Why do we suffer?, by Ibrahim T. Tumsah
Radical Thought
The reason we enjoy so many fictional stories or historical figures portrayed in books, films and even video games is that we like to see a hero’s journey. From his humble beginnings— when he was nothing, to the trials he faced on his climb up his mount Everest, to the peak of the mountain. We enjoy these epics solely because our hero suffers before he gets to the top. He suffers because he needs to go through this fire to become polished. For our hero’s character development he needs to suffer. For any man that lives in comfort without going through trials in his life is not human, but a domesticated animal. An animal which is only good for viewing at a zoo. A life without suffering is an unexamined life. There is nothing worse than an unexamined life.
We suffer because our soul yearns to be under a microscope. Our inner spirit requires being thrown into the fire to forge a resolve that pushes us on to greater things. All the great people of history endured their own trifling moments where nothing seemed to be going right, only to emerge out of that ordeal a changed person— an evolved soul. Evolved from the fire into steel, with a resolve that is unbreakable. For the caterpillar to become a butterfly it must first spend
In the Quran (2:155) Allah says; “And certainly we shall test you with something of fear; hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits (or crops) but give glad tidings to the patient.”
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It is a matter of necessity that we go through these tests. For what worth is a man if all his life is comfort? The trials of life having come out of the other side becomes etched into our soul’s consciousness to teach us to remain patient when events don’t go our way. Trials teach us that things won’t always go our way, but the best way to handle the disappointments of life is to exhibit patience. The one who can teach himself patience in hard times soon discovers that that was the best quality that life has thought him. Trials are not meant to be easy, some experiences are supposed to be difficult. But because things are difficult is why we seek to overcome them. No soul emerges from the barrier of pain, grief and hardship comes out of the other side the same person. No! That soul, that being—is an evolved spirit. That soul has taken on a different essence, it has now become elevated into something much greater, something much more relatable, something much more mythical.
Yet, even as that soul has evolved it knows that without going through that hurdle of suffering, his world would not look the same. He has things to fight for, things he has to let go, things that mean much less that were once given so much importance. Without trials we would not appreciate what we have been blessed with without effort. Maybe we took them for granted— our family, our kids, our spouse, our wealth, our security. Simply put, mankind would not have come so far in human and technological advancement if all we sought was comfort. We strove for comfort and advancement because we knew we had to suffer to attain them. How would you know comfort if you havent suffered to attain it? how would you know life, if you didnt know death? how would you know rest if you didnt know exhaustion? is sweetness the same as something bitter? is average the same as greatness?
Comfort is an illusion, it is only those that have seen and experienced suffering that know the true realities of the world. “Society tames the wolf into a dog. And man is the most domesticated animal of all.” wrote Friedrich Nietzsche. A house cat is not the same as its brother the lion, for the same reason a man too used to comfort is not the same as the one hardened by trials. The higher man cannot afford to allow himself to become domesticated. He must fight, scratch and claw to remove himself from comfort. He must strive in search for a higher purpose. He must seek out his own difficulties. He must be able to confront his trials head on with nowhere to hide. A man must always have a new mountain to climb. He must always have a new monster to defeat. A man must never allow himself to think that he has fought all his battles. There is always one more battle to fight, one more trial to overcome, one more dragon to slay. It is not self punishment, it is the reality that confronts him every day. The spirit must never be tamed, it must carry a flame. Its flame is its source of light. Its flame is its guiding principle always forging a new path until its final resting place.
A stoic reflection from Marcus Aurelius says, “The impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way becomes the way.” The obstacles that life throws at us must become the way. We advance because we push through that barrier of suffering to become better for it. The suffering is what brings about growth. Therefore, we must push on, we must continue striving unremittingly to achieve every milestone that life has to offer. Bearing in mind that suffering necessitates evolution. To suffer is to be human and to be human one must suffer.
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