Hari
Om
'Freedays' are the 'gather our thoughts' days;
Q&As; a general review of the week so far…
The
news is currently full of world discontent. There are physical battles in some
parts, intellectual battles in other parts; personal battles, societal battles…
potential for intercontinental battles. It is a cycle. Look at history, and
unmistakably, mankind finds ways to bring things round to conflagration, but
equally, finds its way back to some semblance of tranquillity and balance
again.
In
the meantime, all the individuals of the world have to cope, one way or
another. To talk about coping, we are, by inference, talking about suffering.
If we are not suffering, then we will not have sense of 'coping', we will
simply be living. To have to 'cope' means we perceive a need to do so and that
need is likely to arise from some level of 'not coping'. Equally, those of us
who may feel balanced and are simply living, if we are decent human beings,
will have compassion for those who are in need of assistance in their coping
and we may question why it is that some seem to suffer more than others even in
situations which are the same to the observer, or why it is that some people
appear to get more than their fair share of troubles, even though they are 'good
people', whilst others may seem to go unscathed by life's transgressions.
It
is a frequent question thrown at those with faith by those who have not…
"why is there sorrow in creation, how can you say there is a God?"
It
is imperative to grasp the truth that suffering is not 'God's will'; sorrow is
not some punishment for wrong action. It is something which arises from an
erroneous interaction with the world and a misunderstanding of its nature. That
nature is change. How one deals with change, or not, is at the heart of sorrow.
We attach ourselves to people and situations and when, inevitably, change
occurs, we lose our sense of control and balance in equal proportion to our
investment in that attachment.
Everyone has their individual experience of sorrow dependent upon the personality
they bring into this life, but the basics remain the same, regardless.
As
this is a subject which can be foremost in many minds, for some weeks in the
Storyday posts, we will read from many writers, some views on sorrow, suffering
- and coping. It is hoped that reading some of these will help to dispel darkness, for those who feel its presence, and brightens the hope of those who have that.
