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September 2009 
Do you believe there is value in suffering?
Posted on Jan 11th, 2009
by 
Pocahedron
Pocahedron
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for January 11, 2009:
Suffering is an indication that something needs to be changed. Just as the body uses pain stimulus to avoid worse injury, suffering serves a like function for the mind, the spirit, and for a society. There is no intrinsic value to suffering: the only value suffering has is found in learning to alleviate it, cherishing the lack of it, and fostering empathy. But suffering in and of itself? No, I don't believe so.
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the problem with pain & suffering is we understand it.
we can predict it
we can dwell on it
we can remember it
we can anticipate it
This creates more of it for us — for what we think about we bring about.
let’s dwell on something else — like peace love & understanding.
I like what you say that suffering indicates something needs to be changed. Too many people think that emotional suffering just “is” and don’t use it for the leverage to change. The tricky one is physical (body) suffering such as pain or disease because we are taught to go to others (some kind of “healer”) to get better, to get a procedure, to get a medicine, and what we receive from the “healer” is energy based where that healer is in his or her life. When the two (or more)healing energies (oneself and the healer’s) co-mingle either one can be diluted or strengthened depending upon the energy of the other. barbara