Reflections on Suffering

There is a picture that was published in National Geographic Magazine back in 1985 of an Afghan girl. Her name was Sharbat Gulu, and she was and is a Pashtun, one of the more warlike tribes in Afghanistan. The picture was taken by Steve McCurry.

The Afghan girl's eyes? I think that they have witnessed much suffering but to me that is the beauty of the photograph. It has substance, depth of character, feeling. While I am not allied with any particular belief structure I have a fondness for borrowing from a variety of sources in developing my own perspective on life and its many challenges.

Siddhartha, the Buddha, wrote of four noble truths which in short deal with the concepts of the five aggregates of clinging that ultimately lead to all suffering. He also spoke and wrote of the noble eightfold path which is designed to facilitate the alleviation of suffering. Panna, or wisdom, sila, virtuous behavior, and samadhi, concentration, are three aspects of that pathway. I think that most people misinterpret Siddhartha's teaching to the extent that they belief that the noble eightfold path actually leads one to a state wherein they no longer experience suffering. I think rather that what he had in mind was a method by which one might grow beyond their attachment to suffering. I think he believed that suffering was part of the human condition. Siddhartha defined suffering itself in his four noble truths and he went on with his noble eightfold path to give us means by which to cope with that condition. We are born from suffering, live in suffering, and die in suffering and that is simply part of life, or of our existence. Siddhartha believed that craving was requisite to suffering and to me among other things cravings and compulsions are biological functions at their root level and not simply an emotional or spiritual response to external stimuli.

Vipassana meditation itself is a method the Buddha taught to teach people how to understand these cravings and compulsions at their basest physiological level……. Stimuli. On a mental,spiritual and emotional level these longings can be either subjective or objective in nature (meaning from within or from without). I think that the eightfold path is a method of teaching one to transcend to the drama that is so often associated with suffering.

Along with other tools such as mediation one learns of the mutability of live in general and suffering in specific. We need not become too consumed with our misery today because surely tomorrow will bring with it either redemption of a new batch of woes to ponder. I also think of it as a system of utilizing suffering as a tool of enlightenment instead of an excuse to wallow in our pain or lack of fulfillment at the moment. As with most things in life, suffering is transitory. If there is any great truth that lays within the human condition it is that all we experience is but a transitory illusion to some extent. With discipline one can learn to see through our own suffering, or to gaze beyond our sorrow.

So what is the point of all this rambling you might ask. Well when I see pictures such as those of the Afghan girl, I immediately pause to consider not just her suffering, which is so clear in her eyes, but also I think of her as representative of the suffering we all embrace/endure as a species.........as philosophic and emotional and spiritual creatures. I am a bit of an existentialist and feel that when one suffers...........well we all do to some extent.

We are all a part of all experiences either through our involvement or our lack thereof. I believe in Carl Jung’s concept of shared memory and would go on to elaborate that as a species we endure collective suffering as well as memory. We can either turn our back on the suffering of the world insulating ourselves from the experience of any emotional response, or we can embrace suffering in the hopes of ultimately arising as people, as a culture, as a divine experiment ... and taste of all that life has to offer in hopes of attaining some sense of the aesthetics of beauty that life can bring even in the midst of our suffering. When I look upon those incredible green eyes of Sharbat I see the beauty of a living breathing and feeling woman not just carrying all the suffering of the world, her world, but inversely also experience along with her all the love of history reflected in her gaze.

There are many things to consider when lost in a moment of hardship and suffering. Albert Camus wrote: "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer". And to me this is an important aspect of life to consider. Embedded deep within all of us there resides that ray of sunshine ... that spark of hope of courage that remains invincible. If there is ever a moment you doubt me on that idea, then I would challenge you to explain to me why it is you get up every morning.