growth through suffering Archives -

One needs a hard reality to work against.

December 18, 2013

One needs a hard reality to work against.

Martin Luther said that God punishes us through intermediaries like Satan, and I had asked about that.

Now to the other part of your question, why (are people punished) through the world and Satan? Immersion in the world—with its causal networks, its guilty resistance—is necessary for growth. One needs a hard reality to work against that conditions one’s actions and experience and decisions. Otherwise, nothing would be serious.

I too can only grow through suffering.

December 15, 2013

Karma is the Hindu idea that actions, both good and bad, have consequences for a person’s character and fate.

Human beings must learn a lesson. They are not in this life to sit in the lap of luxury. It is a challenge, a test. They can only grow through suffering. I too can only grow through suffering. The main suffering is through the consequences of their own actions. That is the most intense suffering, the kind of suffering that leads to suicide.