Are you here because of the human suffering?

[Dargor]

I am not here for any reason other than the simple fact that two people thought having kids would be fun.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by ocean breeze

I definitely think suffering can be a powerful motivation to explore deeper within ourselves.

Well said !

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by ThatMan

How many of you are here because of your own suffering and the suffering you see in the world? When I say "here", I am talking about going beyond the physical, you know, searching the spiritual things.

To be honest, I have always been called to the spiritual world but what made me to go deeper and deeper, is my own suffering and the suffering I see all around, this pushed me harder and harder to seek more.For this very reason I found myself searching the Creator, crying for an answer, again and again, all of this happening while having out of body experiences.

What human suffering?

[ThatMan]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

What human suffering?

Everything and anything that makes us suffer and not only us, there are other living beings that suffer too.

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

***

Unless we ourselves suffer how would we truly relate empathetically towards the suffering of others?

***

Perhaps we can't, to be truthful.
It's the old story - if you've never had a toothache you cannot imagine or appreciate the pain of someone claiming to suffer one
.

[ocean breeze]

Well i'm sure someone who never had a toothache can at least imagine what it would be like to endure one. Especially if others around them have endured one. I don't think a person needs to experience the same exact things to feel empathy towards others.

[Still_Waters]

Originally Posted by ocean breeze

Well I'm sure someone who never had a toothache can at least imagine what it would be like to endure one. Especially if others around them have endured one. I don't think a person needs to experience the same exact things to feel empathy towards others.

Agreed. My sense is that an empathic person can experience the suffering of another vicariously to a sufficient degree to understand the phenomenon.

[inavalan]

Reluctantly, a few thoughts:

- I started to wonder why I am here, what I am meant to do here, at a stage of my life when I was experiencing the most success, and the least suffering

- Somebody's suffering may look as an unattainable desired situation to somebody else. Somebody's happy and purposeful life may seem a dread to somebody else.

- Each one of us creates our own reality, from our beliefs, thoughts, emotions. The more we perceive suffering, the more suffering we're exposed to.

- The nature of things determines what happens to / from those things: e.g. you can't stop smoking if you perceive yourself as a smoker who tries not to smoke. You have to perceive yourself as a non-smoker, and naturally you won't smoke (you have to change your nature).

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by inavalan

Reluctantly, a few thoughts:

- I started to wonder why I am here, what I am meant to do here, at a stage of my life when I was experiencing the most success, and the least suffering

- Somebody's suffering may look as an unattainable desired situation to somebody else. Somebody's happy and purposeful life may seem a dread to somebody else.

- Each one of us creates our own reality, from our beliefs, thoughts, emotions. The more we perceive suffering, the more suffering we're exposed to.

- The nature of things determines what happens to / from those things: e.g. you can't stop smoking if you perceive yourself as a smoker who tries not to smoke. You have to perceive yourself as a non-smoker, and naturally you won't smoke (you have to change your nature).

Makes sense.

Some people are envious but if they had to walk in another person's shoes, they might think twice.

Originally Posted by inavalan

- I started to wonder why I am here, what I am meant to do here, at a stage of my life when I was experiencing the most success, and the least suffering

At this moment you are here to exprerience the most success and the least suffering. If it was 'meant to be' any other way it would be.

Originally Posted by inavalan

- Somebody's suffering may look as an unattainable desired situation to somebody else. Somebody's happy and purposeful life may seem a dread to somebody else.

Exactly the point.

Originally Posted by inavalan

- Each one of us creates our own reality, from our beliefs, thoughts, emotions. The more we perceive suffering, the more suffering we're exposed to.

Simply, your reality is defined by your perceptions, your perceptions are defined by your beliefs and your beliefs are defined by your definitions. You have a definition of what Spirituality is to you and what you accept or reject is set against that definition.

Originally Posted by inavalan

- The nature of things determines what happens to / from those things: e.g. you can't stop smoking if you perceive yourself as a smoker who tries not to smoke. You have to perceive yourself as a non-smoker, and naturally you won't smoke (you have to change your nature).

That's more of a definition than the nature of things, and you don't have to perceive yourself as anything in particular. The nature of things in this case is that if you smoke you have an addiction, then you define yourself as a smoker and that creates your reality. When you redefine yourself as someone who is going to stop smoking/a non-smoker that becomes your reality, and the smoking stops. Been there, done that.