October 15, 2012
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Suffering
avenuemuse:
“I like people to be unhappy because I like them to have souls.”
— Virginia Woolf, Selected LettersYeah, but this is terrifying. Suffering does not ennoble us. We may be better because we learn things from it, but it is the act of learning and not the act of being miserable that makes us greater.
There is this tradition that Occultists have of the Malakh’habbalah – supernatural beings that punish people and drive them to greater torment, in the hopes that they will be stronger and better. They break a lot of people in the process, but in their minds, those people were weak and wouldn’t have really been good in the long haul anyway. The related argument, long-running, is over whether someone who is deliberately cruel in the name of a good cause is really a good being.
And ultimately, no matter what one feels about using the name of God or the name of a righteous cause to justify their actions, it seems to me that unnecessary suffering is just bad. Death is not the worst of evils; everyone dies eventually. But to suffer for no reason – that truly seems bad. To invent reasons to avoid that conclusion, to justify empty suffering, seems equally bad. For someone to say, these people count more as people, they are more real, because they have suffered – that is the worst kind of distinction one can draw. It tells us that we should, in our heart of hearts, wish suffering upon others.
Do people not count unless they have suffered and can prove it to you?
Comments (3)
I suppose the Malakh’habbalah and many members of the military have more in common than I imagined. Within the higher and lower ranks of the military you’ll find people that tend to be more relaxed because they’ve either been in too long or haven’t been in long enough to be bothered by the daily nonsense we endure. But in between you’ll find those who strive to achieve a greater status within the military, often at the comfort of those around them (sometimes to themselves, but usually to a lesser degree). These are the leaders who bring their subordinates to a mental and physical breaking point all the while telling them, “back when I was your rank, we did this shit all the time, so don’t complain.” Or, “we’re doing this to make you stronger,” when the true end goal is to receive some type of commendation for their steadfast leadership abilities.
If someone must go through Hell to learn a valuable lesson, then, as painful as it is, I’d say it’s worth it. For people to drag themselves (and those underneath them) through the mud simply to have a story to tell later on is pitiable, at best.
From whence come your topics?
Suffering engenders appreciation.
oh but how you are on the trail.