Philosophy of Human Suffering

The “Curse of Eve”—Is Pain Our Punishment? Part 2 by Stacia Guzzo

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published in the Feminism and Religion project

In the first part, I posed the question about whether or not the so-called “Curse of Eve” could be interpreted... more In the first part, I posed the question about whether or not the so-called “Curse of Eve” could be interpreted alternatively from the traditional understanding of Genesis 3:16a (the result of Eve’s disobedience being the punishment of painful childbirth for all generations of women). I considered an alternate interpretation of “sorrow” rather than “pain” for the verse, a lens through which the punishment could then be seen as impacting the God-human relationship rather than as a condemnation of pain.

Feminism, Impasse, and the Redemption of Hugo Schwyzer by Cynthia Garrity-Bond

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

In Constance FitzGerald’s article Impasse and Dark Night,* she draws from sixteenth century Spanish mystic and... more In Constance FitzGerald’s article Impasse and Dark Night,* she draws from sixteenth century Spanish mystic and reformer St. John of the Cross-and his Dark Night of the Soul.  FitzGerald moves from the individual’s experience of impasse to a larger societal impasse.  By impasse she means those experiences that bring life as you know it to a stand still, where every attempt of extracting the self from suffering is a lost cause. In what is known as the principles of  “first order change”—reason, logic, analysis, and planning, do not work to move the self forward and out of impasse. In other words, the skill set you have come to rely upon to move you out of the grip of darkness no longer works.

Inherent in this spin-cycle of suffering is the possibility that transformation is taking place in the midst of the darkness and absence of accustomed pleasure, desire and motivation for life itself.  If transformation of the self is to occur, which brings with it creative growth, insight, compassion and a new understanding of the divine, than a letting go of left-brain rational control must give way with consent to the stripping away of one’s limitations of the self and others. In other words, one must enter into the Dark Night  not only with eyes wide open, but the wounded heart as well.

Why does my loved one have to suffer?

by Author Sam Oliver

Suffering

Not long ago, I visited a man whose wife was dying of cancer. He retired early in life, so he and his wife could... more Not long ago, I visited a man whose wife was dying of cancer. He retired early in life, so he and his wife could travel the country on his Harley Davidson motorcycle. He was a big man, and his wife was tiny. But, their love for one another was deep and knew no size and shape after 45 years of being married to one another. He shared with me many stories of there life together. He was deep in grief.

Over the years, I have heard surviving loved ones of dying patients wonder, “why does my loved one have to suffer?” I will often hear that my spouse, uncle, aunt, mother, or father has been a good person. It doesn't make sense to have to watch my loved one go through this people say. After having many years to ponder these reflections, I have come to believe there is "NOT" an easy answer to this question and the mind wanderings that go with it. These expressions come from such a deep place within us that to give an easy answer would pull people from this place they are asking us to meet them in.

The place I am referring to is a dying loved one’s soul. Caregivers are being asked to meet them in a place where suffering no longer exists. Thomas Moore, in "The Care of the Soul," refers to the soul as a place where one's imagination and heart join on a journey the physical body cannot move into. This is the place whereby one's thoughts, feelings, and spirit come to embrace what is beyond us.

When a loved one asks us, "why does my loved one have to suffer?” “Why did this happen to my spouse, daughter, son, sister, brother, or others?” We are being invited to listen to their soul and offer unconditional love. This act of non-judgmental care is a spatial quality of existence enabling us to care for another's soul. Why? Because at the deepest level of our being we know there is not a human understanding to this question, but it does lead us deep within our psyche and opens us up to our soul. It is a place where souls can meet and find healing.

Thoughts give rise to the ability comprehend an idea. We go through a series of wanderings to make sense of the world around us. This path into the grief process eventually leads us to the realization that the intellect will not give us what we are looking for. Although our thoughts are a form of expressing our grief, they simply lead us to more and more questions there are no answers to.

Feelings give expression to our thoughts on a given situation, which may give rise to more emotional pain knowing we cannot understand what is happening. This is felt in the body and moves in and through us. We tire and eventually give up on using our mind and body this way. Eventually, we move into exhaustion and have no energy to feel anything.

Spirit gives us hope in life hereafter, but it does not take away our grief. The expression of prayer and hope in life hereafter does allow us to bring into our grief a sense of consolation. Funeral services include various songs and scriptures allowing us to have words to comfort us. The ability to cope through faith allows us to place some of our grief in a power greater than ourselves.

When you combine the mind, body, and spirit's capacity to deal with grief in an integrated way, we often find a sense of peace. This is what is known in many sacred texts as "a peace beyond understanding." To know “The Unknowable” or and grief will not and cannot kill the relationship we had with our loved one. Instead, we begin to relate to each other on the level of soul. This is the place where our soul can create channels of expression with our dying loved one no other way is possible.

As you can see, the answer to the question of “why" is my loved one going through this is not as important as where this internal process leads us inside our being. This place can be nurtured and cared for by those willing to listen attentively to another’s desire and need to be heard from such depths. This act of going into such sacred space where one's soul is healing simply by sharing one's pain with those who care allows us to heal in places our hands cannot touch.

Here are three final points to consider when you find yourself with someone who asks the question “why does my loved one have to suffer?” First, listen fully to one’s grief and their questions on suffering. Make sure you have listened to another’s grief as outlined earlier in this article.

Second, since you have no control over a person’s journey into dying or the timing of his/her passing from this life to the next, try to get the surviving loved one voice what their loved one will be released of in their dying and themselves as a caregiver. This step requires a great deal of honesty, and you will not probably get this unless you have fully listened to someone tell you about their grief of losing their loved one.

Finally, your ability to help someone through this phase of grief will help the dying loved one and loved one’s who survive build incredible trust in you as the caregiver, volunteer, minister, social worker, nurse, and doctor.There are many distractions in the world. This would be a good day for you to focus. Focus on your needs, as well as, the needs of others. Keep the needs of yourself and the needs of the self in balance. You will notice that you and others have this need to keep life in balance. There is a delicate balance in nature to give and receive. Take an apple tree. An apple tree begins to grow. It will then mature. If you pick the apples too soon, they will taste sour. If you pick the apples to late another taste of sour springs forth as a rotten taste. In the middle of these two extremes is the sweetness of an apple's maturity. The apple time has come to give back before it dies. And oh, how good the ripe tasting texture of an apple whose time has come to give in due season.

You have been in training since the moment you were born. You have been learning and growing from various experiences that teach you and develop you into becoming a mature adult. Along the way, your elders have been sharing with you their wisdom and their love and care. When you mature into adulthood, it is time for you to share with those around you gifts you have learned since being a child. Just like the apple, you are ripe and ready to share with the public those seeds of awareness given to you since birth. You are ready for the community and the world to literally use or taste the talents you have to give.

Dying people have physical bodies that no longer serve them or the community in a way that they did in their prime. Like the apple, everything dies in due season. At the same time, a dying person's worth to society is probably more valuable to those who care for them. Dying people are becoming more soul than body. They are transforming right before our eyes. Their attention turns inward and the virtues and values they have lived through in their lifetime become more vivid than any other phase of their life. They teach us what is important and share their stories with us from their heart and soul.

Stories create images in our mind and elicit emotions from the feelings expressed by the storyteller. It can be as though you were there as you feel and see inwardly what a dying person shares with you. Memories expressed in tranquility come from the soul. They fill all of us with a knowing that who we are now is a result of our past expressions on material reality. Dying people teach us to live in soul long before we die and plant seeds of eternity inside. When it is our time to close our eyes to the world around us and open them up to a place where eternity itself dwells. We will have arrived where we started in life and call it home.

Sam Oliver

Bringing the Lived Body to Medical Ethics Education: Learning to See the Suffering Other.

by Kristin Zeiler

Zeiler, K. Bringing the Lived Body to Medical Ethics Education: Learning to See the Suffering Other. Published in: Reconceiving Medical Ethics (ed. Christopher Cowley). Continuum Studies in Philosophy. Continuum: London, 2012, pp 44-55.

Virtue ethical approaches are commonly concerned with the subject becoming virtuous. This requires time and continuous... more Virtue ethical approaches are commonly concerned with the subject becoming virtuous. This requires time and continuous practice. It involves habituation. In this regard, the development of virtues shares features with the development of practical skills. In both cases, we learn by doing.

Despite the fact that the learning of practical skills is an interest for phenomenologists such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty (2006), surprisingly little dialogue has taken place between virtue ethics and phenomenological traditions. Such a dialogue arises in this text. A phenomenological analysis can deepen our understanding of how the practical know-how of virtues can feed into the subject ’ s embodied existence and perception. It can throw new light on the debated phenomenon of moral perception. And it can matter for medical ethics education.

A few previous studies have elaborated a phenomenology of virtue that examines what it is like to be a virtuous person (Annas 2008) or out lined a phenomenology of skill-acquisition where acting ethically is seen as a skill (Dreyfus and Dreyfus 2004). Such studies have contributed with insights as regards the role of moral know-how in moral development. They have not,
however, examined bodily dimension of learning to act ethically and becoming virtuous, in any detail. The chapter examines, phenomenologically, the role of the body when becoming virtuous and what incorporation of virtues-as-skills would mean for perception. This can further explain the phenomenon of moral perception, contribute to the discussion of alternative approaches to medical ethics and particularly so to the discussion of ethical competence and the learning of ethics in medical education.

The Paradox of Healing Pain

by Rebecca Sachs Norris

In Religion, 39(1), 22-33, 2009.

Pain may be seen as a problem to be healed or as a means for healing. The secular biomedical view of pain is that it... more Pain may be seen as a problem to be healed or as a means for healing. The secular biomedical view of pain is that it is to be avoided and alleviated; its only meaning is as a symptom of underlying disease. In contrast, there have been throughout history other views of suffering—as redemptive or as transformative, for example. This paper considers the disparity between these perspectives, examining the role of the emotions and the underlying neurobiological processes though which pain and suffering come to be experienced as meaningful, then analyzes interview material exploring how religion and religious beliefs help people cope with suffering or with pain. The experience of pain is subjective, enculturated experience; the meaning that pain or suffering holds within a given cultural context affects the experience of pain and suffering. In a context where pain and suffering are understood to be valuable, those experiences can be used for spiritual transformation and integrated within a meaningful identity. In contrast, in a context where pain and suffering are not understood to have value, that attitude can create more suffering, even in conditions meant to alleviate suffering, such as in biomedical situations.

"Soigner par la souffrance: la prise en charge des auteurs de violences sexuelles"

by Claude-Olivier Doron

Published in Doron, Claude-Olivier, Lefève, Céline & Masquelet, Alain, Soin et subjectivité, Les Cahiers du Centre Canguilhem, n°4, pp. 87-114

In this article, we study the question raised by the care of the sex psychopaths between justice and psychiatry. We... more In this article, we study the question raised by the care of the sex psychopaths between justice and psychiatry. We show the ambiguity of the so-called pathology to which this care is supposed to be directed: a pathology that is not a mental disease and that doesn’t produce any distress to the patient who doesn’t ask for any treatment. This ambiguity, coupled to the fact that this kind of treatment implies the cooperation of the medical staff with justice, explains why so many psychiatrists and psychologists don’t feel at ease with this kind of care. We eventually analyze two ways medical staff have to solve this tension: either they accept to develop a psycho-criminology which aims to reeducation and correction of deviant behaviors, or they try to convert all the resistances and obstacles they meet in their practice in the more familiar vocabulary of disease and care.

Rogers, C. (2009) ‘Hope as a mechanism in emotional survival: documenting miscarriage’

by Chrissie Rogers

It is well documented that one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage and yet it is often not discussed openly. Do... more It is well documented that one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage and yet it is often not discussed openly. Do people simply ‘get over’ these troubling times, or is the female body, especially when it comes to gynaecological issues too taboo? Talk of blood clots, foetuses, physical and emotional pain might make for difficult conversation, but still a woman alone with her body and mind, has no choice, but to live through it (even if she has a fully supportive partner). In documenting reality, a tragic twin miscarriage at 12 weeks; it seems hope is one way out of despair. A personal narrative around dashed dreams, pain and grief, embedded in pockets of hope, the author attempts to understand and come to terms with the immediate experiences of a miscarriage. Are the immediate experiences too short to document, or too painful to recount? In thinking through intangible dalliances with Tarot cards as hooks of hope and reciting the Lord’s Prayer in the darkest moments; a sociology of hope might be able to answer some questions in how the human being lives through tragedy.

Responsibility and the Representation of Suffering: Australian Law in Black and White

by Richard Mohr

Mohr, R. (2010) Responsibility and the Representation of Suffering: Australian Law in Black and White, e-cadernos CES, 7, 123-46.

This article critically analyses the concept of suffering, with particular emphasis on responsibility for and... more This article critically analyses the concept of suffering, with particular emphasis on responsibility for and representations of suffering. Suffering is seen as a social relationship, with objective characteristics, classified by Renault as domination, deprivation and the weakening of intersubjective supports (désaffiliation). Veitch and Wolcher have inquired into legal responsibility for suffering. The author adds that suffering is also constructed subjectively, through aesthetic, poliitcal and legal representations. This theoretical model of suffering is applied to recent political and legal issues in Australia dealing with an apology for earlier policies of removing Indigenous children from their families, and a more recent aggressive “emergency response” to concerns over child abuse in Aboriginal communities. Indigenous Australians have clearly suffered from colonisation and subsequent policies, while representations of their suffering can be seen to have exacerbated their disempowerment and thus increased suffering. The article proposes recognising responsibility while avoiding the disempowerment of “victims”. It concludes by proposing new approaches to domination, deprivation and disempowerment that may open the way to new constructions of political subjectivity, fostering the redevelopment of intersubjective supports, while increasing awareness of the past causes of suffering.

“Las formas sociales del sufrimiento y el placer irremediables”.

by Sergio Eduardo Visacovsky

Mal Estar. Psicoanálisis/Cultura 11: 131-136, 2010. ISSN 1666-0307.

Las hipótesis freudianas han sido de especial importancia para despegar el problema del malestar de toda pretensión... more Las hipótesis freudianas han sido de especial importancia para despegar el problema del malestar de toda pretensión teleológica, de toda ilusión de alcanzar modos sociales de vida en los que el dolor y el sufrimiento fuesen extirpados para siempre. No obstante, tanto los enfoques sociológicos, históricos y antropológicos que hoy disponemos, así como las investigaciones empíricas, nos ofrecen una visión diferente de la producción social del malestar.

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira, The Piasechner Rebbe His Holocaust and Pre-Holocaust Thought, Continuity or Discontinuity?

by Isaac Hershkowitz

M.A. Thesis (cum laude), Department of Jewish Philosophy, Bar-Ilan University

Social Suffering and the New Politics of Sentimentality

by Iain Wilkinson

My Troubles are going to have Troubles with Me: Schopenhauer, Pessimism, and Nietzsche

by Jacob Held

Draft of the chapter by the same name in the forthcoming: Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!

'Reality Without Scare Quotes: Developing the Case for Critical Realism in Journalism', Journalism Studies

by Kate Wright

· Suffering as transformative: some reflections on depression and free will.

by Anastasia Scrutton

forthcoming in Festschrift in Honour of John Hick (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)

Human responses to suffering include the view that suffering is, or can be, transformative – that is, contribute to... more Human responses to suffering include the view that suffering is, or can be, transformative – that is, contribute to personal (or moral, or spiritual) growth. A transformative view of suffering can be divided into aetiological and non-aetiological forms. Aetiological forms use a transformative view of suffering as an explanation for why evil exists (for example, in John Hick’s theodicy, it is used to explain why God allows evil). Non-aetiological forms use a transformative view of suffering not as an explanation for suffering, but simply as a practical tool for interpreting painful experiences and responding positively to them. In non-aetiological forms, a transformative view of suffering is found in many of the world’s major faiths, indigenous spiritualities, and much secular thought, such as therapy culture.

In this paper I provide a philosophical and pastoral critique of a transformative view of suffering that will be of equal relevance to both aetiological and non-aetiological forms. I consider whether a transformative view is tenable or helpful, focusing on some of the experiences involved in mental illness, particularly depression. I argue that we need to qualify a transformative view by shifting the transformative potential of the experience away from the suffering itself and towards the subject’s response. However, I also argue that this view contains problems of its own in connection with free will, and discuss some possible solutions relating to diachronicity and eschatology.

Tragic Joyfulness

by Pedro Alexis Tabensky

In L. Bartolotti (ed.), Philosophy and Happiness (London: Palgrave, 2009)

I argue that the most truly worthwhile life is not the happy life in the eudaimonist  (particularly Aristotelian)... more I argue that the most truly worthwhile life is not the happy life in the eudaimonist  (particularly Aristotelian) sense of ‘happiness’ inasmuch as the general conditions, external and internal, required for living a truly worthwhile life are quite a lot more challenging than the general conditions that Aristotle, or Plato for that matter, thinks are required for eudaimonia. Eudaimonia, I argue, is an impossible and ultimately undesirable ideal. Although I take the intimate connection between virtue and the worthwhile as given in this piece, a relationship advocated by eudaimonists, I depart from eudaimonists by showing that the relationship between worthwhile joy and worthwhile living that is required for living happy lives is different from what eudaimonists have in mind. I propose a somewhat more Nietzschean picture where worthwhile joy is something that must be earned in a world that always challenges us and is always a threat. What I propose instead of eudaimonist happiness—an impossible happiness construed as being relatively constant throughout the course of a well-lived life—is what I term tragic joyfulness. The conditions that allow us to experience the joyfulness that we truly want are essentially tragic and hence the happiness available to mortals is far more ambivalent and the joyful moments far rarer than the eudaemonist picture suggests.

Suffering and Transformation in the Career of Rollo May

by Jennifer R. Stevens

Through this essay, I propose to explore two areas of Rollo May’s life and work.  In the first section, I will... more Through this essay, I propose to explore two areas of Rollo May’s life and work.  In the first section, I will show how May’s own formative years and experiences led to his worldviews on psychology and philosophy.  This will include a discussion of his own struggles with suffering and the influences of the continental thinkers such as Kierkegaard and Tillich on that subject.  I will briefly explore how my studies of May influence my work with counseling grieving individuals.
In the second section of this essay, I will discuss his use of literature and mythology in uncovering the depth of understanding and transformation that accompany the human condition when one seeks to become genuinely free and live intentionally.  Finally, I will discuss how the use of the roles of searching for meaning, and working with paradoxes are healing and transformative to those who are mourning.