Why did Jesus suffer? There are many other people that I am sure would discuss this topic in great depth, but I would say the main concepts are because of His love for humanity; because it was the Lord's (Universe's) will; and to show humanity an example of how they are to push through suffering of their own. God would not put Jesus through His journey if there was not a reason. And so too we were created and put here in earthly form to endure similar trials and tribulations with the expectation that we will learn and grow from the experience. Christians would say you will be rewarded in the afterlife/on Judgement Day. I think the knowledge gained strengthens the real you-your soul-and helps you to continue progressing towards becoming an enlightened being. Often you do not know what you are capable of until you are forced to act. It is when you are pushed out of your comfort zone and vulnerable that you discover new lessons and begin to really test yourself and your beliefs.
The bottom line with suffering is that to begin to alleviate it you have to believe it has meaning, otherwise it can become overwhelming. I choose to believe that everything that is created in our Universe was put there for a reason and all of it functions together to keep the Universe in balance (the same idea as yin and yang).
Why did Jesus suffer? There are many other people that I am sure would discuss this topic in great depth, but I would say the main concepts are because of His love for humanity; because it was the Lord's (Universe's) will; and to show humanity an example of how they are to push through suffering of their own. God would not put Jesus through His journey if there was not a reason. And so too we were created and put here in earthly form to endure similar trials and tribulations with the expectation that we will learn and grow from the experience. Christians would say you will be rewarded in the afterlife/on Judgement Day. I think the knowledge gained strengthens the real you-your soul-and helps you to continue progressing towards becoming an enlightened being. Often you do not know what you are capable of until you are forced to act. It is when you are pushed out of your comfort zone and vulnerable that you discover new lessons and begin to really test yourself and your beliefs.
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"Orthodox Christians believe that suffering has meaning, especially the suffering of Jesus. For them, suffering is part of life. It cannot be avoided, and we shouldn't try to avoid it. Instead, we should learn to endure suffering. Suffering teaches us. Suffering tests us. Suffering makes us stronger." -Richard Hooper, The Parallel Sayings
I picked this quote to be the first on my blog because I feel that it clearly expressed the purpose for which I originally began my journal. In our journey through life I believe that we should always be learning. We go through all of the ups and downs and joys and problems that we do in order that we can truly understand elements of life in more depth. I even believe that we have a purpose in mind before we come to earth for this particular life and that we actually help to plan our own life and major occurrences in it so that we can work on understanding a particular aspect with greater clarity. This could mean maybe you wanted to explore what love really is, or loyalty, trust, fear, hatred, compassion, peace or many other emotions or qualities, and so you planned out certain situations or people surrounding you that would give you more exposure to this particular lesson . And in order to really understand these feelings, you must also feel its opposite. So you must take the good with the bad in order to really see and understand what this particular element is.
This perspective is what makes me feel better when times are tough. All pain and suffering becomes just a little bit easier if you can see its purpose as part of the bigger picture. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? To truly feel a specific emotion and to understand its intricacies? Is it so that others can learn from another's suffering? To develop compassion? To see more clearly the differences between good and bad, or maybe that there really is no difference because you need one for the other? There is a lesson (for you or someone around you) in every situation, but it is not always obvious. You need to look closely and to try to see how this experience fits into the bigger picture of your life direction or goals. What makes things most tolerable for me is thinking that what is happening in my life is because these problems and events are items that I and my spirit guide discussed and decided I would encounter in this life, and then thinking through why would I face myself with this specific situation - what was I hoping to learn? I knew, too, that I would be strong enough for anything I encountered, therefore my current situation will not kill me, only make me stronger and closer to my ultimate goal of an enlightened soul. "So often we look at a calendar of days as merely a symbol of the passage of time. We forget why we are on this earth. We forget that there is a reason for all the pain and the struggle. We forget that we were put on this earth to learn something. If everything were perfect in this life, we would never learn anything new. We would not be able to elevate our spirits through the events that happen to us." - Lynn V. Andrews Hello and welcome to my blog! Since the start of 2013, I have been keeping a quote and reflection journal to help me think through some of the bigger questions about our journey through life. It has served as a great place to gather interesting quotes and to take a little extra time for reflecting on each quote's meaning and to try to apply it to my personal life. The quotes have general themes of finding peace, understanding, and/or happiness in your life. I tend to be Buddhist-like in my beliefs, so many of the quotes reflect on the uniformity and continuity of life, as well as trying to see the bigger picture of what we are supposed to do with our time here on Earth.
After keeping my journal for some time, I decided that I would like to share some of its pages with others, in hopes of hearing some feedback and other points of view of what these quotes mean. I hope to generate a lot of discussion and reflection on the quotes posted. I would like this blog to be a page for learning and for breaking quotes down into simpler ideas that every person can grasp and put to use in their own lives. The general format for the blog will be to post a quote and then to post a reflection on it, in separate posts so that the reader can comment on either the quote or my thoughts as they like. I hope you find some wisdom or comfort in the quotes I have found, and also that you will want to participate in the discussions as we search for a deeper understanding of the human experience. Namaste! |