wisdom, and a greater opportunity for experiencing unbridled happiness.

“The path to one’s own heaven always leads through the voluptuousness of one’s own hell.” Nietzsche.

In a Few Words

We shouldn’t be afraid of suffering, a part of life with positive aspects. Suffering helps us to grow, undergo a major transformation, and develop abilities which otherwise we wouldn’t build up.

We come back reborn after emerging from the void of suffering, with a new skin and a fresh taste for good things, with sharper senses and new eyes to see beyond the veil of darkness, and the true colours of the world.

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on Earth.” Fyodor Dostoevsky.