Suffering: The Series Part 3~ What Does it Mean (Religion)

Alright, so jumping back to part 1 where we talked about definitions and connotations and whatnot, there is still more to say about the meaning of these words and concepts in terms of how it is presented and perceived in today's culture.

As mentioned before, the frequency of the word usage over the past century implies some sort of outcry, or at the very least some recent change of tides where the verbiage is slowly being introduced into common conversation, as if it is finally starting to fall away from being taboo.

But now, as more people find themselves in my office telling me stories of their own suffering and their personal interpretation of what it says about them brings to the forefront another question about suffering: How does a person's religion influence how they receive, navigate through and grow through suffering?

The short answer? Almost entirely. Let's unpack this.

Overall, the pursuit of a religion is one's pursuit of the meaning of suffering. Specifically, it is a person's attempt to make sense out of the uncertainties of life and the existence of things such as suffering, pain, disorder, etc. Ascribing to a higher power, whatever that may be, is essentially saying "As a human, there are things in my existence I cannot understand unless I assign the meaning to them as a part of a greater plan or design of someone or something who knows the world to a greater degree than I do."

That interest in understanding the uncertain, or at the very least handing that pursuit over to a higher power is as much an inclination to the spiritual as it is an acceptance or statement that there must be meaning in the things we do not understand or cannot control, otherwise life as a human is just a lottery of chaos and serenity which we can win or lose at any given moment without any significance or reason.

That being said, a person's use of religion in that way speaks to the human desire to understand things beyond comparison to another human being, as mentioned in Part 2. This is to say, when I cannot make meaning out of the fact that you and I both suffer sometimes seemingly at random, and my experience in life doesn't resemble yours at all, I will naturally look to find meaning from something that I find either exists in both cases regardless or does not exist in both situations at all. I will seek something that either explains it, justifies it or transforms it.

(NB: The struggle or inability to do this is typically what manifests as depression and often anxiety as well. This is NOT to say that depression and anxiety have any bearing on or reflection of a person's faith in their higher power, not even a little bit. These two sufferings result from mental health and one's environment, entirely separate of their ability to believe in their "God" of choice. However, the "theme," we'll say, of each is a struggle to feel hopeful (depression) and a struggle to relinquish control or the feeling of responsibility over things or events outside of one's control either in the moment or ever. Regardless of strength of faith, a person may find themselves struggling with this temporarily or chronically depending on their perception of suffering in general--More on this in a future article.)

Typically, religion does satisfy these needs. However, there certainly have been cases in which religion has either harmed or at the very least not affected these needs positively, which begs the question: Why not?

Let's go back to word usage in general. If I grew up learning to associate the word suffering with pain, distress, hurt, or whatever, my approach to any amount of suffering is going to be "This is a bad thing, whether it comes from a chaotic existence or a life in which everything has a meaning or explanation." So to speak, it doesn't matter what my religion explains about it--I could believe that my God of choice has assigned this suffering to me for the best reasons possible, and yet in my mind it is still something that exists as a negative in my life. Because my language has taught me to think suffering=bad.

So, in a scenario where religion is present and a person not only struggles to find meaning in suffering, but also uses religion to overlook the meaning there is in each encounter with suffering, the root comes not from religion but from the idea that no matter what, suffering is a bad thing that must either be tolerated for sacrificial reasons or explained simply by the idea that one has been assigned this suffering for some greater spiritual cause by the higher power of choice.

Before I go on, I would like it to be known that neither of those concepts are "foolish" or misled at heart. The point here is to highlight the damage that thinking can do if one approaches suffering from the perspective that it can never be a good thing or used for good, both on a personal level and a spiritual level.

Because, someone of more atheistic inclination can also have similar thinking despite the belief that there is no higher power. Alternatively, that same person can have even healthier views about suffering than someone of theistic inclination, simply due to the fact that without a higher power, suffering must either be approached as meaningless or as meaningful as the individual can ascertain, since there is no higher power to explain it. (If I were trying to become and stay physically fit but did not believe that a personal trainer was a worthy investment, my pursuit will either result in me giving up based on my inability to train myself, or it will result in the gain of a knowledge of my own habits, needs, weaknesses, etc.

Ultimately, the way a person navigates their own suffering, whether by use of religion or not, depends greatly on what they believe about the sufferings every human endures, and what a person believes about suffering is often greatly impacted by what a person believes is waiting for us at the end of our lives. Such that, if two people are victims of the same car crash, with the same injury, same prognosis, everything, can endure the same suffering and come to two different conclusions about themselves as a result.

How can that be? What affects a person's view of suffering, pain, hardship, etc and what affects the way a person does or does not apply religion to it? Certainly many things. To start with--and this is a part of life which impacts a person's entire life in general--is a person's individual upbringing.

Which I will dive into in the next article. Until then, let me know what you think about this one in the comments! See you next time!