AFTERWORD: FOUR WAYS TO TAKE ON SUFFERING

There seem to be four ways overcome suffering:

• martyrdom
• palliation
• cure
• health

Martyrdom

Martyrs are persons who accept, bear up under, endure, survive or tough out suffering. They may do so for a philosophical or religious purpose. Caregivers who ask the sufferer to "put up with" or "live with" pain and trouble are asking him or her to become a martyr.

At their best, martyrs are stoics; at their worst, showmen. Either way, martyrdom demands great strength. So martyrdom is seldom popular. Also, martyrs have to manage their own suffering. In the next two approaches, society takes over the management of suffering.

Palliation

Palliation covers up suffering, usually by means of drugs and trance. It demands little work from sufferers and gives them temporary respite from their pain and trouble. Palliation is easy and, as a result, very popular. Most people are satisfied with palliation but will seek the next option if it doesn't cost too much.

Cure

A cure makes suffering go away and keeps it away, at least for a period of time. Some cures merely replace one sort of suffering with another. So occasionally, "The cure is worse than the disease." Even with a painless cure, there is always the danger that suffering will recur in its old form or emerge in a new form.

Health

In the struggle for personal health, the managerial power over, and responsibility for, pain and trouble come back from society to the sufferer. Only the sufferer can make himself or herself whole. No one else has the information, motivation, perseverance and will needed to take a person from suffering to health.

The Shortcomings of Martyrdom, Palliation and Cure

Martyrdom, palliation and cure presume that pain and trouble come from outside the person. Nature and neighbor make war on the person and so make him or her suffer. On the other hand, ill health (or a lack of wholeness) implies that pain and trouble come from inside the person. Parts of the person make war on one another and so make him or her suffer.

Martyrdom, palliation and cure see suffering itself as meaningless. From the viewpoint of health, suffering is full of meaning and opportunity for removing any remaining inner conflicts.

Martyrdom, palliation and cure stop people from working on their well being. In martyrdom, the person gives up the struggle for well being. In palliation and cure, society takes over the struggle for well being. Only in health does the sufferer keep responsibility for his or her own well being.

Deep Feelings and Health

All deep feelings, both the difficult and the consoling ones, constitute signals from the body that opposition exists within the person. Acknowledging deep feelings removes that opposition and brings wholeness, which is the same as health.

The great trees (California's Giant Sequoias) pictured here are so healthy that no natural force, not even time, regularly puts them to death. The only cause of their destruction is the mind of man.

This seed came from the great tree in the upper picture.

	Frequently Asked Questions
	Index

Links: