Natalya Smirnova talked with Viktor Petrovich Lega
Why is this world full of suffering? Is there an explanation for why the all-good, all-powerful and all-knowing God does not free our world from suffering? It turns out that God doesn’t want this?
God knows about suffering, can change and wants to, but does not save us from them. And it's hard for people to understand why that is. After all, even any person would consider it the height of selfishness not to help his friend if he is suffering and asks for help. Therefore, atheists believe that the only way to solve the problem of suffering in the world is to assume that God simply does not exist. There is no other way. If there was a God, then He, as omnipotent and good, would do everything so that we would not suffer. Diderot said that this problem, like no other, gave rise to larger number atheists. You can often hear that a person would believe in God if there were not so much evil in the world.
How is this problem solved in Christianity?
In Christianity, the answer is very simple: evil does not come from God, but from our freedom. Man was created in the image of God, created free. If God deprived man of his free will, then he would deprive man of his essence, and man would cease to be man. Therefore, if a person remains a person, then he can choose between good and evil. And if he chooses between good and evil, then he can choose evil. Otherwise he is not a man, otherwise he is not free. Thus, God is not responsible for the evil done in the world, but only man is responsible for it.
But there is also much more important factor, without taking into account which this explanation of the origin of evil in the world becomes heretical. After all, Pelagius thought about the same thing. The dogma of the Fall is also necessary.
We all know that the original sin was that Eve ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and gave it to Adam. But what is the essence of this story?
To understand this, let's figure out why God gave man the commandment “You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” It is usually said that this was the first commandment of fasting. Yes it is. But why can’t you eat from this particular tree? After all, God does not give meaningless commandments, and we, in turn, are not horses who pull a cart, not knowing where and why. The rider and the horse are fundamentally different creatures, and the horse is not required to know where the rider is directing it. Why was this particular commandment given?
Maybe Adam and Eve were not supposed to know what good and evil were, but when they ate from this tree, then good and evil appeared?
The Fathers of the Church clearly reject this version. St. John Chrysostom, for example, recalls that Satan committed his fall from God long before the appearance of Adam. Evil was already in the world, and man knew about it, and when he met Satan, he knew who he was talking to.
The reason for this prohibition can be understood if you think about the meaning of the word “cognition”. The commandment “not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” meant not to know good and evil. It would seem a very strange command. On the contrary, a person must know what is good and what is evil in order to do the first and not do the second. But in the Old Testament, knowledge did not mean knowledge in the usual sense of the word, but, as it were, “possession.” When we say “know,” we mean some kind of knowledge detached from life, just information. For example, a person can pour out his soul to us, tell us how bad he feels, and we listen and calmly say: “Thank you, I took this into account.” And we think to ourselves: “Well, that’s your problem and it doesn’t concern me.” For the Old Testament man, as for the ancient man, and also for the Christian, knowledge is the possession of the truth, unity with it. If a person has come to know the truth, then it is as if he has become consubstantial with it. From here we can understand the meaning of the first commandment given to man: he must remember that he is not the creator of the world, but a creation. The world was created for man and given to him entirely, which is symbolically expressed in the phrase “from every tree in the garden you will eat.” He was given everything at his disposal except the moral criterion. Adam and Eve had to understand that the criteria of morality, the criteria of good and evil are not in them, but in God. This indicates that good and evil are the most important concepts for a person: he can do everything at his own discretion, except what relates to the area of morality. Here's what it means. And when our ancestors ate this fruit and violated the prohibition given to them, they seemed to say: “Sorry, but we don’t agree. We are the criterion of good and evil. Good is not what God tells us, but what we ourselves choose.”
In other words, Adam and Eve were given a choice, having been told what criterion to use, and they said: “But we know better. Yes, God said “don’t eat,” but we thought and decided that this was wrong. We choose what we need." This is the position of all humanity after the Fall. If we look at how modern debates are going on on any issues: political, moral, any other, you read newspapers, watch TV or just talk with people far from the Church, then you see that a person is always based on his own ideas. Can you take any situation, for example, to get a divorce or not to get a divorce? A person begins to think: “On the one hand, I’m tired of my wife, and I can’t see her anymore, but on the other hand, I feel sorry for the children, so maybe it’s better not to get a divorce. Well, what about the children? The children are already adults, they will understand.” A person begins to figure it out for himself, based on his own ideas. He does not use any objective criterion; all his ideas are subjective. And all people after Adam began to base all matters on their own ideas.
It is often said that it was Adam who sinned, not me, so why should I suffer and be responsible for someone else's sin?
Yes, this is a well-known position: I didn’t sin, why should I be responsible for Adam’s deeds. But in reality, each of us always, every day, several hundred times makes the same choice. Even we, Christians, extremely rarely, if we delve into ourselves, set ourselves the task of acting only as the Church says. It’s good that if it comes to meat during Lent, then we can stand firm, but when it’s a little more complicated, it begins: “Yes, I’ve already done a lot, I haven’t eaten meat for two weeks, but from me here they still require something. Well, no, this is already for saints, for ascetics, but for me it’s enough to give up meat and cottage cheese.” Therefore, there is no need to say that we are saints, we constantly commit the same original sin.
Yes, it's really unclear. For example, I tell my children: “Don’t take the candy,” but they didn’t listen and ate it. What am I? I’ll tell them: “Get out!” So that you don’t set foot in my house!”? Is this what we should do? Is this the real Orthodox position? Why then are we commanded to forgive, countless times? But God did not forgive. Well, this is necessary, he tells us - farewell, but he himself has not forgiven. Almost immediately he kicked me out.
To understand this question, one must realize what the consequences of the Fall were for human nature. Man, disobeying God, took a step away from Him. God is life, therefore, man, having taken a step away from life, thereby took a step towards death. In fact, disobeying God is an act of suicide. This is why man was told, “You will die if you eat the fruit of the tree.” That is why “with sin death entered the world.” Is there a place for death in heaven, in the Kingdom of God? Certainly not. Therefore, the exile was not in the literal sense an exile, although the Bible directly says: “And he drove out Adam, and placed in the east by the garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword that turned to guard the way to the tree of life.” But, of course, this must be understood figuratively, allegorically. Man became mortal, his essence became different in comparison with the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven, so man simply could not remain in paradise. This would be a violation of the harmony of the Kingdom of God. Violation of the commandment led to a change in human being. When we forgive a child or even a murderer, we can forgive because their sins have not changed their nature. What happened to Adam is more like a fairy tale about how Ivanushka did not listen to his sister Alyonushka, drank some water and became a little goat. And after that, Ivanushka no longer had a place among people. Here is a stable for you and live in it. The nature of man has changed, and his habitat must be different. That is why the world has changed. Man changed, and his habitat changed along with him, because the world was created for man, for man. Paradise, of course, has not changed, but the created world has changed. This is the interpretation of the dogma of the Fall. And in this case, it becomes clear why God cannot stop evil and suffering in the world. Original sin became possible because man was and remains free.
But what happens, God expelled man from paradise and does nothing to bring him back? Maybe the time has come to forgive humanity for original sin? But here we get a paradoxical situation. On the one hand, God cannot return a person to paradise, because this requires complete correction of the person; the person must actually become a saint, like Adam before the Fall. But people continue to sin and are not going to correct themselves. But God cannot force a person to be sinless, because then He would make a person an unfree being, and a person would cease to be a person. But, on the other hand, God cannot put up with such a plight of man and wants his salvation. And then He Himself becomes a man, dies and is resurrected, and conquers death. Christ Himself becomes the sinless Adam and tells us that our salvation is possible, that He forgave us, Himself atoned for our sins, and only one thing is required of us - to believe in Christ, that He is truly the Son of God, who suffered and rose again for us. That is, God solved a problem that was insoluble for us: without violating our freedom, He again opened the gates of heaven for us. Therefore, to say that God does nothing to save us from evil and suffering means not understanding anything about Christianity.
What to do with the fact that God, when creating man, knew in advance that he would disobey Him and be forced to leave heaven?
God's entire plan for the world is possible only under the conditions that man has freedom and the opportunity to realize this freedom, that is, he has a choice. According to St. Augustine, God created man who could sin and could not sin, and man had to achieve perfection - such a state when he could no longer sin, that is, he would actually become the second God. But man abandoned this path; he could have sinned - and he did.
That is, in other words, if God deprived a person of choice, protected him from temptation - forbidden fruit, then a person would not be able to realize that quality of his that distinguishes us from animals - freedom?
Yes, man is the image of God, a free being, and any violence against man is his murder, the transformation of man into an animal, into a machine.
But one more question remains. So far we have spoken only about evil, but not about suffering. What is suffering? It is always some state of wrongness. If a person gets sick with something, then the person understands that it needs to be treated. Mental or physical pain is a signal of the need for treatment. Violation of the commandment of obedience to God in paradise, refusal of God, became a refusal of life and a step towards death. Therefore, suffering naturally appeared. Any person understands that illness and the accompanying pain are a symptom of death - if left untreated, the illness will end in death. Why was it said that a man will earn bread by the sweat of his brow, but his wife will give birth in pain? This should not be understood as a cruel punishment for disobedience. A normal, decent atheist who does not know dogma simply makes his hair stand on end. I have repeatedly heard atheists say: “And you love this God? Who condemns you to torment and death for the slightest disobedience? Do you want to live with Him in heaven?!” And the problem is solved very simply. This is not a punishment, but rather a statement of fact, because the person himself chose this path, he himself departed from life, and therefore he himself left heaven. And God, like a doctor, states this fact.
Let's imagine a situation: two friends are sitting in a restaurant: one ordered vodka and kebab, and the other ordered semolina porridge.
-What are you doing? - asks the first one.
“Yes, you know, the doctor doesn’t allow it,” the second one answers.
– My doctor didn’t allow me either. But I gave him a thousand dollars, and he allowed it.
This absurd dialogue shows that the doctor exists not to allow or prohibit a sick person from drinking vodka, but to make a correct diagnosis and cure, and for this the patient himself must limit himself to certain products. So God states the human condition: “Sorry, but you are terminally ill, and your life will be full of suffering.” This is not a punishment, it is a statement of fact.
Suffering in the world both from the first man and from each of us, because we commit sin every minute and every second, and live in death and suffering. But if we believe in Christ, then we understand that this is the path leading to true life, because the Savior said that “I am the way and the truth and the life.” And when we choose this path leading to life, then we find that same pristine state.
How then can we explain that more righteous people often live in suffering, while evildoers and sinners live in bliss?
Christ told us that the path to the Kingdom of Heaven is a narrow path, that is, this path itself implies some suffering. Why such a difficult path, why do you have to enter through narrow gates? The fact is that suffering is a necessary companion to any work. Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% talent and 99% perspiration. If we want to achieve something, then we must make efforts, and that is why it is said that the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force. But we must also understand that there is suffering in the name of good, in the name of love for God and one’s neighbor, and there is senseless suffering. If I deliberately pinch my finger in a door, then I will not get closer to God or to heaven.
In general, suffering is a measure of whether we live correctly. If we do not have suffering, then we must think: something must be wrong. And when there is suffering, then we understand that we are on the right path. That is why we often hear that God really sends trials to those who love Him, although due to our weakness we naturally do not want this.
Let me give you this comparison: there are two athletes, one talented, the other not so much. What will a coach say to a more talented athlete? Naturally, he will force him to train several times a day, he will constantly find fault with him, demand best results. And to another he can say: jump, run, swim for an hour and you can go home. He gives the first one suffering, and he might be offended, but he understands that this is hard for him now, and then he will become an Olympic champion. And the second one in best case scenario health will improve. A person first has to force himself, and then suddenly he begins to enjoy the same thing. But this is only if you are going in the right direction.
It is still difficult for the human psyche to accept that more suffering is allowed by God for those who love Him.
It is important to understand that God uses our mistakes for our salvation and good. God does not create evil in order to use it as some kind of instrument for salvation. Such an understanding would be a form of Manichaeism. But God uses our own mistakes for our own benefit. It is in this regard that we can say that suffering is the path to salvation. God is not so heartless. He Himself became a man and He Himself suffered, not only physically, but also mentally, because he was betrayed by both his disciples and all of God’s chosen people. He experienced all the suffering that one can imagine, both physical and mental. Therefore, God is not a detached being, indifferently watching His creature suffer.
You can often read in classical Russian literature that suffering ennobles a person, but a person who lives without suffering, in bliss and luxury, deteriorates. As the Apostle Paul said, “When sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” And what’s amazing is that the modern writer Varlam Shalamov, who spent 25 years in the Kolyma camps, actually repeated the words of the Apostle Paul. He brought out the experience from the camps that in inhuman conditions good people they get better and the bad ones get worse. The more sin there is in the camps, the more human goodness there is in them. In this sense, suffering ennobles a person.
There are people who know how to overcome themselves, who know how to rise above their adversity and overcome their own nature, their own illness. And we respect, love and adore such people. Or people who overcome the illness of other people by feeling compassion for them. The very word “co-suffering” means suffering together. Someone is suffering, but I’m fine, I’m healthy, but I have compassion for him.
The great poet A.S. Pushkin has this phrase: “I want to live in order to think and suffer.” Why, it would seem, is it to live to suffer? Some kind of masochism. But no. No suffering - no life. Because life is struggle, improvement, moving forward, and it is always accompanied by some effort. The path to the Kingdom of Heaven is the path upward. To climb a mountain, you need to make a huge effort, but to fall from a mountain, you don’t need any effort. It's always nice to fall, especially if you don't know what awaits you below.
I recently read an interview with an American rock singer who criticizes Western civilization because she created the cult of immortality. That is, a person lives as if death does not await him, a person lives for pleasure. And for pleasures to be absolute, one must imagine that they are eternal and that there will be no retribution for them. Therefore, it is not customary either in literature or in films, especially in Hollywood, to talk about death as some kind of suffering. It is not customary to talk about death as a metaphysical terrible problem that one must always think about. Our civilization is a civilization in which suffering is sought to be eliminated.
It is often believed that God sends us suffering as punishment for some of our sins. Even the apostles thought so and in a paradoxical form asked Christ a question about a man blind from birth: “... who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?” How could someone who was not yet born sin? “Jesus answered: Neither he nor his parents sinned, but this was so that the works of God might be revealed in him.” So suffering has some other reason, and is not simply a punishment for sin. There is a book in the Bible that is entirely devoted to the problem of suffering. This is the book of Job. Righteous Job, as we remember, does not agree that he suffers for some kind of sin. But his friends constantly tell him: “You suffer, that means you have sinned.” Job says: “Let God answer me why I suffer. I am pure before God." And God reveals himself to him and says: “Gird yourself like a man,” that is, get ready for a duel, if you consider yourself equal to Me. And then God asks Job several questions in this duel, the essence of which boils down to one thing: “You say that there is a lot of bad things in the world. But can you create at least the same world? Isn’t it better, at least the same?” “No,” Job answers. - “But if not, then what are you talking about then?” There is a phrase: it’s easy to criticize, do better. We all see the speck in someone else's eye without noticing the beam in our own. So here, if Job says that the world is bad, then it means he knows how to make it better, and if he doesn’t know, and especially cannot, then he must live in the one that God created. And when Job understands and agrees, he accepts the world as it is, that is, he understands that the criterion of good and evil in the world is not he, Job, but God. And then everything returns to its previous state. This is precisely what the Fall consisted of, when Adam said: “I am the criterion of good and evil.” This is precisely what Job’s forgiveness consisted of when he said: “Yes, it is not I, Job, who is the criterion, but God.” Therefore, evil and suffering in the world are a necessary consequence of the present world, corrupted by original sin. And we must accept the world as it is, thanking God for everything that He created and did for our salvation.
In this article I would like to talk about several methods that allow you to get rid of psychological suffering. Before this, there was already an article “” on the site. However, the methods proposed there were more likely to relate to a different way of life. Here, we will look at fairly specific practical techniques.
Breathing method
It is necessary to take several deep, conscious breaths. As you inhale, you seem to realize that you are inhaling your life energy, happiness, health and all the best. As you exhale, you breathe out suffering and pain. If you can’t feel it directly, you can simply imagine that you can do it. As a rule, it works almost instantly. Just two or three inhalations and exhalations are enough. The effectiveness of this method is explained by the fact that breathing is directly related to energy. We breathe in energy to live. Awareness of breathing in this way binds experiences to the flow of breath energy, and during exhalation, you will actually get rid of everything unnecessary. If you are a materialist, you can explain this effect to yourself by self-hypnosis. After all, in essence, psychological suffering is also just self-hypnosis.
Relaxation
The practice of relaxation is one of the most important and has been described on the site more than once. To be brief, the point is that the cause of any suffering is the blocks in the psychic channels along which one moves. Vital energy. During tension, where there should be movement, the energy is stopped, which causes suffering. The cause of tension is rejection - the refusal to live one’s own experiences, which as a result of such blocking go to the subconscious level. Accordingly, thanks to relaxation, we go through an exacerbation of suppressed experiences, and gradually free ourselves from them, while experiencing relief, as if something heavy and unnecessary had fallen off and it became easier to live.
Shutdown internal dialogue
It is necessary to take this method as simply and practically as possible, and to carry it out simply and specifically. This - real method, thanks to which you can endure any psychological pain. Turning off the internal dialogue is a start. Then you need to turn off fantasizing and thinking about any specific useless topics. It is best if this happens through relaxation. Otherwise, intense suppression of thinking can lead to thoughts “attacking” the mind with a vengeance. Psychological suffering is largely caused by judgments coming from the mind. Heavy thoughts, with which suffering comes into friction, make one experience rejection of life and subtle psychological tension. We can say that rejection of life is one of the facets of suffering as such. Relaxation of the mind leads to the dissolution of painful reflection. When the mind turns off, the internal evaluator goes away, and psychological pain goes along with it.
Contemplation of "I"
Patience
Understanding the meaning of what is happening gives patience. It must be remembered that suffering develops and strengthens the personality - that is, it makes us stronger. Monks who patiently endured difficulties became saints. Of course, this should not turn into masochism and self-flagellation. But every person in life at certain periods needs to take bold steps and patiently cope with difficulties.
Prayer
This method, if you can call prayer a method, helps in the most difficult life situations. When nothing can help, a person is saved.
Communication
Ordinary communication on worldly topics is what helps to distract from reflection and absorption in heavy thoughts. However, communication has a much more powerful effect in a situation where consciousness cannot find any support. If an unwary mystic somehow jumped over necessary steps development, and he was brought into a state where the personality is not able to find support, but still needs it, communication magically quickly returns consciousness to the usual tracks.
Method of immersion in suffering
This is perhaps the most radical and difficult method. As you know, in order to get rid of any experience, sometimes you just need to intensify it and fully live it. Then the experience burns out, exhausts itself and the person experiences relief, catharsis. Sometimes on a physical level this can lead to dizziness. If you feel nauseous at this time, you may the best way will drink a liter warm water and induce vomiting.
Setting up for love
This method attracts positive, harmonious energy, a state in which all suffering dissolves. If, for example, the cause of your suffering is the action of another person, you need to take a radical step for your pride and wish Love and warmth to the offender. Sometimes it is extremely difficult. However, there is a practical way to approach this. Ask yourself: do you need suffering? With resentment and anger, you only make things worse for yourself. If you wish warmth and love to a stranger, by doing this, you, in essence, bring warmth and love to that area of your being where you felt the suffering associated with this person. If there are no external reasons, simply feel that the source of love is in the heart of your being. If you can't feel it, just imagine it. This method can be used even when everything is fine. Masters say that the only way to go through life without psychological stress is to love all living things.
Text source:
Translation based on the publication: Plutarchs Moralia. London: William Heinemann Ltd; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University press, 1962. V. 6. P. 377-391 (Loeb Classical library).
Introduction
This speech to the people or diatribe (Polenz thinks so, I believe correctly, and thus I do not accept Willamowitz’s combination of this and the previous works as fragments of the same dialogue) was read by Plutarch (Xylander is practically the only one who denies its authenticity, but on what basis he does not say) in some city of Asia Minor: Volkmann (Plutarch, Vol. I, p. 62f) thinks that in Sardis - the capital of the province, Haupt (Opuscula, III, 554 - Hermes, VI, 258) - that in Halicarnassus, Vilamowitz (Hermes, XL, 161ff) - which is in Ephesus. The occasion was clearly the consul's annual review of court cases from throughout the province. The proof that mental torment is worse than physical suffering is given in the public domain and in Chap. 4 in a dramatic manner. The conclusion is lost. The same theme is developed by Maximus of Tire (Orat., VII, ed. Hobein, XIII, ed. Dubner), but in a banal and hackneyed manner and, moreover, he shows neither knowledge of Plutarch's speech nor any connection with his sources. Cicero, at the beginning of the third book of Tusculan Conversations, shows some connection with Plutarch’s arguments. Siefert (Comm. Ienenses, 1896, pp. 106-110) substantiates the opinion that some part of this work was borrowed by Plutarch from the υπομνημα (I would prefer to say θπομνηματα) used by him in writing De Tranquillitate. The text is not in very good condition. The work is number 208 in the Lampria catalogue.
Which suffering is stronger - physical or spiritual?
I Homer, contemplating different types mortal beings and comparing them among themselves in regard to their lives and customs and exclaiming that
Of the creatures that breathe and crawl in the dust,
True in the whole universe there is no more unhappy person
awarded man the unfortunate primacy in that he surpasses everyone in misfortunes. For us, who already know that man has won the victory over everyone in bad luck and has been publicly proclaimed the most unfortunate of all animals, allow us to compare him with ourselves, separating the body from the soul as regards their individual misfortunes - a task that is not at all useless, but also even absolutely necessary, because in this way we can understand because of whom: because of Fortune or because of ourselves, our life is more unhappy. Indeed, while the cause of the occurrence of bodily ailments is Nature, vice and evil in the soul, firstly - the work of her own hands, and then - her illness. Therefore, we will greatly contribute to peace of mind if we try to heal the worst of the two, making it easier to bear and weakening the force of attacks.
II The fox in Aesop, arguing with the leopard about who is more beautiful, so when he showed his body and especially his skin, surprisingly spotted, while the fox’s red skin was ugly, even unpleasant to look at, she said to the judge:
Look at me inside, judge
And you will find me much more colorful than him
And my diversity is more beautiful
, making it obvious to him the sophistication of his own soul, which took many forms if necessary. So here it is. Let us say to ourselves here: “O man! Your body undergoes many illnesses and suffering from its own nature, and also receives it from the outside. If you opened yourself from the inside, you would find, in the words of Democritus, a diverse and long-suffering repository and storehouse of misfortunes; they do not flow from the outside, but have, as it were, local and autochthonous sources, flowing from evil forces, consisting of abundant and varied passions.” Further, while bodily diseases are detected by the pulse and redness skin, unusual fever and sudden pain, mental disorders are hidden from many of those who suffer from them and for this reason are a great evil, since they do not inform those about themselves. who suffers from them. The mind, being healthy, is aware of the illnesses of the body, but being affected by mental illnesses, it cannot form a judgment about its own ailments, because they affect the very part with the help of which it judges. We must, therefore, admit that the first and greatest of mental illnesses is recklessness, with the help of which vice, having entered into indissoluble cohabitation with it, lives and dies with the majority of people. After all, the beginning of healing lies in understanding that you are sick, understanding which leads to the use of what is good for you. ; but the one who does not recognize himself as sick ignores his own needs and, although the medicine is in front of him, still rejects it. Likewise, among bodily diseases, the worst are those that are accompanied by clouding of consciousness - lethargy, severe headaches, epilepsy, apoplexy and those fevers that, through the force of inflammation, darken the mind and upset the senses, as if musical instrument“touching the heart strings. that no one has touched before."
III That is why every doctor wants, firstly, that a person not be sick, and secondly, if he is still sick, so that he does not remain in the dark about his illness, which happens with all mental illnesses. After all, when a person acts recklessly, lustfully or unfairly, he does not think that he is doing wrong, and sometimes even believes that he is right. After all, although no one calls fever “health”, consumption “excellent condition”, does not call gout “fleet-footed”, and the one with a sallow complexion “having a fresh complexion”, but quite a few people call ardor “masculinity”, unnatural love - “ friendship,” envy as “competition,” and cowardice as “caution.” Further, one who is sick in body sends for a doctor, because he realizes who he needs to counteract his illness, but who is sick in soul often avoids philosophers, because he thinks that he is doing well in those matters in which he is actually mistaken . Following this logic, we come to the conclusion that poor eyesight is easier to bear than madness, and gout is easier to bear than inflammation of the brain. After all, a sick person is physically aware of this and calls for a doctor, and when he comes, he allows him to anoint his eyes or open his veins; and on the contrary, you have certainly heard about Agave, how she, seized by madness due to the violence of passion, did not recognize the most precious creation of her own womb and shouted:
We carry from Kiferon
Your catch is happy,
This trophy is fresh,
A brush of ivy to the palace.
Anyone who is physically ill becomes docile, goes to bed and remains at peace until he is cured, and if it happens that when a fever approaches him, he restlessly tosses and turns in bed, then one of those who sits with him , meekly tells him:
Lie down, unhappy brother, you can’t see anything
and thus restrains and bridles him; those who suffer from mental illness suddenly become active, and then remain at rest. After all, motivation is the beginning of action, and in the soul, which is in an abnormal state and the motivations are frantic. This is the reason why they do not allow the soul to rest in peace, but just when a person most needs peace, silence and rest, they cause irritation, drag them into disputes, induce either dirty love attraction or heart-breaking sorrow, they pull you away from home, force you to do a lot of illegal things and talk a lot that you shouldn’t talk about.
IV And like that storm that does not allow the ship to enter the port, it is more dangerous. than the one that does not allow him to sail, so those mental storms are more dangerous that do not allow a person to restrain himself and calm his agitated mind, so that, being without a helmsman and without an anchor chain, confused and helplessly wandering, he rushes headlong recklessly and in a disastrous way, until he suffers a terrible crash, in which he loses his life. Therefore, also for this reason, it is worse to be sick in soul than in body; after all, that one. whoever is sick in body only suffers, the same one who suffers in soul and behaves erroneously, and therefore badly. But why list the many mental illnesses? The current case itself provides us with an opportunity. Do you see that huge and motley crowd that is crowding and jostling on the forum. After all, she did not gather for the sake of sacrifice to the paternal gods, not to participate in sacred ceremonies, not to bring Zeus of Askreia “the first fruit of the harvest of the Lydian land,” not to celebrate his secret holiday with a common feast in honor of Dionysus on sacred nights. But a powerful wind drove them together and the annual cycle, stirring up Asia, brought them here to resolve their legal cases and litigation; and a great multitude of cases, like stormy streams, poured into one market square, where they boiled madly, rushed together in a storm and “victory cries and mortal groans were mixed together.”
If you don't want to be wise, suffer.
Proverb
Why does a person suffer? Should he suffer? Is it possible to avoid suffering? If possible, then what needs to be done for this? Let's take a step towards the truth and look for answers to these questions. It is important to do this right now, during the transition to a new era.
To answer the first question: why does a person suffer, it is necessary to clarify: has a person always suffered? There are different opinions, but many sources say that at the beginning of human history there was no suffering. Remember the biblical stories about Adam and Eve who lived in Paradise? Daniil Andreev in the book “Rose of the World” wrote: “There were times when a person did not suffer, when he was not punished, and the forces of light eliminated mistakes for people and taught them.”
What happened? Why has man's position changed? The Bible says that a person violated the prohibition and committed some illegal act. Whose ban? Who undertook to limit the freedom of man given to him from the very beginning? Religion says: Creator, Creator, God, that is, parent. Parents also impose certain prohibitions on their children: don’t do this, don’t take that... But everyone knows that it is better not to prohibit a child, but to arrange his life in such a way that it is safe for him and for those around him. This is one of the tasks of parents: to remove knives, matches, medicines from the child’s eyes, and later teach him how to use them correctly.
Why did the all-good and all-seeing God leave the tree of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, after tasting the fruits of which a person could suffer and even die? “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou shalt eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Knowing such consequences, God still left this tree next to man. So it was necessary! That’s why the serpent appeared and said: “No, you will not die; but God knows that on the day that you eat of them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” And further, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God confirmed the words of the serpent: “And the Lord God said: Behold, Adam became like one of Us, knowing good and evil...»
It turns out that man was destined to do all this, and God knew it. Why did the Creator get so angry, dress people in “leather clothes” and drive them out of Paradise? And why did God put the seal of sin on a person’s actions? “And he said to Adam: cursed earth for you..." And he told his wife that she would give birth in illness, and her husband would rule over her. And many other curses were said.
The answer to such strong anger of God can be found in another phrase of the Bible: “...And now, lest he (Adam) stretch out his hand, and neither did he take from the tree of life and didn't taste it and didn't live forever"(Emphasis added by me - N.A.) This is what the gods were afraid of: that man would learn the secret eternal life and he will become like them. “And he cast out Adam, and placed a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned round at the east of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life.” (All these excerpts are from the Bible, Genesis, chapter 3.)
Of all this, perhaps the most obvious main reason the occurrence of suffering. The man resignedly accepted the punishment and subsequent suffering as a result of his sin! And he allowed himself to be convinced of this throughout all generations! Not only has man accepted this suffering, he constantly seeks justification for it, creating theories, religions, and philosophies. Many go even further, declaring suffering a blessing and leading hundreds of millions of people along this path! For example, N. Berdyaev wrote: “Suffering and the torment of life is a great religious school that humanity goes through.”
Almost all religions adhere to the statement that human suffering is nothing more than punishment for sin, payment for committing evil, and accepting suffering is atonement for sin. Thus, suffering was equated with sinfulness, which made it possible to exploit a person, turn him into a slave, destroy him, convincing him that he deserved it.
Sometimes a person is called a “vessel of evil”! No religion is capable of saving a person from suffering, therefore it declares them to be obligatory and inevitable elements of existence.. And to console oneself in suffering, one looks for something positive.
Let's assume that man is initially free ! Having freedom allows a person to do any step, he has the right to do so. A person's steps can also be wrong. Having freedom makes a person person, and not a biorobot programmed for error-free actions.
Freedom includes the right to make mistakes. This conclusion is extremely important! A person has the right to make mistakes! Thanks to this, a person can be creator ! And no one has the right to label a person’s mistakes as “sin”! The right to make a mistake - necessary condition creativity, and the mistake itself is an element of creativity!
Another thing is that most people do not realize responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and actions and strain the world. Many live by the proverb: “We are dark people: we don’t know what sin is, what salvation is.” The narrower the consciousness and the less love a person has in his actions, thoughts and feelings, the more tension he creates, which, in turn, can return to him with problems and suffering.
For example, a person builds a house, feeling indifference to his neighbors or having conflicts with them. This, as a rule, will result in difficult relationships with them, minor and major troubles. There is a popular wisdom: “a gentle calf sucks two queens.” She says that a kind person creates around itself space of love, in which his actions do not create tension and become creative, attracting to him everything positive from the World.
Thus, the tension that arises, and especially the suffering, after one or another step of a person is a signal that in this step, in the actions not enough love. Therefore, the error must be corrected as soon as possible. That is, suffering must be seen as signal to action, to find errors, to correct them, to move to something new state of love!
Yes, suffering as a signal to action, to love can be called a good thing, but as a means of purification, “working off karma” - this is clearly not a good thing, at least it’s not the best way! Unconditional acceptance of suffering leads to the fact that a person does not learn from mistakes, does not benefit from them and, therefore, becomes increasingly immersed in suffering. In the end, he comes to a state where, without outside help it's quite difficult for him to get out, and he starts asking.
The stigma of original sinfulness presses on us and helps us plunge even faster into suffering. And now a person is already asking for help from a doctor, from the state, from some otherworldly forces, from God. Suffering can morally elevate both the individual and the nation, but only to a certain limit. This can only be a certain stage, and a very individual and short one at that. Further suffering destroys both the individual and the nation.
Richard Bach writes in his story “The One and Only”: “At birth, each of us is given a block of marble and a sculptor’s chisel. We can drag this block behind us (like our cross), and without touching it, we can crush it into small crumbs, but we have the power to create a great creation of beauty from it.”
A person comes to Earth to transform himself and the World, to gain experience of the soul. This can be put into practice both through suffering, through self-sacrifice, and through joy, through happiness! Who chooses which path? In my opinion, a person needs to reject life with suffering and take as a basis the identity: life is happiness!
Suffering often makes you angry strong man and mentally devastate the weak. “Pain or other suffering, if it continues for a long time, causes depression and reduces the ability to function” (C. Darwin). True, there are cases when people are programmed by some idea, and then they can accept suffering joyfully and consciously go to death. There are many such examples in history.
A religious worldview can also reject the “sinful flesh” and deliberately send a person to suffer. It is not for nothing that most of the saints are great martyrs. Religions say that suffering elevates the soul, helps “break the shackles of the mortal world and reach God.”
In all cultures, suffering plays an important role in education (through punishment). In all states, significantly less money is spent on educating a person than on maintaining the apparatus of punishment (courts, prisons, security forces...).
The state and religion simply need a suffering person, otherwise who will they care about? But for this concern, through labor, taxes, tithes and donations, they create luxury and benefits for the entire religious and state hierarchy. A happy person does not need all these add-ons to a large extent.
Suffering can have different functions. They can be passive or active, causing feelings of depression or a desire to overcome suffering. The experience of guilt can lead to learning lessons, to self-improvement, or to self-torture, which increases the spiritual crisis and the cycle of suffering. Based on this, the entire volume of suffering can be divided into several components.
Firstly, severe forms of suffering of the soul and body associated with illness and death. This form of suffering is more harmful to a person, generating in him a strong surge of negative feelings and thoughts. D. Andreev spoke about such sufferings, that they are the food of demonic forces. Agree, premature death loved ones, accidents and catastrophes, natural disasters and wars, severe forms of diseases that claim people’s lives do not contribute to the growth of spirituality, joy and happiness. There is no excuse for such suffering. They shouldn't exist on Earth! Learn to say “No!” such suffering!
Secondly, there are easier forms of suffering, which most often arise when making mistakes and incorrectly reacting to signals from the World. Often a person increases the suffering of himself and his loved ones by having certain misconceptions, including religious ones. This suffering can be used for learning, for gaining experience, but whoever does not do this can move on to severe forms of suffering.
Unfortunately, most people widely use this form of suffering in their lives. Having missed signs and signals about erroneous steps that strain the World, a person continues to go in the same direction and gets problems. A certain amount of spiritual literacy is required sensitivity of perception Peace and the desire to escape from suffering. Gradually, each person needs to gain experience of the soul not through suffering and solve their problems without sacrificing their health and happiness.
Thirdly, there is also a form of suffering caused by the pain of others, the suffering of people, and nature. This is the so-called compassion. Compassion is a necessary quality of a person, based on his kindness and love for people. Very often, seeing the suffering of others, a person experiences it himself. He suffers, gets upset, worries, and tells others about this suffering. But you can’t help in this way, and if there is help, it will be insignificant. Happening redistribution suffering between the sufferer and the compassionate.
True compassion is not only in feeling the pain of another, but, most importantly, in the desire to alleviate or remove it! Create an ever-increasing space of love around yourself- this is the task of a compassionate soul. And in this space of love, all suffering will decrease or disappear altogether.
Fourthly - the suffering of love and the torment of creativity. This is high suffering, but sometimes it leads to more serious suffering and even death. If there is suffering in love, for example, jealousy, resentment, aggression, then, consequently, love is not fully revealed, and there are “impurities” in it. As love grows, suffering will go away. This also applies to creativity.
There is no need to lump together all types of suffering and, based on the resulting assortment, draw conclusions about the necessity or unnecessaryness of suffering. Each type of suffering must be considered separately, and for each person the boundaries between types of suffering are different. And then it will be clear which sufferings are the food of demonic forces, are an obstacle on the path to the Truth, and which ones give birth to “unspeakable light” and become a step towards its comprehension.
There is another aspect of suffering to consider, which is revealed when the question is asked: who benefits from this? It turns out that there are structures, individual entities and people for whom the suffering of others, and often their own, becomes a source of life. If there is a lot of suffering, then not only does one get used to it, it can lead to sadism and masochism.
Thus, structures are born that live off the energy of suffering and experience pleasure from suffering. As they say: the worse, the better. This is what some politicians and parties do, for example, creating tension in society, causing discontent, negative emotions, whose energy they feed on and on this basis develop their activities.
Unfortunately, there are still many forces interested in increasing suffering. These include religions. Agree, people most often look for consolation and relief from pain and suffering in church. Happy man rarely goes to church. Hence the desire to convince a person of his original sinfulness, of the inevitability of suffering and even of its usefulness.
Ramakrishna said: “Some Christians and Brahmanists see the whole religion in the concept of sin. Their ideal of piety is the one who prays: “O Lord, I am a sinner, have mercy, forgive my sins!” They forget that the concept of sin distinguishes the first and lower stages of spirituality... people are not aware of the power of habit. If you always say, “I am a sinner,” you will remain a sinner forever.”
How can you alleviate your suffering? How to learn to live without suffering? Let's look at a few psychological techniques, a kind of household psychotechnics that can alleviate suffering. Thus, analysis and explanation of the situation, encouragement, and sometimes thoughts about more serious situations (“it could be worse”) help to overcome fear. These methods allow you to achieve the desired behavior in critical situations, but do not eliminate the causes of suffering.
There is an “everyday” way to overcome grief - crying, which discharges self-pity. This is a very common form of protection, but it is an illusion of self-love. Self-pity simultaneously paralyzes the will and ultimately exacerbates loneliness. Probably the only one positive point self-pity is what occurs when there is a release and separation from the situation. Self love exclusively an important part spirituality, but it should not turn into pity, but should form the basis for active self-help.
The easiest way to overcome suffering is to get away from it, to be distracted. Most often, this is work, drinking, entertainment, and also following the aphorism “time heals” - patiently waiting for the suffering to dull. There is also a positive element here, but such techniques, again, do not eliminate the cause of suffering.
There is a common way to overcome suffering - self-justification. The negative aspect of self-justification is self-deception, that is, a lack of internal honesty to call a spade a spade. Thus, a person evaluates what is happening biasedly, narrows his field of vision, and does not find the real reason situations that cause wrong actions and lay the foundation for future suffering.
All the options considered do not eliminate suffering, but only soften its severity. In order to gradually move away from suffering in your life, you need an active position towards it. The first thing to do, especially in difficult situations, is to get out of the state of depressive paralysis.
It is necessary to understand that it is useless to waste energy on negative experiences. You need to rise above the situation, look at it, as it were, from above. When assessing a situation, you need to understand whether it is real or far-fetched. For example, a frightening situation may not occur. Why “die” in advance? We must also remember that fear attracts danger, and that in any situation there is an opportunity to alleviate it.
Second - remember that a person always has the strength to overcome any problem, to solve any task!
Third. To get rid of suffering, the ability to put an end to it is very important. An unfinished situation entails continued suffering. For example, when experiencing feelings of guilt or regret about missed opportunities, thoughts are constantly spinning in your head: “How should you have behaved?”, “Or maybe it was like this...?”
To stop this self-flagellation, it is necessary to remember that you have the right to make mistakes! But at the same time, it is necessary to quickly comprehend what happened, find the cause and draw conclusions. Remember: man is the creator of his own destiny !
Let's consider the sequence of actions when some problems and suffering arise. It is necessary to realize that You made mistakes, which led to this state. First, try to find mistakes in your relationships with those closest to you (husband, wife). Analyze how the relationship developed a month before the event, six months, a year. Perhaps some difficulties grew, there were breakdowns, serious offenses were committed... (This way of putting your rear in order is always necessary, for any problem: be it in health or finances...).
Found reasons, and there may be several of them, must be corrected. How? Sometimes it’s enough just to realize the mistakes you’ve made, and the problem will go away. Sometimes, you need to ask for forgiveness for what you have done, move towards rapprochement, and show love in some form. That is, use all opportunities to improve the couple’s relationship. Such steps will definitely pay off handsomely!
If you have not found any noticeable reasons in the couple’s relationship, then you should consider the second circle - relationships with children. Here you also need to analyze the events and eliminate any errors found. Next, you need to look for mistakes in relationships with parents and relatives. The problems may be long-standing, for example, recently memories of some events related to parents have arisen (even if the participants in those events are no longer in this world).
It is necessary to understand as honestly as possible, to realize their errors. The next circle is friends, work colleagues. There may be some reasons for your problems in your relationship with them. Remember extraordinary events, unexpected encounters that preceded your problems - there may also be reasons there.
In some cases, it is also necessary to check the influence of cycles with a periodicity of 1, 3, 5, 7. In some cases, there is also a cycle with a periodicity of 2. What does this mean? For example, a person has an accident. Do you need to remember what happened a month ago, two, three, five, seven? Then: a year ago, two, three, five, seven? Perhaps you will find some errors there.
Having analyzed your relationships in this way, circle by circle, you will probably discover mistakes that have become the cause of your problems and suffering. The more sincerely and honestly you realize the causes of problems in yourself, the faster you will feel relief. It can occur immediately, at the moment of awareness, or after some time. The longer the suffering lasts, the longer it usually takes to go away.
When He was arrested in the middle of the night, Jesus appeared before the Sanhedrin and the high priest Caiaphas; It was here that He received his first physical injuries. One of the ministers hit Jesus in the face because He answered Caiaphas' questions with silence. Then they blindfolded Him and mocked Him, demanding to guess which of them spat on Him or hit Him in the face.
Early in the morning of Jesus, tormented and beaten, suffering from thirst and from fatigue after sleepless night, led through all of Jerusalem to Pontius Pilate. You, of course, know how Pilate tried to shift all responsibility onto Herod. It is known that Herod did not cause any bodily harm to Jesus and returned Him to Pilate. And then, in response to the demands of the crowd, Pilate ordered the guards to release Barabbas, and handed over Jesus to scourging and crucifixion. Many believe that Pilate initially sentenced Jesus only to scourging (see the Gospel of John), and the punishment of death by crucifixion was a response to the ridicule of the crowd, who accused Pilate of not being a friend of Caesar. Preparations are underway for the scourging. The prisoner's clothes are torn off. They tie His hands and tie them to a pole above His head. A Roman legionary comes forward with a short whip in his hand. This whip consists of several heavy leather straps, to the ends of which two lead balls are attached. The heavy scourge falls again and again with all its force onto the shoulders, back and legs of Jesus. At first, the heavy lead balls only cut the skin. With subsequent blows, they penetrate deeper into the flesh, causing blood to begin to ooze from damaged capillaries and vessels. And finally, blood spurts from the damaged arteries through the torn muscles. Lead balls turn your back into a continuous bleeding wound. The skin on the back hangs down in patches.
When the centurion in charge of the scourging determined that the prisoner was close to death, the beating finally stopped.
After this, Jesus was untied, and He, half-dead, bleeding, sank heavily onto the paving stones.
The Roman soldiers laughed heartily at this Jewish provincial who called Himself a king. They threw a kind of robe over His shoulders and put a cane in His hand instead of a scepter. All that was missing for the parodic resemblance was a crown. They wove a crown from flexible branches covered with long sharp thorns, and with effort they placed it on His head. And the blood flows again. They beat Him in the face, and, having laughed enough, the soldiers took the cane from His hands and began to beat Him on the head with it so that the thorns pierced deeper into the skin. Finally, tired of their sadistic sport, they tore off His robe. But it had already stuck to the blood clots on His wounds, and when it was removed, it caused unbearable, excruciating pain, as if He was being scourged again. The wounds began to bleed again.
Contrary to Jewish customs, the Romans returned His clothes and placed a heavy cross on His shoulders.
The entire procession, with a detachment of Roman soldiers, led by a centurion, slowly set off. The cross is too heavy. Jesus is exhausted and has lost a lot of blood. He stumbles and falls. The rough bar cuts the torn skin and muscle of His shoulders. He tries to rise, but His strength is exhausted to the limit. The centurion, who is impatient to begin the crucifixion, forces Simon the Cyrene, who was passing by, to carry the cross. Jesus follows him, still bleeding and constantly covered in drops of cold, sticky sweat.
The path from the fortress to Golgotha is coming to an end. The prisoner's clothes are again torn off - all except for the loincloth, which was permissible for the Jews. The soldiers begin the execution. Simon is ordered to lay the cross on the ground. Jesus is knocked down and falls backward. His shoulders are level with the bar. The legionnaire takes Him by the wrist, trying to feel the fading pulse. He drives a thick faceted wrought iron nail into His wrist and then deep into the wood. Then he does the same with the other wrist, carefully making sure that the arms are not too stretched so that the prisoner can move. Then the left leg is pressed with the right, both legs are extended, and a nail pierces their feet, while the knees are not secured. Then they nail the inscription to the cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews!”
The victim is crucified and the cross is raised. As Jesus slowly slides down under his own weight, the tissue and nerves in his wrists are torn, causing excruciating pain to shoot through his fingers, arms and head. Trying to get rid of the all-encompassing pain, He rises, and at the same time the entire weight of the body is transferred to the nail in the legs, which tears the nerves between the bones in the legs, causing severe agony.
At this moment the following happens. When your arms get tired, terrible cramps run through your muscles like a wave, causing sharp, throbbing pain. These convulsions do not allow Him to rise. Because He is hanging from His arms, He is paralyzed pectoral muscles. And the intercostal muscles are also motionless. Almost no air enters the lungs and barely leaves them. Jesus struggles to get up to take even one short breath. As a result, the lungs accumulate carbon dioxide, bleeding and cramps gradually subside. He convulsively pulls himself up, takes a breath and swallows life-sustaining air. It was in these brief moments that He, experiencing unbearable torment, uttered seven short phrases: “Father! Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”; turning to the repentant thief: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise”; to John (beloved disciple): “Behold thy mother”; to His mother Mary: “Woman! Behold, your son." And then he exclaimed in the words of Psalm 21: “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? Hours of pain, spasms and convulsions, interspersed with partial suffocation, dragged on endlessly; the pain in the tormented back is unbearable when He rises and then slides down the cross again; terrible chest pain. The loss of fluid in the tissues has reached a critical state; the heart barely beats; the lungs are trying with their last strength to contain at least a small portion of air... And Jesus cried out: “I am thirsty.” A sponge moistened with vinegar diluted with water, which was the main drink of the Roman legionaries, is raised to His lips. Without a doubt, He does not take a sip. Now Jesus' body is tense to the limit, and He feels the chill of death running through him. The consciousness of this is reflected in His cry: “It is finished.” His redemptive mission was completed. He can finally allow His body to die. With a last effort of will, He, once again leaning on the nail that pierced His feet, straightened His legs, took a deep breath and exclaimed in a loud voice: “Father! I commit My spirit into Your hands.”
M.D. S. Truman Davis
