Lecture III
The Origin of Suffering
Berlin 8th November, 1906
Today's lecture
has a close connection with the two succeeding discourses
entitled, “The Origin of Evil”; and
“Illness and Death.” Yet each lecture is complete
and comprehensible by itself.
Someone who
contemplates his own life, as well as life in general,
encounters at the outset, like an enigmatic figure standing
guard before life's portal, the problem of suffering.
Suffering, so
closely bound up with evil, illness and death, often cuts
deeply into people's lives, and is seen as one of its
greatest riddles. When attempts are made to find meaning in
life, to assess its value, it is above all pain and suffering
that come under scrutiny. In all world views since ancient
times, it features as one of the foremost questions.
Suffering
appears like an unwelcome intruder; it destroys, in the midst
of happiness, enjoyment and hope. People who feel pain and
suffering the most are those that measure life's value
according to its pleasures, that, as it were, exist solely
for the sake of enjoyment. It explains why a people as happy
and as full of enjoyment of life as the ancient Greeks had a
saying which hung like a dark cloud in the midst of the
beautiful stars on the Hellenic firmament. The wise Silenus,
[
Silenus was a drunken attendant of Bacchus and one of the
satyrs. He was a personage in Greek mythology.
]
a member of Dionysus
[
Dionysus was the god of wine and fertility.
]
retinue, answers the question, What is best for man? by saying:
“The best for man is not to be born, and if born the
next best for him is to die soon after.”
As you may
know, Friedrich Nietzsche
[
Friedrich Nietzche(1844–1900) was a German philosopher,
classical scholar and critic of Christianity.
]
occupied himself with this saying in his effort to
understand the birth of tragedy out of the Spirit of ancient
Greece. He wanted to demonstrate, on the basis of Greek art
and philosophy, the significant role played by suffering
itself, and the sorrow it caused. However, not muck later
another saying came to the fore in Greece that shows a
dawning understanding for the fact that the significance of
pain goes far beyond that of misfortune. We find in Aeschylus,
[
Aeschylus (c.525–456 B.C.)
]
one of the early Greek tragic poets, the saying, “From
suffering knowledge is born.” Two things are here
brought together, one of which the greater part of humanity
would no doubt prefer to see eliminated, while seeing in the
other one of life's greatest benefits.
From time
immemorial, the belief has existed that life on this planet
is unavoidably entwined with suffering, at least as far as
human beings and the higher creatures are concerned — a
view we find expressed at the start of the biblical story of
creation, where knowledge of good and evil is intimately
bound up with suffering. However, we also find in the Old
Testament the view expressed that there can dawn, within the
bleakest outlook caused by suffering, one filled with hope
and light. A closer look at the Old Testament makes it clear
that right from ancient times, sin and suffering have always
been seen as connected, suffering as being a consequence of
sin. The modern materialistic outlook finds it difficult to
grasp that suffering may originate from sin. But when one has
learned through spiritual research to look back into earlier
ages, one recognizes that this view is not without
foundation; the next lecture will show that it is possible to
connect evil and suffering.
But in one case
ancient Judaism found it impossible to explain the origin of
suffering. In the midst of views connecting suffering with
sin, we find the remarkable figure of Job. The story of Job
shows, or is meant to show, that undeserved suffering can
exist, that unspeakable pain can come about in a life without
sin. In the uniquely tragic personality of Job, we see a
dawning consciousness of a different connection, namely, a
connection between suffering and ennoblement. Here suffering
appears as a testing, as an incentive to greater striving. In
the sense of Job's tragedy, suffering need not originate from
evil; it may be a first cause from which will result a more
perfect phase in human life. This viewpoint is rather remote
from the modern way of thinking; most of today's educated
people would find it difficult to accept. But if you look
back over your life you will realize how often suffering and
higher development go together. Furthermore, humanity has
always been aware of this connection; and that leads us to
today's subject. We shall consider in the sense of spiritual
science the connection between suffering and spirituality
In dramas the
central figure is often the tragic hero. The hero is faced
again and again with suffering and conflict; at last at the
climax the suffering ends with the death of the physical
body. At this point the onlooker not only experiences
compassion for the tragic hero and sorrow that such suffering
exists; but he also has Bone through a catharsis, and feels
that from death certainty arises, certainty that pain and
suffering, and even death itself, are conquered.
No art form
portrays more sublimely than the tragedy the greatest human
victory, the victory of a person's innermost and noblest
forces. On the stage we can often witness the conquest of
pain and suffering. It is brought forcefully to our
consciousness when we contemplate the event recognized by a
large part of humanity as the greatest in history. The event
that divides our reckoning of time into two parts — the
salvation through Christ Jesus. It may strike us that,
precisely through contemplating a suffering of world
magnitude, the profoundest hope takes root in human hearts.
Christianity reassures us concerning eternity, concerning
victory over death. From looking up to a universal suffering
preceded by no personal guilt or sin, we derive hope and
strength. This indicates a consolatory feeling in the human
soul that always asserts itself in the face of suffering.
If we look at
human life more carefully, we find phenomena that indicate
the significance of suffering. Let us look at one such
phenomenon that is symptomatic, although at first sight it
may not appear to be connected with suffering.
Think once more
of a tragedy. The poet can only create such a work of art if
he has the capacity to go out of himself, to widen his soul
and encompass the suffering of others. The poet must be able
to experience the suffering of others as if it were his own.
But now compare this attitude with a very different
one–not however with what inspires comedy — that
would not be the right comparison. Rather compare it with the
attitude that inspires caricature; that too in a sense
belongs to the realm of art. The caricaturist distorts what
is expressed outwardly of what lives in another soul, perhaps
with ridicule and derision. Let us now imagine two persons,
one of whom sees an event or a human being as tragic, the
other who sees the situation in caricature. It is no mere
simile when we say that the artist as tragic poet goes out of
himself, allowing his soul to become ever more encompassing.
But what is it that individuals attain through this ever
widening of their inner being? They attain understanding of
the other. Nothing provides greater understanding than
experiencing another person's suffering as one's own. But
what about the caricaturist? He cannot enter into the other
person's feeling; on the contrary, he must reject, must set
himself above it. The refusal to consider the other person's
inner life is basic to caricature. No one can fail to see
that compassion leads to understanding of the other, whereas
caricature reveals the nature of the caricaturist. We learn
through his work far more about his feeling of superiority,
wit, and power of observation and imagination, than we learn
about the nature of his subject.
If these
examples make it evident that suffering is connected with
deeper aspects of human nature, it is to be hoped that an
understanding of our essential nature will also make clear
how pain and suffering originate.
Spiritual
science recognizes that the whole physical world about us
originated from the spirit, whereas the materialistic view
only sees spirit where it appears as a kind of crown on
physical material creation, as a kind of flower growing from
physical roots. The materialistic view sees, as it were, the
inorganic organizing itself within the living creatures.
Consciousness, pleasure and pain emerge from sentient life,
the spirit from the corporeal. When the spiritual researcher
looks at the way spirit first appears in the natural world,
he too sees it emerging from the physical.
We saw in the
preceding two lectures that in the light of spiritual science
we must think of the human being as consisting not only of a
physical or bodily nature, but also of soul and spirit. What
materialism regards as the whole of existence, that is, what
can be perceived physically, spiritual science maintains is
in plan only his first member: the physical body. We know it
is built up from the same substances as those that exist in
inorganic nature, but we also know that it is called into
life by the so-called ether or life body. This ether body is
not something merely thought out; it is a reality and can be
perceived when the higher senses that slumber in us are
developed. The ether body is the second member of our being
also possessed by the vegetable kingdom. Our third member,
the astral body, is the bearer of pleasure and pain, cravings
and passions; animals also possess an astral body. In the
human being we see emerging within his physical, ether and
astral bodies consciousness of self, that is, the ability to
call himself “I.” This is the crown of his
nature, which no other earthly being possesses. Spiritual
science has often indicated the interrelation of these four
members. The Pythagorean fourfoldness is nothing else than
that of physical body, ether body, astral body and
“I.” Those who have gone more deeply into
spiritual science know that the “I” of a human
being will develop out of itself what is termed: Spirit Self
or Manas; Life Spirit or Buddhi; and Spirit Man or Atma, an
individual's essential spirit being. This is all mentioned
again today to ensure proper orientation.
Thus, the
spiritual investigator sees the human being as a fourfold
being. At a certain point spiritual research differs
decisively from external research because spiritual
perception penetrates deeply into the foundation of
existence. However, the spiritual investigator also sees
that, as a human being comes before us in the physical world,
physical matter and laws constitute the foundation of a
person's bodily nature; life constitutes the foundation of
sensation; and consciousness the foundation of
self-consciousness. But to spiritual research the sequence is
seen the other way round. What to physical appearance seems
to be the last to emerge from the physical body, that is,
consciousness, is seen by the spiritual investigator as the
primordial creative element. The conscious spirit is seen as
the foundation of all existence. Consequently one cannot ask,
Where does spirit come from? That can never be the question,
rather, Where does matter come from? Spiritual research shows
that matter originates from spirit; it is nothing but
condensed spirit.
One might
compare the process with water condensing into ice. Think of
a vessel with water, part of which has cooled to below
freezing so that ice has formed. This ice is nothing but
water in solid form. Spirit relates to matter as water to
ice. As ice can become water once more, so can spirit emerge
again from matter, or conversely, matter can dissolve into
spirit.
Thus, we see
spirit in eternal circulation. Out of spirit that fills the
whole universe, we see material entities arise and solidify;
on the other hand material entities continually dissolve
again. Spirit has flowed into everything that surrounds us as
matter. Everything material is solidified spirit. Just as we
only have to add the necessary heat for ice to turn back into
water, so it is only necessary to add enough spirit to the
physical beings to make the spirit resurrect in them. One
speaks of a rebirth of the spirit which, having flowed into
matter, has become solidified. Thus, we see that the astral
body, the bearer of pleasure and pain, cravings and passions,
is something that could not possibly originate from the
physical. It is of the same element that permeates the whole
world, but in us it lives as conscious spirit. It will be
released from matter through the processes that govern human
life. The spirit that in the physical world appears as the
last is at the same time the first. The spirit brings the
physical body and the ether body into existence, and when
these have reached a certain point in their evolution, the
spirit reappears as if reborn within them.
Physical
substance, matter, we always perceive in a certain shape, in
a certain form. We speak of material form, of life that
arises within that form, and of consciousness arising within
the living form. Thus, we speak of the three stages: physical
body, ether body and astral body, and also of the three
corresponding stages: form, life and consciousness. Not until
the stage of consciousness is reached can self-consciousness
arise. This will concern us in the next lecture.
The meaning and
origin of life have always been subjects of much discussion,
not least in our time. Modern natural science has not
discovered many points of reference in this field. However,
natural science has recently arrived at a conclusion that
spiritual science has always maintained, namely, that organic
and inorganic substances do not differ as far as the actual
substances are concerned. The only difference lies in the
fact that organic substances are more complex in their
composition. Life can arise only where there are substances
of varied and complex structure. As you may know, the basic
substance where there is life is a white-of-egg-like
substance which could well be called “living
albumen.” It has one important characteristic that
makes it differ from lifeless albumen; it begins to
deteriorate the moment life has left it. That is why eggs,
for example, do not stay fresh for long. The essential
character of living substance is that it cannot remain a
unity once life has departed.
Although we
cannot today go into detail about the nature of life, we can
consider this one essential characteristic of living
substance, the fact that it disintegrates the moment life has
gone from it. A complex structure composed of various
substances will disintegrate if not permeated with life. That
is its most characteristic feature. So what does life do? It
preserves, it continuously opposes disintegration. Life has
the ability to rejuvenate because it continuously opposes
what would otherwise take place in substances it permeates.
When a substance contains life it means that disintegration
is being fought. Life possesses the exact opposite qualities
to those of death; instead of causing substances to fall
apart, it continually holds them together. Thus, life becomes
the foundation of physical existence and consciousness by
constantly preventing disintegration.
This is not
just a verbal definition; what it points to happens all the
time. You only have to observe the simplest form of life and
you will find that substances are perpetually being absorbed
and incorporated while bodily particles deteriorate; it is
the latter process that life continuously works against.
Thus, we are dealing with an actual phenomena.
Life means that
new substances are formed and old ones thrown off. But life
is not yet either sensation or consciousness. Certain
scientists fail to understand sensation and ascribe it to
plants that have life but not sensation. This childish notion
comes about because there are plants that close their leaves
and blossoms in response to external stimuli. One could just
as well ascribe sensation to blue litmus paper that turns red
in response to external stimuli, or to chemical substance as
they too react to certain influences. But that is not
enough.
If sensation is
to occur, there must be an inner mirroring of the stimulus;
only then can we speak of the lower form of consciousness,
sensation and feeling. But what exactly is it? If we are to
gain insight into this next higher stage of evolution, we
must approach it gradually as we did the nature of life.
Consciousness arises from life; it can only come into being
where life already exists. It reveals itself as higher than
life; the latter seemingly arises out of lifeless matter of
such complexity that unless seized by life it disintegrates.
Consciousness arises at the border between life and death,
that is to say, where life constantly threatens to disappear
from substance, and where substance is continually being
destroyed. Substance disintegrates unless held together by
forces of life. Life dissolves unless a new principle, that
is, consciousness, is added. Consciousness can only be
understood when it is recognized that it constantly renews
life that would otherwise dissolve, just as life forces renew
certain processes without which matter would decay.
Not every form
of life can renew itself from within. It must first have
reached a certain higher level. Only when the force of life
is strong enough constantly to endure death within itself can
it awake to consciousness. To be aware of life that at every
moment contains death, you need only look at life within the
human being, and bear in mind what was explained in the last
lecture, “Blood is a very special Fluid,” and
that within human beings, life is constantly renewed through
the blood. As a psychologist with insight remarked: “In
the blood man carries within him a double from whom he,
constantly draws strength.” But blood contains yet
another force: it continuously produces death. When it has
taken life-giving substances to the organs, it carries away
destructive elements back to the heart and lungs. What
returns to the lungs is poisonous, destructive to life.
A being whose
nature works against disintegration is a being possessing
life. If it is able to let death arise, and continuously
transform that death into life, then it is a conscious being.
Consciousness is the strongest of all forces. Death must of
necessity arise in the midst of life; consciousness, or
conscious spirit, is the force that eternally wrenches life
from death. Life is both an inward and an external process,
whereas consciousness is purely an inward one. A substance
that dies outwardly cannot become conscious. Consciousness
can only arise in substance that can generate death within
itself and overcome it. As a perceptive person once remarked:
“From death springs not only life but
consciousness.”
Once this
connection is recognized, the existence of pain becomes
comprehensible. It is pain that originally gave rise to
consciousness. When the life within a being is exposed to
light, air, heat or cold, then these external elements act in
the first place an the living being. This influence does not
give rise to consciousness in plants because here the effects
are simply absorbed. Consciousness only arises when there is
conflict between the external elements and the inner
life-force, causing a breaking down of tissue. Consciousness
can only arise from the inner destruction of life. Unless a
partial death takes place in the living being, the process
that gives rise to consciousness cannot be initiated; beams
of light cannot penetrate to the surface of life, causing
partial destruction of the inner substances and forces. It is
this that produces the mysterious process that is occurring
everywhere in the external world.
You must
visualize that the cosmic forces of intelligence had reached
a level of evolution so high that the external light and air
became alien. There had been harmony for a time, but through
the higher perfection of cosmic forces, conflict arose. If
you could follow with spiritual sight what happens at the
point where a simple living creature is penetrated by a beam
of light, you would see alteration in the skin; a tiny eye
begins to appear. A delicate form of destruction occurs that
is experienced as pain. From this pain consciousness is born.
Wherever the element of life meets the external world, a
process of destruction occurs; if great enough, the outcome
is death. The pain gives rise to consciousness. The process
that originally created our eyes could have resulted in
complete destruction had it gained the upper hand. But it
seized upon only a small part of the human being, and through
partial destruction, partial death created the possibility
for that inner reflection of the outer world to arise that we
call “consciousness.” Thus, consciousness within
matter is born out of suffering and pain.
When this
connection between pain and the conscious spirit around us is
recognized, many things become comprehensible, for example,
why thoughtful people ascribe such a significant role to
pain. An important philosopher has pointed out that an
expression of suffering and pain is to be seen everywhere on
the countenance of the world. Indeed, the physiognomy of the
higher animals conveys deeply repressed pain.
Thus, we see
that consciousness comes into existence through pain, that a
being in whom consciousness arises from destruction creates
from the annihilation of life something that is higher, and
in fact continuously creates itself out of death. If the
living could not suffer, consciousness could not arise; if
there were no death, the spirit could not exist in the
visible world. Herein lies the strength of the spirit: It
creates from destruction something higher than life, namely,
consciousness. We see the organs serving consciousness
develop at different levels of pain. This can be observed
already in the lower animal kingdom where the level of
consciousness, in defense against the outer world, consists
of instinctive reflex movements, comparable to the human eye
instinctively closing itself against what might harm it. It
is when such instinctive reaction is not enough to protect
the element of life in the creature, when in other words the
provocation is too strong, that the inner forces of
opposition are roused which in turn give birth to senses, to
sensation, and to organs like the eye and ear. You may have
an instinctive feeling that what I have just explained is the
truth. You certainly know it in your higher consciousness,
but let me give you an example to make it clearer still. When
do you become aware of your inner organs? You go through life
paying no attention to your stomach, liver or lungs. You feel
none of your organs as long as they are sound. You only know
that you possess this or that organ when it hurts, when you
feel something is out of order, in other words, when
destruction has set in. This illustrates that consciousness
always arises from pain.
If the element
of life meets with pain, the result is sensation and
consciousness. This bringing forth of a higher element is
reflected in the consciousness as pleasure. No pleasure
exists without prior pain. At the lower level, where life is
just emerging within physical substance, no pleasure exists
as yet. But when pain has given rise to consciousness, and as
consciousness continues to work creatively, what it then
produces is on a higher level, and gives rise to feelings of
pleasure. Creativeness is the basis of pleasure. Pleasure
only exists where there is a possibility for inner or outer
creativity. Happiness is always in some way based on
creation, just as unhappiness is in some way due to the need
to create. Take an example of suffering that is typical on a
lower level, that of hunger which can result in destruction
of life. Hunger is alleviated by food; the food is a source
of enjoyment because it becomes transformed into something
that enhances life. Thus, something higher, namely, pleasure
is created on the basis of pain. Suffering precedes pleasure.
Thus, it must be said that while Arthur Schopenhauer
[
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) was a German philosopher.
]
and Eduard von Hartmann
[
Eduard von Hartmann (1842–1906) was a German philosopher and poet.
]
are right when they state in their philosophic work that
suffering is a universal factor of life, they do not go
deeply enough into the origin of suffering. They do not go
back to the point where suffering evolves and becomes
something higher. The origin of suffering is found where
consciousness arises out of the element of life, where life
gives birth to spirit.
We have shown
that from suffering something nobler and more perfect is
born. It is therefore comprehensible that an inkling should
dawn in human souls for the fact that a connection exists
between pain and suffering on the one hand, and knowledge and
consciousness on the other.
Those who are
acquainted with my lectures will recall references to
initiation by means of which a higher consciousness is
attained that enables us to perceive the spiritual world.
When a person's slumbering soul forces and faculties are
awakened, the result is comparable to sight being restored to
someone born blind. Just as such a person will experience the
whole world differently, so the whole world is transformed
for the human being who has attained spiritual sight.
Everything is seen in a new light and on a higher level. But
for this to come about, the process that has been explained
must be repeated at a higher stage. The soul forces that
generally speaking from a unity in humans must separate; a
kind of destruction must take place in a person's lower
nature. Only when this occurs is a higher consciousness and
spiritual perception attained.
There are three
soul forces in human beings: thinking, feeling and willing.
These three forces are bound up with the physical
organization. Certain thoughts and feelings will call up
certain acts of will. The human organism must function
correctly if the three soul forces are to act in harmony. If
the connection between them has broken down due to illness,
then there is no longer consistency between thinking, feeling
and willing. If an organ connected with the will is impaired,
the human being will be unable to translate his thoughts into
impulses of will; he is weak as far as action is concerned.
Although a person is well able to think, he cannot decide on
action. Another disturbance may be that someone is unable to
link thoughts and feelings correctly; this human cannot bring
his feelings into harmony with the thoughts behind them.
Basically that is the cause of insanity.
In the normally
constituted human being of today, thinking, feeling and
willing are in harmony. This is right at certain stages of
evolution. However, it must be born in mind that as far as a
person is concerned, this harmony is established
unconsciously. If a person is to be initiated, if he or she
is to become capable of higher perception, then thinking,
feeling and willing must be severed from one another. The
organs connected with feeling and will must undergo division.
Consequently, even if it cannot be proved anatomically, the
organism of an initiate is different from that of a
non-initiate. Because the contact between thinking, feeling
and willing is severed, the initiate can see someone
suffering without his feelings being roused; he can stand
aside and coldly observe. The reason is that nothing must
occur in the initiate unconsciously. An individual is
compassionate out of his own free will, not because of some
external compulsion. He becomes separated into human beings
of feeling, a person of will and a thinking person; above
these three is the ruler, the newfound individual, bringing
them into harmony from a higher consciousness. Here too a
death process, a destructive process must intervene; should
this occur without a higher consciousness being attained,
insanity would set in. Insanity is in fact a condition in
which the three soul members have separated without being
ruled by a higher consciousness.
Here too we see
a twofold event taking place: a destructive process at work
in what is lower, simultaneous with the creation of a higher
element. The ordinary person's consciousness lights up
between blue, poisonous, destructive blood, and red,
life-giving blood; similarly the initiate's higher
consciousness is born from the interaction of life and death,
and bliss arises from the higher happiness of creating out of
death.
Human beings
have an instinctive feeling for that mysterious connection
between the highest they can attain, and suffering, and pain.
This feeling inspires the tragic poet to let the suffering to
which his hero succumbs give rise to the conviction that
ultimately life triumphs over death; the eternal over the
temporal. Thus, Christianity rightly sees in the pain and
suffering, in the anguish and misery to which Christ Jesus'
earthly nature succumbs, the victory of eternal life over the
temporal and transitory. It is also the reason why our life
becomes richer, more satisfying, when we can widen it so that
we absorb and make our own what lies beyond our own self.
When we, as
beings possessing life, overcame the pain caused by the beam
of external light, something higher was born, that is,
consciousness. Likewise, something higher is born from
receptiveness to suffering when we, in our widened
consciousness, transform out of compassion the suffering of
another into our own. Therefore, at the highest level
suffering gives rise to love. For what else is love than
widening one's consciousness to encompass other beings? It is
love when we are willing to deprive ourselves, to sacrifice
ourselves to whatever extent for the sake of another. Like
the skin that received the beam of light, and out of the pain
became able to create a higher entity: the eye; so will we,
through widening our life to encompass the lives of others,
become able to attain a higher life. There will then, out of
what we have given away to others, be born within us love and
compassion for all creatures.
The death on
the cross of Christ Jesus bears witness to this truth, for,
as Christianity teaches, there soon followed the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit. In the light of the process we have
explained, which is indicated in the parable of the grain of
wheat, we can now understand the coming forth of the Holy
Spirit as a consequence of the death on the Cross. Just as
the new crop of wheat must rise from the decay, the
destruction of the seeds; so from the destruction, the pain
endured upon the Cross, that Spirit is born which poured out
over the Apostles at the feast of Pentecost. This is dearly
stated in the Gospel of John 7:39, where it is said that the
Spirit was not yet there, for Christ was not yet glorified.
To read the Gospel of John closely is to discover things of
immense significance.
Many people say
that they would not want to be spared the pain they have
endured, for from it they have gained knowledge. This is a
truth that those who have died would confirm. If pain did not
stand constantly at our side, like a guardian of life, the
destruction that goes on within us would lead to actual
death. It is pain that warns us we must take precaution to
prevent life being destroyed; thus, from pain comes new life.
As mentioned, a modern natural scientist describes the
mimicry of thinking as the expression of suppressed pain on a
thinker's face.
If we learn
through pain, if knowledge attained through pain has an
ennobling effect, then it explains why in the biblical story
of creation pain and suffering are connected with the
knowledge of good and evil. This we shall go into in the next
lecture. It also explains why knowledgeable people have
always emphasized that pain has an ennobling, purifying
effect on a person. Through the great law of destiny, karma,
spiritual science indicates that a person's pain and
suffering in one life point to wrong done in former lives.
This is a connection that can only be understood through the
deeper aspects of human nature. Baser impulses that in a
former life led to external action are transformed into
nobler ones. Sin is like a poison that when transformed
becomes a source of healing. Thus, sin can eventually
contribute to a person's strength and ennoblement. In the
story of Job, pain and suffering are shown to lead to greater
knowledge and ennoblement.
This is meant
only as a sketch, as an indication of the significance of
suffering in earthly existence. When we recognize the
solidifying, crystallizing effect of pain in physical
entities right up to that of human beings, then we begin to
realize the reason for its existence — especially when
we further recognize that through dissolving what has
hardened, the spirit can be reborn through us, that through
the transformation of pain and suffering the spirit bestows
upon us beauty, strength and wisdom. Fabre d'Olivet used the
formation of a pearl when he wished to illustrate that the
highest, noblest and purest in human nature is born from
pain. The precious and beautiful pearl is created from the
illness and pain of the pearl-oyster. The highest and noblest
qualities of human nature are attained through suffering and
pain.
Thus, we may
say, as did the ancient Greek poet Aeschylus, that from
suffering knowledge is born, and also that pain, like much
else, can be understood only by its fruits.
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