Character Suffering

Suffering is an integral part of the life of any person. We all strive for something, make certain plans for the future, but we don’t always achieve what we want. At such moments, suffering comes, sometimes forcing you to become disappointed and give up ahead of time. Of course, not all life is spent in suffering, but everyone has some mistakes and losses.

The Essence of Suffering

Suffering is a state of frustration and extreme dissatisfaction. A person’s suffering occurs when desires that are significant to him for some reason were not realized. The essence of suffering is that a person begins to feel internal pain, which he cannot get rid of for a long time. Usually suffering is caused by some kind of internal unresolved problem that has several contradictions.

The essence of any human experience comes down to a subjective feeling of loss and insurmountable obstacles. Often a person has the feeling that nothing can be improved and all that remains is to come to terms with his difficult lot.

The meaning of suffering

If you think about why people suffer, the answer is not so easy to find. This question most often remains unclear. Many people see the meaning of emotional experiences in helping themselves change, rethinking important events of the past. However, few people consciously choose suffering for themselves as a path of spiritual transformation. Basically, only deeply religious people choose to suffer in order to purify their thoughts and feelings. They see the meaning of suffering in freeing themselves from oppressive experiences and additional temptations to commit a bad act. An ordinary person rarely even thinks about the meaning of suffering and even less often prefers to consciously oppress himself. The very essence of suffering for them has a different meaning: it is associated with injustice and resentment.

Causes of suffering

It is worth noting that suffering does not arise on its own, without visible reasons. What would be the point for a person to torture himself in vain? Suffering comes into our lives when certain circumstances take place, that is, a specific meaning arises.

Unjustified expectations

There are often times in life when something goes wrong, not consistent with our inner beliefs and expectations. This happens because other people do not always know and understand what is required of them. In addition, each person puts his own meaning into the events that occur. Meaning is what moves a person, leads him forward, makes him develop. Accordingly, everyone has their own meaning of life. If we begin to make claims against to a loved one who has chosen creativity rather than family as his meaning, a conflict will inevitably arise in the relationship.

Unjustified expectations give rise to all kinds of suffering. The person begins to feel that they have forgotten about him or have deliberately ignored him in order to show how little he matters in the world. specific situation. Sometimes people don’t even realize that it is absurd to be offended by a relative or acquaintance, because he has completely different values ​​and priorities.

Betrayal and resentment

They are formed under the influence of unjustified expectations. Let’s say a person wanted to get a certain result from interacting with someone, but didn’t get it. The result is a negative mood and a feeling of resentment. It seems that our opponent betrayed us and destroyed our existing plans, although in reality he may not even realize that you expected something completely different from him. The feeling of resentment in itself is quite destructive: it does not give a person the opportunity to look for meaning in what happened, but immediately turns him against his opponent. This is how suffering arises, which is characterized by a lack of mood, frequent tears, and a general emotional disorder.

Focus on the ideal

Most quick way to experience suffering is to create for oneself a certain perfect image and try to adjust reality to it. Disappointment in this case comes very quickly, bringing with it a lack of desire to act in the future. Heartache often blocks any attempts to find meaningful meaning in current events. Focusing on the ideal prevents the individual from making plans, enjoying life, and invariably leads to suffering.

Forms of suffering

The form of suffering is the way it is expressed. People can express their feelings in different ways. Moreover, some unconsciously choose for themselves an active form of manifestation, while others choose a passive one. Forms of suffering are divided into two large groups.

Open form

This form allows the individual to reduce his suffering to some extent and focus on his own feelings. This happens due to the fact that she does not ignore her emotions, does not suppress them, but actively expresses them. The open form is much healthier. In this case, a person will make efforts to achieve justice and defend his own interests. He will not yield to his opponent, and will not engage in self-deception. An open form allows you to quickly cope with the situation, work through existing fears and other feelings.

Hidden form

Some people have great difficulty expressing their feelings. In this case, we can talk about a hidden form of suffering. The hidden form is expressed in the fact that a person cannot act openly when it comes to feelings, and therefore suffers even more. The hidden form implies that the person keeps everything to himself and does not share his experiences with others. This form cannot have a positive effect on health: they are destroyed nerve cells, tension and dissatisfaction with relationships accumulates. A hidden form of suffering is always dangerous for personal development, because it does not allow a person to be himself.

Thus, every suffering has its own causes, meaning and way of manifestation. In some ways, sometimes it is even useful to rethink events that happened in the past, to reassess values. This is necessary in order to let go of grievances, fears, sorrows and move on with life.

Former real estate broker and mother of three children, Byron Katie developed the “Work” method 28 years ago (1986). Being in a state of terrible depression, anger and in captivity bad habits, she woke up one morning and realized: all suffering comes from believing in our own thoughts.

Eckhart Tolle once said, “Byron Katie's work is a great blessing to our planet,” and Time magazine named Katie a “Spiritual Innovator of the New Millennium.”

Quotes from her books:

Exploration reveals a world that is kinder than we could ever imagine.

I am the source of my pain, absolutely all of it.

Self-realization has no power if it is not lived.

The mind falls in love with itself, and this wonderful love affair with itself is not only the end of a war - it is the beginning of a completely new creation.

When you realize that you have everything you need, life becomes heaven.

You only suffer from the belief that something is missing in your life. In reality, you always have everything you need.

Sometimes being happy means being wrong.

What do they think of me? Nobody thinks about me! People can only see themselves - they cannot see me.

Thoughts... they are my children... and I am a good mother. Be the mother of your thoughts! Be the mother of the children in your head!

There is no such thing as bad fate. Check it out through research!

Hell: “Help will arrive any minute.” Freedom: "No one will come"

When you believe that your problem is caused by someone or something else, you become your own victim.

When we are afraid of something in the future, we are already experiencing what we do not want to see in it.

People's bodies are as innocent as trees or flowers.

Children tell us the truth. It is up to us whether we have the courage to hear it.

The more darkness of consciousness there is, the more pain there is.

There are no questions in emptiness.

Life is love, my dears. Everything else is imaginary confusion.

If you really knew how beautiful you are, you would fall at your own feet.

Every moment is God's gift: and you reveal your gift right now, now, now...?

There is nothing that cannot be forgiven. Your true nature is love. There's nothing you can do about it.

All you think about other people is yourself.

The only defense that could ever exist is sanity, a mind that is completely in touch with reality.

If you don't accept criticism as a gift, it will never end.

What you believe in the present moment creates your suffering or your happiness.

The mind doesn't stop. You just don't believe thoughts anymore. You can really welcome them. The thoughts are not serious, they are innocent children and you laugh with them and smile at them. The mind will be able to calm down by knowing itself. The mind has returned home.

It is impossible for a clear mind to live an unhappy life.

If I am not in your consciousness, how can I exist in your perception? No, the “I” in you is not me. Then - who is “I”? What am I"?

When I seek your approval, I disapprove of myself as the one who seeks approval.

Stress is an alarm clock that tells you that you are attached to something that is not true for you.

We are only afraid of what we do not understand.

In the old world we started conversations and the ego lived!

Any story you tell about yourself is food for the ego. There is no true story.

There is no way to convince everyone. There is no one to convince.

Money is a wonderful metaphor. Money flows from one place to another, through different countries, through telephone systems and wires. Money shows us how our thinking should be: how it can flow, how it can be without barriers and how it can take many forms. Money shows how easy it is to appear and disappear all the time. This great teacher. If you moved the same way as money, you would be in love with what is.

Our loved ones and loved ones will push all our buttons until we realize what exactly we don’t want to know about ourselves.

Frustration, anger, sadness - these feelings notify you that it's time to wake up. This is precisely why feelings exist - it is a gift! They are not enemies. Like thoughts, they are a gift - they are not the enemy.

The most important thing is that if someone tells me something and it upsets me, then what they are telling me is true.

The moment you begin to defend yourself and make excuses, you start a war within yourself, in your home and in your family.

We have never met face to face with our husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, children. Until we explore our stories about them, we have no idea who they are. We'll be the last to know.

Only the ego is born, only the ego can die.

We meet nothing except our thoughts. The outer world is a projection of the inner life.

Easy life. In it, everything happens for you - not to you. Everything happens at just the right moment - not earlier and not later.

You know what I love about self-awareness? - That we are always completely protected.

Do you want to meet the love of your life? Look in the mirror.

You cannot demonstrate love - you can only lose yourself in love.

The truth is terrifying to the ego, and the truth is that the ego does not exist.

In reality, I like the fact that she manages without my help.

It's not your business to love me, it's my business.

To enter a state of grace, doubt the thought you are defending right now, NOW...

Please note: are you thinking or are they being thought of?

Thinking you know what's best for another person is minding your own business.

We tell others only what we need to hear.

The prison exists only in the mind - there is no other prison.

Play God and feel the pain.

My religion is to remain present in the present. That's all.

The only relationship that is ever meaningful is the one you have with yourself. When you love yourself, you love the one you are always with. But unless you love yourself, you will not feel comfortable, because people threaten your belief system, and until you examine this, you will be at war to defend your belief system. That's how relationships are.

I have no goal. Why should I deceive myself? Why should I think so narrowly?

We're not growing up. Our bodies mature, but not us. We only become more subtle in how we react when we believe these thoughts.

Our suffering continues only until we come to the realization that we actually know nothing.

Do you want to know the secret of happiness? - Kindness and Gratitude. Nothing more is required.

When they attack you and you notice that you love them with all your heart, your Work is done.

The world that is inside me is so beautiful. Nothing can compete with it.

No, of course, I wouldn't trade this moment for anything. I can't.

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In this article I would like to talk about several methods that allow you to get rid of psychological suffering. Before this, there was already an article “” on the site. However, the methods proposed there were more likely to relate to a different way of life. Here, we will look at fairly specific practical techniques.

Breathing method

It is necessary to take several deep, conscious breaths. As you inhale, you seem to realize that you are inhaling your life energy, happiness, health and all the best. As you exhale, you breathe out suffering and pain. If you can’t feel it directly, you can simply imagine that you can do it. As a rule, it works almost instantly. Just two or three inhalations and exhalations are enough. The effectiveness of this method is explained by the fact that breathing is directly related to energy. We breathe in energy to live. Awareness of breathing in this way binds experiences to the flow of breath energy, and during exhalation, you will actually get rid of everything unnecessary. If you are a materialist, you can explain this effect to yourself by self-hypnosis. After all, in essence, psychological suffering is also just self-hypnosis.

Relaxation

The practice of relaxation is one of the most important and has been described on the site more than once. To be brief, the point is that the cause of any suffering is the blocks in the psychic channels along which one moves. Vital energy. During tension, where there should be movement, the energy is stopped, which causes suffering. The cause of tension is rejection - the refusal to live one’s own experiences, which as a result of such blocking go to the subconscious level. Accordingly, thanks to relaxation, we go through an exacerbation of suppressed experiences, and gradually free ourselves from them, while experiencing relief, as if something heavy and unnecessary had fallen off and it became easier to live.

Turning off internal dialogue

It is necessary to take this method as simply and practically as possible, and to carry it out simply and specifically. This is a real method thanks to which you can endure any psychological pain. Turning off the internal dialogue is a start. Then you need to turn off fantasizing and thinking about any specific useless topics. It is best if this happens through relaxation. Otherwise, intense suppression of thinking can lead to thoughts “attacking” the mind with a vengeance. Psychological suffering is largely caused by judgments coming from the mind. Heavy thoughts, with which suffering comes into friction, make one experience rejection of life and subtle psychological stress. We can say that rejection of life is one of the facets of suffering as such. Relaxation of the mind leads to the dissolution of painful reflection. When the mind turns off, the internal appraiser goes away, and psychological pain goes along with it.

Contemplation of "I"

Patience

Understanding the meaning of what is happening gives patience. It must be remembered that suffering develops and strengthens the personality - that is, it makes us stronger. Monks who patiently endured difficulties became saints. Of course, this should not turn into masochism and self-flagellation. But every person in life at certain periods needs to take bold steps and patiently cope with difficulties.

Prayer

This method, if you can call prayer a method, helps in the most difficult life situations. When nothing can help, a person is saved.

Communication

Ordinary communication on worldly topics is what helps to distract from reflection and absorption in heavy thoughts. However, communication has a much more powerful effect in a situation where consciousness cannot find any support. If an unwary mystic somehow jumped over necessary steps development, and he was brought into a state where the personality is not able to find support, but still needs it, communication magically quickly returns consciousness to its usual footing.

Method of immersion in suffering

This is perhaps the most radical and difficult method. As you know, in order to get rid of any experience, sometimes you just need to intensify it and fully live it. Then the experience burns out, exhausts itself and the person experiences relief, catharsis. Sometimes on a physical level this can lead to dizziness. If you feel nauseous at this time, you may the best way will drink a liter warm water and induce vomiting.

Setting up for love

This method attracts positive, harmonious energy, a state in which all suffering dissolves. If, for example, the cause of your suffering is the action of another person, you need to take a radical step for your pride and wish Love and warmth to the offender. Sometimes it is extremely difficult. However, there is a practical way to approach this. Ask yourself: do you need suffering? With resentment and anger, you only make things worse for yourself. If you wish warmth and love to a stranger, by doing this, you, in essence, bring warmth and love to that area of ​​​​your being where you felt the suffering associated with this person. If there are no external reasons, simply feel that the source of love is in the heart of your being. If you can't feel it, just imagine it. This method can be used even when everything is fine. Masters say that the only way to go through life without psychological stress is to love all living things.

When He was arrested in the middle of the night, Jesus appeared before the Sanhedrin and the high priest Caiaphas; It was here that He received his first physical injuries. One of the ministers hit Jesus in the face because He answered Caiaphas' questions with silence. Then they blindfolded Him and mocked Him, demanding to guess which of them spat on Him or hit Him in the face.

Early in the morning, Jesus, tormented and beaten, suffering from thirst and fatigue after a sleepless night, was led through all of Jerusalem to Pontius Pilate. You, of course, know how Pilate tried to shift all responsibility onto Herod. It is known that Herod did not cause any bodily harm to Jesus and returned Him to Pilate. And then, in response to the demands of the crowd, Pilate ordered the guards to release Barabbas, and handed over Jesus to scourging and crucifixion. Many believe that Pilate initially sentenced Jesus only to scourging (see the Gospel of John), and the punishment of death by crucifixion was a response to the ridicule of the crowd, who accused Pilate of not being a friend of Caesar. Preparations are underway for the scourging. The prisoner's clothes are torn off. They tie His hands and tie them to a pole above His head. A Roman legionary comes forward with a short whip in his hand. This whip consists of several heavy leather straps, to the ends of which two lead balls are attached. The heavy scourge falls again and again with all its force onto the shoulders, back and legs of Jesus. At first, the heavy lead balls only cut the skin. With subsequent blows, they penetrate deeper into the flesh, causing blood to begin to ooze from damaged capillaries and vessels. And finally, blood spurts from the damaged arteries through the torn muscles. Lead balls turn your back into a continuous bleeding wound. The skin on the back hangs down in patches.

When the centurion in charge of the scourging determined that the prisoner was close to death, the beating finally stopped.

After this, Jesus was untied, and He, half-dead, bleeding, sank heavily onto the paving stones.

The Roman soldiers laughed heartily at this Jewish provincial who called Himself a king. They threw a kind of robe over His shoulders and put a cane in His hand instead of a scepter. All that was missing for the parodic resemblance was a crown. They wove a crown from flexible branches covered with long sharp thorns, and with effort they placed it on His head. And the blood flows again. They beat Him in the face, and, having laughed enough, the soldiers took the cane from His hands and began to beat Him on the head with it so that the thorns pierced deeper into the skin. Finally, tired of their sadistic sport, they tore off His robe. But it had already stuck to the blood clots on His wounds, and when it was removed, it caused unbearable, excruciating pain, as if He was being scourged again. The wounds began to bleed again.

Contrary to Jewish customs, the Romans returned His clothes and placed a heavy cross on His shoulders.

The entire procession, with a detachment of Roman soldiers, led by a centurion, slowly set off. The cross is too heavy. Jesus is exhausted and has lost a lot of blood. He stumbles and falls. The rough bar cuts the torn skin and muscle of His shoulders. He tries to rise, but His strength is exhausted to the limit. The centurion, who is impatient to begin the crucifixion, forces Simon the Cyrene, who was passing by, to carry the cross. Jesus follows him, still bleeding and constantly covered in drops of cold, sticky sweat.

The path from the fortress to Golgotha ​​is coming to an end. The prisoner's clothes are again torn off - all except for the loincloth, which was permissible for the Jews. The soldiers begin the execution. Simon is ordered to lay the cross on the ground. Jesus is knocked down and falls backward. His shoulders are level with the bar. The legionnaire takes Him by the wrist, trying to feel the fading pulse. He drives a thick faceted wrought iron nail into His wrist and then deep into the wood. Then he does the same with the other wrist, carefully making sure that the arms are not too stretched so that the prisoner can move. Then the left leg is pressed with the right, both legs are extended, and a nail pierces their feet, while the knees are not secured. Then they nail the inscription to the cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews!”

The victim is crucified and the cross is raised. As Jesus slowly slides down under his own weight, the tissue and nerves in his wrists are torn, causing excruciating pain to shoot through his fingers, arms and head. Trying to get rid of the all-encompassing pain, He rises, and at the same time the entire weight of the body is transferred to the nail in the legs, which tears the nerves between the bones in the legs, causing severe agony.

At this moment the following happens. When your arms get tired, terrible cramps run through your muscles like a wave, causing sharp, throbbing pain. These convulsions do not allow Him to rise. Because He is hanging by His arms, His pectoral muscles are paralyzed. And the intercostal muscles are also motionless. Almost no air enters the lungs and barely leaves them. Jesus struggles to get up to take even one short breath. As a result, carbon dioxide accumulates in the lungs, bleeding and convulsions gradually subside. He convulsively pulls himself up, takes a breath and swallows life-sustaining air. It was in these brief moments that He, experiencing unbearable torment, said seven short phrases: “Father! Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”; turning to the repentant thief: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise”; to John (beloved disciple): “Behold thy mother”; to His mother Mary: “Woman! Behold, your son." And then he exclaimed in the words of Psalm 21: “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? Hours of pain, spasms and convulsions, interspersed with partial suffocation, dragged on endlessly; the pain in the tormented back is unbearable when He rises and then slides down the cross again; terrible chest pain. The loss of fluid in the tissues has reached a critical state; the heart barely beats; the lungs are trying with their last strength to contain at least a small portion of air... And Jesus cried out: “I am thirsty.” A sponge moistened with vinegar diluted with water, which was the main drink of the Roman legionaries, is raised to His lips. Without a doubt, He does not take a sip. Now Jesus' body is tense to the limit, and He feels the chill of death running through him. The consciousness of this is reflected in His cry: “It is finished.” His redemptive mission was completed. He can finally allow His body to die. With a last effort of will, He, once again leaning on the nail that pierced His feet, straightened His legs, took a deep breath and in a loud voice cried: “Father! I commit My spirit into Your hands.”

M.D. S. Truman Davis

Natalya Smirnova talked with Viktor Petrovich Lega

Why is this world full of suffering? Is there an explanation for why the all-good, all-powerful and all-knowing God does not free our world from suffering? It turns out that God doesn’t want this?

God knows about suffering, can change and wants to, but does not save us from them. And it's hard for people to understand why that is. After all, even any person would consider it the height of selfishness not to help his friend if he is suffering and asks for help. Therefore, atheists believe that the only way to solve the problem of suffering in the world is to assume that God simply does not exist. There is no other way. If there was a God, then He, as omnipotent and good, would do everything so that we would not suffer. Diderot said that this problem, like no other, gave rise to larger number atheists. You can often hear that a person would believe in God if there were not so much evil in the world.

How is this problem solved in Christianity?

In Christianity, the answer is very simple: evil does not come from God, but from our freedom. Man was created in the image of God, created free. If God deprived man of his free will, then he would deprive man of his essence, and man would cease to be man. Therefore, if a person remains a person, then he can choose between good and evil. And if he chooses between good and evil, then he can choose evil. Otherwise he is not a man, otherwise he is not free. Thus, God is not responsible for the evil done in the world, but only man is responsible for it.

But there is also a very important factor, without taking into account which this explanation of the origin of evil in the world becomes heretical. After all, Pelagius thought about the same thing. The dogma of the Fall is also necessary.

We all know that the original sin was that Eve ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and gave it to Adam. But what is the essence of this story?

To understand this, let's figure out why God gave man the commandment “You shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” It is usually said that this was the first commandment of fasting. Yes it is. But why can’t you eat from this particular tree? After all, God does not give meaningless commandments, and we, in turn, are not horses who pull a cart, not knowing where and why. The rider and the horse are fundamentally different creatures, and the horse is not required to know where the rider is directing it. Why was this particular commandment given?

Maybe Adam and Eve were not supposed to know what good and evil were, but when they ate from this tree, then good and evil appeared?

The Fathers of the Church clearly reject this version. St. John Chrysostom, for example, recalls that Satan committed his fall from God long before the appearance of Adam. Evil was already in the world, and man knew about it, and when he met Satan, he knew who he was talking to.

The reason for this prohibition can be understood if you think about the meaning of the word “cognition”. The commandment “not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” meant not to know good and evil. It would seem a very strange command. On the contrary, a person must know what is good and what is evil in order to do the first and not do the second. But in Old Testament by knowledge was meant not knowledge in the usual sense of the word, but, as it were, “possession.” When we say “know,” we mean some kind of knowledge detached from life, just information. For example, a person can pour out his soul to us, tell us how bad he feels, and we listen and calmly say: “Thank you, I took this into account.” And we think to ourselves: “Well, that’s your problem and it doesn’t concern me.” For the Old Testament man, as for the ancient man, and also for the Christian, knowledge is the possession of the truth, unity with it. If a person has come to know the truth, then it is as if he has become consubstantial with it. From here we can understand the meaning of the first commandment given to man: he must remember that he is not the creator of the world, but a creation. The world was created for man and given to him entirely, which is symbolically expressed in the phrase “from every tree in the garden you will eat.” He was given everything at his disposal except the moral criterion. Adam and Eve had to understand that the criteria of morality, the criteria of good and evil are not in them, but in God. This indicates that good and evil are the most important concepts for a person: he can do everything at his own discretion, except what relates to the area of ​​morality. Here's what it means. And when our ancestors ate this fruit and violated the prohibition given to them, they seemed to say: “Sorry, but we don’t agree. We are the criterion of good and evil. Good is not what God tells us, but what we ourselves choose.”

In other words, Adam and Eve were given a choice, having been told what criterion to use, and they said: “But we know better. Yes, God said “don’t eat,” but we thought and decided that this was wrong. We choose what we need." This is the position of all humanity after the Fall. If we look at how modern debates are going on on any issue: political, moral, any other, you read newspapers, watch TV or just talk with people far from the Church, then you see that a person is always based on his own ideas. Can you take any situation, for example, to get a divorce or not to get a divorce? A person begins to think: “On the one hand, I’m tired of my wife, and I can’t see her anymore, but on the other hand, I feel sorry for the children, so maybe it’s better not to get a divorce. Well, what about the children? The children are already adults, they will understand.” A person begins to figure it out for himself, based on his own ideas. He does not use any objective criterion; all his ideas are subjective. And all people after Adam began to base all matters on their own ideas.

It is often said that it was Adam who sinned, not me, so why should I suffer and be responsible for someone else's sin?

Yes, this is a well-known position: I didn’t sin, why should I be responsible for Adam’s deeds. But in reality, each of us always, every day, several hundred times makes the same choice. Even we, Christians, extremely rarely, if we delve into ourselves, set ourselves the task of acting only as the Church says. It’s good that if it comes to meat during Lent, then we can stand firm, but when it’s a little more complicated, it begins: “Yes, I’ve already done a lot, I haven’t eaten meat for two weeks, but from me here they still require something. Well, no, this is already for saints, for ascetics, but for me it’s enough to give up meat and cottage cheese.” Therefore, there is no need to say that we are saints, we constantly commit the same original sin.

Yes, it's really unclear. For example, I tell my children: “Don’t take the candy,” but they didn’t listen and ate it. What am I? I’ll tell them: “Get out!” So that you don’t set foot in my house!”? Is this what we should do? Is this the real Orthodox position? Why then are we commanded to forgive, countless times? But God did not forgive. Well, this is necessary, he tells us - farewell, but he himself has not forgiven. Almost immediately he kicked me out.

To understand this question, one must realize what the consequences of the Fall were for human nature. Man, disobeying God, took a step away from Him. God is life, therefore, man, having taken a step away from life, thereby took a step towards death. In fact, disobeying God is an act of suicide. This is why man was told, “You will die if you eat the fruit of the tree.” That is why “with sin death entered the world.” Is there a place for death in heaven, in the Kingdom of God? Certainly not. Therefore, the exile was not in the literal sense an exile, although the Bible directly says: “And he drove out Adam, and placed in the east by the garden of Eden Cherubim and a flaming sword that turned to guard the way to the tree of life.” But, of course, this must be understood figuratively, allegorically. Man became mortal, his essence became different in comparison with the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven, so man simply could not remain in paradise. This would be a violation of the harmony of the Kingdom of God. Violation of the commandment led to a change in human being. When we forgive a child or even a murderer, we can forgive because their sins have not changed their nature. What happened to Adam is more like a fairy tale about how Ivanushka did not listen to his sister Alyonushka, drank some water and became a little goat. And after that, Ivanushka no longer had a place among people. Here is a stable for you and live in it. The nature of man has changed, and his habitat must be different. That is why the world has changed. Man changed, and his habitat changed along with him, because the world was created for man, for man. Paradise, of course, has not changed, but the created world has changed. This is the interpretation of the dogma of the Fall. And in this case, it becomes clear why God cannot stop evil and suffering in the world. Original sin became possible because man was and remains free.

But what happens, God expelled man from paradise and does nothing to bring him back? Maybe the time has come to forgive humanity for original sin? But here we get a paradoxical situation. On the one hand, God cannot return a person to paradise, because this requires complete correction of the person; the person must actually become a saint, like Adam before the Fall. But people continue to sin and are not going to correct themselves. But God cannot force a person to be sinless, because then He would make a person an unfree being, and a person would cease to be a person. But, on the other hand, God cannot put up with such a plight of man and wants his salvation. And then He Himself becomes a man, dies and is resurrected, and conquers death. Christ Himself becomes the sinless Adam and tells us that our salvation is possible, that He forgave us, Himself atoned for our sins, and only one thing is required of us - to believe in Christ, that He is truly the Son of God, who suffered and rose again for us. That is, God solved a problem that was insoluble for us: without violating our freedom, He again opened the gates of heaven for us. Therefore, to say that God does nothing to save us from evil and suffering means not understanding anything about Christianity.

What to do with the fact that God, when creating man, knew in advance that he would disobey Him and be forced to leave heaven?

God's entire plan for the world is possible only under the conditions that man has freedom and the opportunity to realize this freedom, that is, he has a choice. According to St. Augustine, God created man who could sin and could not sin, and man had to achieve perfection - such a state when he could no longer sin, that is, he would actually become the second God. But man abandoned this path; he could have sinned - and he did.

That is, in other words, if God deprived a person of choice, protected him from temptation - the forbidden fruit, then a person would not be able to realize that quality of his that distinguishes us from animals - freedom?

Yes, man is the image of God, a free being, and any violence against man is his murder, the transformation of man into an animal, into a machine.

But one more question remains. So far we have spoken only about evil, but not about suffering. What is suffering? It is always some state of wrongness. If a person gets sick with something, then the person understands that it needs to be treated. Mental or physical pain is a signal of the need for treatment. Violation of the commandment of obedience to God in paradise, refusal of God, became a refusal of life and a step towards death. Therefore, suffering naturally appeared. Any person understands that illness and the accompanying pain are a symptom of death - if left untreated, the illness will end in death. Why was it said that a man will earn bread by the sweat of his brow, but his wife will give birth in pain? This should not be understood as a cruel punishment for disobedience. A normal, decent atheist who does not know dogma simply makes his hair stand on end. I have repeatedly heard atheists say: “And you love this God? Who condemns you to torment and death for the slightest disobedience? Do you want to live with Him in heaven?!” And the problem is solved very simply. This is not a punishment, but rather a statement of fact, because the person himself chose this path, he himself departed from life, and therefore he himself left heaven. And God, like a doctor, states this fact.

Let's imagine a situation: two friends are sitting in a restaurant: one ordered vodka and kebab, and the other ordered semolina porridge.

-What are you doing? - asks the first one.

“Yes, you know, the doctor doesn’t allow it,” the second one answers.

– My doctor didn’t allow me either. But I gave him a thousand dollars, and he allowed it.

This absurd dialogue shows that the doctor exists not to allow or prohibit a sick person from drinking vodka, but to make a correct diagnosis and cure, and for this the patient himself must limit himself to certain products. So God states the human condition: “Sorry, but you are terminally ill, and your life will be full of suffering.” This is not a punishment, it is a statement of fact.

Suffering in the world both from the first man and from each of us, because we commit sin every minute and every second, and live in death and suffering. But if we believe in Christ, then we understand that this is the path leading to true life, because the Savior said that “I am the way and the truth and the life.” And when we choose this path leading to life, then we find that same pristine state.

How then can we explain that more righteous people often live in suffering, while evildoers and sinners live in bliss?

Christ told us that the path to the Kingdom of Heaven is a narrow path, that is, this path itself implies some suffering. Why such a difficult path, why do you have to enter through narrow gates? The fact is that suffering is a necessary companion to any work. Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% talent and 99% perspiration. If we want to achieve something, then we must make efforts, and that is why it is said that the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force. But we must also understand that there is suffering in the name of good, in the name of love for God and one’s neighbor, and there is senseless suffering. If I deliberately pinch my finger in a door, then I will not get closer to God or to heaven.

In general, suffering is a measure of whether we live correctly. If we do not have suffering, then we must think: something must be wrong. And when there is suffering, then we understand that we are on the right path. That is why we often hear that God really sends trials to those who love Him, although due to our weakness we naturally do not want this.

Let me give you this comparison: there are two athletes, one talented, the other not so much. What will a coach say to a more talented athlete? Naturally, he will force him to train several times a day, he will constantly find fault with him, demand best results. And to another he can say: jump, run, swim for an hour and you can go home. He gives the first one suffering, and he could be offended, but he understands that it’s hard for him now, and then he Olympic champion will become. And the second, at best, will improve your health. A person first has to force himself, and then suddenly he begins to enjoy the same thing. But this is only if you are going in the right direction.

It's still difficult for human psyche accept that more suffering is allowed by God for those who love Him.

It is important to understand that God uses our mistakes for our salvation and good. God does not create evil in order to use it as some kind of instrument for salvation. Such an understanding would be a form of Manichaeism. But God uses our own mistakes for our own benefit. It is in this regard that we can say that suffering is the path to salvation. God is not so heartless. He Himself became a man and He Himself suffered, not only physically, but also mentally, because he was betrayed by both his disciples and all of God’s chosen people. He experienced all the suffering that one can imagine, both physical and mental. Therefore, God is not a detached being, indifferently watching His creature suffer.

You can often read in classical Russian literature that suffering ennobles a person, but a person who lives without suffering, in bliss and luxury, deteriorates. As the Apostle Paul said, “When sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” And what's amazing is modern writer Varlam Shalamov, who spent 25 years in the Kolyma camps, actually repeated the words of the Apostle Paul. He brought out the experience from the camps that in inhuman conditions good people they get better and the bad ones get worse. The more sin there is in the camps, the more human goodness there is in them. In this sense, suffering ennobles a person.

There are people who know how to overcome themselves, who know how to rise above their adversity and overcome their own nature, their own illness. And we respect, love and adore such people. Or people who overcome the illness of other people by feeling compassion for them. The very word “co-suffering” means suffering together. Someone is suffering, but I’m fine, I’m healthy, but I have compassion for him.

The great poet A.S. Pushkin has this phrase: “I want to live in order to think and suffer.” Why, it would seem, is it to live to suffer? Some kind of masochism. But no. No suffering - no life. Because life is struggle, improvement, moving forward, and it is always accompanied by some effort. The path to the Kingdom of Heaven is the path upward. To climb a mountain, you need to make a huge effort, but to fall from a mountain, you don’t need any effort. It's always nice to fall, especially if you don't know what awaits you below.

I recently read an interview with an American rock singer who criticizes Western civilization for creating a cult of immortality. That is, a person lives as if death does not await him, a person lives for pleasure. And for pleasures to be absolute, one must imagine that they are eternal and that there will be no retribution for them. Therefore, it is not customary either in literature or in films, especially in Hollywood, to talk about death as some kind of suffering. It is not customary to talk about death as a metaphysical terrible problem that one must always think about. Our civilization is a civilization in which suffering is sought to be eliminated.

It is often believed that God sends us suffering as punishment for some of our sins. Even the apostles thought so and in a paradoxical form asked Christ a question about a man blind from birth: “... who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?” How could someone who was not yet born sin? “Jesus answered: Neither he nor his parents sinned, but this was so that the works of God might be revealed in him.” So suffering has some other reason, and is not simply a punishment for sin. There is a book in the Bible that is entirely devoted to the problem of suffering. This is the book of Job. Righteous Job, as we remember, does not agree that he suffers for some kind of sin. But his friends constantly tell him: “You suffer, that means you have sinned.” Job says: “Let God answer me why I suffer. I am pure before God." And God reveals himself to him and says: “Gird yourself like a man,” that is, get ready for a duel, if you consider yourself equal to Me. And then God asks Job several questions in this duel, the essence of which boils down to one thing: “You say that there is a lot of bad things in the world. But can you create at least the same world? Isn’t it better, at least the same?” “No,” Job answers. - “But if not, then what are you talking about then?” There is a phrase: it’s easy to criticize, do better. We all see the speck in someone else's eye without noticing the beam in our own. So here, if Job says that the world is bad, then it means he knows how to make it better, and if he doesn’t know, and especially cannot, then he must live in the one that God created. And when Job understands and agrees, he accepts the world as it is, that is, he understands that the criterion of good and evil in the world is not he, Job, but God. And then everything returns to its previous state. This is precisely what the Fall consisted of, when Adam said: “I am the criterion of good and evil.” This is precisely what Job’s forgiveness consisted of when he said: “Yes, it is not I, Job, who is the criterion, but God.” Therefore, evil and suffering in the world are a necessary consequence of the present world, corrupted original sin. And we must accept the world as it is, thanking God for everything that He created and did for our salvation.