7 The Purpose Of Suffering

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Thomas F. Fischer, M.Div., M.S.A., Editor

The Purpose Of Suffering

Thomas F. Fischer, M.Div., M.S.A.

Number 7

"A person who is beginning to sense the suffering of life is, at the same time, beginning to awaken to deeper realities, truer realities.

For suffering smashes to pieces the complacency of our normal fictions about reality, and forces us to come alive in a special sense--to see carefully, to feel deeply, to touch ourselves and our worlds in ways we have heretofore avoided....

Suffering is the first grace. In a special sense, suffering is almost a time of rejoicing, for it marks the birth of creative insight."

Quotation by Ken Wilbur.Source: Phillip Z.
A Skeptic's GuideTo The Twelve Steps,
Hazelden, 1990, publication #5130, p. 12.

Editor's Note: Christians, of course, would recognize the first grace was the grace we received from Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection. Yet, when we recognize that victory almost always comes from suffering, perhaps it's a little bit easier to endure as we wait for God's re-creative action in us to give us new life, new ministry, new hope, and new opportunities.

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