Why do we Suffer?

Esther started today’s discussion.

Esther: Rabbi, our world is full of sufferings. All people suffer in their life some time or other in various ways. The cause of suffering varies from poverty and sickness to wars and natural calamities. But why do we have to suffer? Why can’t we have a life without suffering?

Rabbi: I don’t have a definite answer for this question as well. All I can say is how our forefathers approached this question. Their view is reflected very well in the story of Adam and Eve. We read how the world of Adam and Eve suffered as a result of their irresponsible action. The world of Adam and Eve consists of human beings, subhuman beings, as well as God. Although it is human beings who act irresponsibly, the subhuman beings also suffer the consequences. Even God suffers mental agony. The innocent ones also suffer. This is so because the whole world is one system—like a body or like a family.

Esther: I often hear people asking why God lets people suffer or why God gives suffering to people.

Rabbi: They assume that God is like a judge who rewards or punishes people according to their actions. According to them all the consequences are the result of God’s rewards and punishments. But they fail to explain why the innocent ones suffer. If the innocent ones are punished by God, it implies that God is an unjust judge.  But a change of the metaphor gives us a radically different picture. If we see the world as a family with God as the father or mother, and all the people as God’s children, then even God suffers the consequences of the irresponsible actions of the human beings. This metaphor explains why even the innocent ones suffer.

This leads us to the question of what we can do to alleviate the suffering in the world. We see how the irresponsible and childish behavior of Adam and Eve led to suffering. They should not be our role models. We need to act responsibly knowing that our actions have consequences. Let us be mature, not childish. Their childishness led them break an agreement with God. Even after committing this misdeed, they are not willing to take responsibility for their misdeed. They try to place the responsibility on somebody else. Let us not follow their example. If we happen to commit a misdeed, we need to take its responsibility and apologize right away. Thus we can save our relationships from breaking away.

Esther: Can we argue that all the suffering in the world is caused by the irresponsible actions of human beings.

Rabbi: I don’t think so. The natural calamities such as floods, fires, and earthquakes may not be caused by the actions of human beings. There are people who believe that natural calamities are sent by God as a punishment to human beings, but this belief doesn’t sound sensible to me.

Whatever causes sufferings, it seems that we can turn them to our advantage. It seems that our world is meant to be a world of suffering in contrast to how we imagine heaven, where there is no suffering. We complain about the suffering in the world because we expect it to be a world without any suffering. Perhaps our world is meant to be a training ground for us—like the one where the soldiers get trained. Each time we face a hardship, we get stronger and gain more survival skills. Can you imagine what kind of people we would be if we happened to grow in a world without any suffering at all? We would be good-for-nothing fellows. Heaven is a place of grown-up people; they are already mature and fully grown. It is not a place for growing up. Our world is the place for growing up.

Looking at our world this way, it is not such a bad place. In spite of all the suffering here, this is a wonderful place of great opportunity to grow. Let us be thankful for being here each day of our life, and make the maximum use of this opportunity by growing up as much as we can. I imagine that the people in heaven are probably jealous of us here. In spite of all the comforts they enjoy in heaven, they don’t have this opportunity to grow up in heaven.

Esther: Let me summarize what I have learned today. Ours is a world of suffering in contrast to how we imagine heaven, a world without any suffering. A lot of the sufferings are caused by natural calamities, but the others are caused by the childish and irresponsible actions of human beings. We need to learn to be mature and responsible so that we won’t cause suffering. Also we need to face sufferings with a positive mindset and turn them to our advantage. This world of sufferings gives us the great opportunity to grow up. Instead of complaining about the sufferings here, we need to be thankful for this opportunity, and make the maximum use of our stay here.

It was such an eye-opening discussion that the world looked different by the end of our meeting. 


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