Reflections on “Why”
August 18, 2023
When you hear about a tragedy, you ask, "Why did they suffer?” We have all asked this question because losing anything or anybody is sad and sometimes devastating. Indeed, sometimes we die of suffering.
In his 1841 essay “Compensation,” Ralph Waldo Emerson proposes that all things, good, bad or indifferent, are in perpetual balance, including suffering. He asserts that in matters of the heart, mind, body and soul, there is an equal and opposite reaction for every action, otherwise known as compensation. Compensation is the universe’s mechanism for restoring balance.
Isaac Newton, in 1687, published this idea in the realm of physics. He termed it the Third Law of Motion. “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” But how could anything compensate for the actions affecting the heart? Can anything compensate for tragic losses and pain? Listen to Emerson’s answer in his essay, “Compensation.”
“A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends, seems at the moment unpaid loss, and unpayable … The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, or lover, which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius; for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up a wanted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character.”
Emerson says the compensation for our suffering is that suffering itself transforms into a guide or genius. Yes, we become geniuses in the areas of our suffering. We have super-knowledge and wisdom we would never have but for that particular pain and trauma. Though I am a “genius” about my tragic losses, I am not developed enough to realize that their guidance and genius compensate me. And a significant part of me would gladly trade in my guide and genius for what I lost and suffered.
Instead, my answer to why I suffer is that my pain somehow fits into a larger plan, a Holy Plan that I can not fully comprehend. I believe that somehow my suffering is redeemed as part of my destiny. I think that the Divine redeems it, not as compensation but as grace … a gift of healing.
Inquiry: What is your answer to why you suffer?
Dear God,
I pray for continued healing for the suffering I do not fully understand. Amen.
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