eThoughts : Struggling vs Suffering

Perhaps a helpful evolution for 2007 would be the ability to distinguish between suffering and struggling. Life appears to be a struggle at times and it appears that while we can dodge the struggle on occasion, we cannot avoid it altogether. Any kind of birth, learning, growing, etc. is marked by struggle. A baby chick must crack through its shell, an adolescent human will struggle to find its independent identity, learning new things can be a challenge, and so on. Struggling is very much a part of the way life is. This is not to say that there is no respite from the struggle—we sleep, we vacation, we lounge—it is only to say we cannot avoid the natural struggle, nor should we.

However, struggling is not the same as suffering. Consider suffering as a psychological consequence, struggling as a natural one. If we confuse the two, we can edge into the dark abyss of abandonment as suffering can seem so ignoble that we despair about our place in the universe or be forced to embrace suffering as normal and even glorious. Both are a big mistake.

Consider this: Our body is not our being, it is our vehicle. I once heard J. Krishnamurti speak in Ojai, California. During the Q and A that followed, he was asked about how he was doing—he had Parkinson’s and the resultant tremors. His reply was that he was doing just fine, but his body was having some difficulty. His condition was a struggle perhaps, but not a suffering. There is nothing new in making this distinction. Human history has many such teachings and practices, some carried to the point of ridiculousness. Do we really need to lie on a bed of nails with stones piled atop us while someone jumps up and down on our prone body to teach us to make the separation between mind and body?

All right, this mind/body connection and separation is a potential can of worms. However, why does the mind/body have to be either solely connected or solely separated? Is it possible to be either and/or both depending on the context? If our body is feeling full of life and energy, let the mind and body interact. If our body is tweaked and in pain, let the mind and body separate. Just because something is separated, doesn’t mean it has to be permanently dissociated or lost. The art of connection and separation can be tools, they don’t have to just be conditions.

So here is yet another thought for 2007: Suffering does not have to be a part of the human condition, it can be assumed. We can stop it if we learn, and the vehicle is the art of separating without getting lost in that separation. Struggling is a part of the human condition, it is natural. But being natural doesn’t mean we have to constantly seek it out—it seems to me that the struggle comes around whether we like it or not. In 2007 and beyond, let’s learn more about enjoying the respite between struggles, embracing the struggle when it comes, and in any case, forgoing the suffering. Suffering does not serve anything but some weird psychological part of ourselves that wants and needs an excuse for not learning.