Suffering is essential to the experience of life. Suffering is important. We need the contrast in order to appreciate joy and love. Suffering and sacrifice are what we do to gain that, right? It’s the trade off. Now, suffering’s also important for empathy. The greater the suffering, not in comparison to others, but personally, internally, the more empathy you have. The greater your empathy, the more you are able to feel what another person is feeling. The development of our empathy is not to compare our suffering to others’, but so we can say, “yes, I see you”. And this is the reward. Our increasing ability to create a whole space, and witness others suffering, witness them begin to heal and to see the joy that becomes available to them. Part of this is to understand that we don’t suffer alone. And that we will be ok. It’s inspiring. I am saying that we can work through this, we can do it. Most everything is temporary, right? So the joy will come. The suffering will return, but the joy will come.
The Kink Collective
