The Gift of Suffering

“Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart may be gladdened.” (The Preacher 7:3)

What did the Preacher mean by these words?

He wished to explain that when suffering humans tend to look within. The proclivity is to gaze inwards and analyse one’s behaviour; one’s reaction to life’s vicissitudes and what can be done to escape the unpleasant state of mind. From this analysis one’s thoughts are fast-forwarded to more preeminent questions: who I am? Why am I here? Where do I go from here?

In suffering one can reach enlightenment (the Truth). And this is certainly a gift.

Buddha said that everything is suffering. It is ineluctable: we are born suffering (crying) and in the midst of suffering (pain of contractions); we grow and develop in sufferance (our needs, wants and consequent disappointments); we suffer as adults and decease in pain (attachment, delusion and clinging to life).

The Buddhist philosophy suggests that ceasing suffering will lead to “understanding the truth about all things”, however since suffering is ceaseless, I’d say that by following the Eightfold Path one is led to turn inwards, behold its true Self and thus reach the Truth.

Wisdom (the Right View and Intention), Ethical Conduct (the Right Speech, Action & Livelihood) and Mental Development (the Right Effort, Mindfulness & Concentration [acquired thru meditation]) represent not a way out to suffering, yet they represent vital tools to face and deal with this inevitability.

Suffering builds character if one makes the right choice when experiencing it: should one yield to it and open the door to self-commiseration and victimisation; or should one grab sufferance by its horns, fight, defeat it and keep on walking?

It is up to people to decide whether suffering is a gift or a curse.

LS bestows upon you the Gift of Suffering: Here

The Complexity of Rules

Rules are the foundation of order.

Do we choose what rules are to be followed or not?
We may not belong to groups that decide which rules are to be obeyed to or not; however we may select which groups we want to affiliate to and, thus, yield to their authority.
A good example of this is priesthood. For instance, the Roman Catholic Church established that its priests are to obey to the vow of chastity. That is the general rule and priests choosing the Roman Catholic path know this from the moment they join the circle. Therefore when finding out that they wish to marry and have children, these men of God should select another Christian denomination that allows them to keep serving God (in such manner) and constitute a family at the same time.
One may not change the rule, but at least it can choose what rules to follow.

Should we engage in changing rules?
If many hadn’t fought, in the past, to change certain rules, the western world would’ve never learnt concepts such as Human Rights.
Sometimes, it is vital to engage in causes so that rules are changed. For example, Mr. Mohammad Larijani (the head of the Human Rights council, in Iran) said, in Fareed Zakaria GPS, that Iran was the biggest democracy in the Middle East and that stoning a woman is not cruel if one takes into account the fact that she’s being punished for “severe adultery” (whatever that means). He went on saying that cruelty is relative (i.e. what seems cruel to westerners, is not to middle easterners).
This Iranian/Islamic rule should be obliterated all together.
When rules are designed to violate human rights and go against personal freedom (to know, to think, to decide, to express, to choose, to be held accountable etc...) then yes, we must wage a battle against them and change things around (even if takes decades).

Is following rules elastic?
Flexibility of the mind is crucial if one’s dignity is to be respected.
Following rules is imperative to maintain order, since without it there is chaos, which in turn leads to destruction. However, our mind should be able to be elastic enough to discern when it is ok to go around the rules so that anarchy is precluded.
Rigidity of the mind and blind obedience to rules (made by prevaricators) often result in suffering, rage, uprisings, wars, chaos and destruction.

Elastic rules are the solid foundation of order.

Image: The Battle at Pons Milvius by Raffaello Sanzio

Politics & Politicians

 A real politician is a civil servant. A real politician serves the interests of the nation and not its own. A real politician is a human being, therefore not perfect; meaning that it will make a lot of mistakes and a ton of bad decisions; but is willing to admit to its errors, learn from them, correct them and avoid repeating the bad past.
A real politician understands that politics means accountability, not impunity; it signifies enriching the nation (on all levels: economic, social and spiritually), not bankrupting it; it translates into making hard choices and odd alliances if it serves the best interests of the country and not the interests of groups sharing the same political ethnicity; it reflects construction and progress, not destruction and digress.

Nowadays, real politicians are extremely rare, for either the political class is a bunch of leeches aiming at getting rich(er) at the expense of tax payers; or potential real politicians surround themselves by incompetent advisors who, having their own agenda, tread upon their good political will and make them look incapable.

Finding a real politician among Right Wingers is extremely hard. Rightists often sound like latent fascists; they seem not to understand that the world has changed and that the Right wing speech and stance must evolve, while maintaining the conservative principles that define The Right: God, Nation and Family.

There is rarely a real politician in the Left Wing as well. Leftists often sound like quiescent authoritarians; they seem not to grasp that the world has changed; that speaking of communism in the XXI century (a proven failed system) is démodé and against human nature; that the Left Wing philosophy must be restructured, since it has an important task in politics: to counter-balance the excesses of the Right.

Radical (far-Right and far-Left) Wings do not produce real politicians whatsoever; for they are dormant autocrats; and if people wish to wake up the monster (i.e. voting for them) they will sentence democracies to death penalty.

I see a political light at the end of the tunnel, though, when I look at politicians like:

• PM Binyamin Netanyahu: he bears all the exquisite ingredients to be a real politician, but he must seize the present opportunity to make the world understand that Israel shall not be the Isaac at the hands of the Western Abraham, waiting for some kind of whim to dictate whether it should be sacrificed or spared. If he’s not capable of making westerners understand Israel’s point view, he’ll have failed once again.
• President Barack Obama: he holds the finest ingredients needed to produce a real politician; however he must review some of his liberal foreign policies and be careful enough not to perpetuate the decayed image of politics by saying one thing today and another tomorrow. 

Image: The Dog by Francisco de Goya

The World's Stone of Madness

Last week I came across a few situations that made me re-think the present state of affairs. Please find below a small list of perceptions that led me to believe that the world needs to have the stone of madness removed from its head:

A woman walks to and fro, in a street; or even leans against a wall (waiting for someone: a friend; husband; boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever)…
Instead of minding its own business, the mind immediately starts directing a porn movie: “oh no, a whore in my neighbourhood!”

A man sees a little kid in a park; then greets and starts a conversation with him...
Back in the days, this scene would generate the following thought “Oh, how sweet...this man will be a good father one day!” however today the immediate accusatory thought would be “A damn paedophile is on the loose!”

Someone comments “It is not natural to be gay!”...
A collective hysteria takes place accusing that individual of being homophobic and wanting to attack Gay Civil Rights.

A single young lady practices kick-boxing and during practice gets a black eye...
The cloud of commiseration is sent towards her and someone might even suggest her to go to the police, press charges against her man and to move into a shelter.

A straight young man is, in a beach, with his friends drinking and partying. At a certain point he hugs one of his mates and a photo is taken...
People look at the photo and think “I didn’t know that X was gay!” as if heterosexuals couldn’t hug each other or hold hands without having their sexuality threatened (ask Zambian men: they hold hands in the streets)

A lady has a trust fund. She buys her own Aston Martin V8 Vantage. She is married.
Folks, on a gridlock, will look at her wheels and think “Oh, she married a rich bloke and he bought her a fancy car! He must be cheating on her!”

A black person, in Kensington (U.K), leaves his house and opens the door of his Porsche Cayman S.
This scene is witnessed by a person raised in a country where black people are practically underdogs, who screams “Dad, call the police! A black man, across the street, is stealing a car!”
-------

The examples are too many to add here. Suffice it to say that they depict the insanity going around in our society.
We seem to be incapable of looking at people without stretching reality; without passing judgement; without yielding to paranoia and bigotry.
Yes, the world is a perplexing place but then again it has always been; the only difference is: yesterday we were able to navigate upon the magic carpet of innocence and generosity (despite all the perils) and today we are so cynical that we travel upon the corroded carpet of amoral morality.


Image: The Cure of Folly (extraction of the Stone of Madness) by Hieronymus Bosch