It was about the third time I picked it up, that I remembered the quote from the preface. "To live is to suffer. To find meaning in that suffering is to have purpose." So, this book may not have a happy ending. But that's the point. There aren't always endings that give people hope, however that's not an indication that we're all spiraling through the Universe without meaning. It just means that some people are given really bad luck.
That's where my beliefs come in. I'm reading about suffering in this book. I read about suffering everyday in the local news, in the national news, and in the global news. I've read about bad things happening to people my whole life. Yet, somehow, I've grown up on the west side of Chicago without a scratch. I've got a loving family, and I haven't ever had to visit my friends in the hospital. I'm really very lucky.
Considering all of that, I don't really suffer at all. I don't believe a God has chosen me to not suffer, I just feel that somehow I've been given a massive amount of luck. This book has reminded me to pay as much of that luck forward as I can. So that's what I'm going to do, because it's all I can do to find meaning.
I agree - we are really lucky to be living the lives that we do. Reading this book makes it even more clear to us that we need to appreciate the lives we were given and realize how much others have suffered. So many people think that suffering is having 5 hours of homework or not being able to hang out with friends over the weekend. That's not suffering at all, that's just normal life. And if that's the worst part of many people's lives then they are truly lucky.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I also think that it is miraculous that the people in concentration camps can overcome suffering and see it as a spiritual opportunity. Perhaps some of the strongest, most inwardly positive people go through the worst pain and suffering.
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