The Origin of Suffering

Bad behavior - that's the origin of most suffering. Right now as I type this I have a tummy ache. And it's because once again I stuffed my face with too much food last night: piece after piece of fish, and beef and beans. I didn't sleep well because I kept waking up to go to the bathroom. I still am working on my eating habits. In the evening or at night, when the pangs of aloneness hit, I still take solace in food rather than ponder on the Lord, as the psalmist would say. And every once in a while I get stomach trouble, or throat trouble. It's like that in other areas of life as well. When we do not behave properly, suffering usually results. For example, we do not study and so we do poorly on an exam, and we feel bad about it. We drink and drive and then have an accident and feel poorly about it. We do not spend wisely and so we're always broke, too broke to afford the bare necessities of life. Bad behavior is a significant cause for human suffering.

 

Recall the bible story of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Even were enjoying life to the fullest. God had made everything perfect: the birds, the trees; lots of fruits trees; the brooks and meadows and everything. It was a paradise. And Adam had Eve, the love of his life - what more could a person want? But the devil was very jealous and angry. He did not like that Adam and Eve were enjoying life. He did not like that God had created the garden for them to enjoy; he was envious of the spiritual good of Adam and Eve. He was, after all, the devil. And so he tempted them. He coaxed Adam and Eve into disobeying God. Adam and Eve ate of the fruit tree that God had commanded them not to. And God was furious. He banished Adam and Eve from the garden. That was when they began to suffer. Adam would have to toil for food, and Eve would have to bear children in pain and suffering. And all because they behaved badly. They ate of the tree that God had commanded them not to.

 

Holy Mother Church calls the sin of Adam and Eve original sin. It is the cause of suffering in all people. But it may more scientifically be called our natural propensity or predisposition to sin. It is the picture of our human condition; an imperfect situation, one that perennially needs redemption. This is why Baptism is important. It washes away our original sin and positions us to engage in continuous battle against sin and negative emotions, which are the underpinnings of human suffering. With the other sacraments as well: confession, unction and the Eucharist especially we inch daily closer to union with God in paradise, a greater and better paradise than Adam and Eve lost.

 

Some people say there is suffering that does not result from sin. This is true. Recall when Jesus and his disciples met a blind man, who was indeed born that way. His disciples asked him: "Who sinned, for him to have been born blind?" (John 9:2). And so there are sufferings that we cannot ordinarily trace to our bad behavior. Like natural disasters or chance happenings like Hurricane Katrina and so forth. Agreed. But recall what we said about the soul choosing to participate even before birth in the situation called life, a situation that can include all these natural disasters and chance happenings. "From the womb before the parturition, I thought of you" (Psalm 110:3b). Recall also that we have defined the soul as every deed or state of being from the exact moment of conception to the exact moment of actual death. In other words, every conscious, semi-conscious or unconscious act or passion an individual experiences from the exact second when a sperm fertilizes an egg till the exact second when a body becomes completely lifeless. That soul's choice to be human in such and such set of circumstances is the direct cause of the soul's suffering. And choice is a behavior.

 

But is it a bad choice to be human, to live? If we see the situation of life, of the soul, as resulting from the quality of its spirit, which was the spirit of a previous soul and which entered life in such and such a state because of its previous sojourn and the needs and vestiges of such sojourn, then we can say so, albeit an unconscious choice for the new soul. But then, what about Jesus? He committed no sin, and he still suffered. Well, he suffered for our sins. And for us to be able to say that confidently, we must first establish that he had no sin himself. Then we can do this: all suffering is as a result of bad behavior; Jesus suffered even when he had no bad behavior. Therefore, Jesus suffered for our own bad behavior, our own sin.

 

So how come Jesus told his disciples that the man born blind was so in order for the glory of God to be revealed, and not necessarily because anyone sinned? Because of his presence. Jesus told Martha and Mary that he is the resurrection and the life, and so in Jesus the normal becomes supernormal. Lazarus was not going to be raised on the last day, but immediately. The sea would be calmed at his word; he would walk on water; water would taste like wine, and so on and so forth. Jesus transcends ordinary logic, even the one that makes suffering result from bad deeds. Because he is God. But ordinarily speaking, the origin of suffering is bad behavior, whether conscious, semi-conscious or unconscious behavior. And so, to minimize the suffering in your life, always choose to do good. And even then you may never be free of suffering, for Jesus did say: "In this world you will always have trouble" (John 16:33a). ["But be of good cheer for I have overcome the world" (Ibid.v33b).]