#suffering

That which should distinguish the suffering of believers from unbelievers is the confidence that our suffering is under the control of an all-powerful and all-loving God. Our suffering has meaning and purpose in God's eternal plan, and He brings or allows to come into our lives only that which is for His glory and our good. ↗

— Jerry Bridges

#suffering #life

I was beginning to think that in life there might be some suffering that was worth enduring. ↗

— Ingrid Betancourt

#life

Desire is suffering. A simple equation, and a nice catchphrase. But flipped around, it is more troubling: suffering is desire. ↗

— Charles Yu

#suffering #science

The Buddha taught that all life is suffering. We might also say that life, being both attractive and constantly dangerous, is intoxicating and ultimately toxic. 'Toxic' comes from toxicon, Pendell tells us, with a root meaning of 'a poisoned arrow.' All organic life is struck by the arrows of real and psychic poisons. This is understood by any true, that is to say, not self-deluding, spiritual path. ↗

— Gary Snyder

#spirituality #suffering #life

Everywhere I looked, hope existed - but only as some kind of green shoot in the midst of struggle. It was a theological concept, not a spiritual practice. Hope, I began to realize, was not a state of life. It was at best a gift of life. ↗

— Joan D. Chittister

#struggle #suffering #life

I had to wonder what sadistic pleasure and entertainment human suffering must provide to the divine game players who decided the fate of their pawns in a board game they made of life. ↗

— Clyde Dsouza

#life-lessons #life-philosophy #memories-with-maya #suffering-of-humanity #transhumanism

Learn the discipline of being surprised not by suffering but by joy. As we grow old, there is suffering ahead of us, immense suffering, a suffering that will continue to tempt us to think that we have chosen the wrong road. But don't be surprised by pain. Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and be surprised by the immense healing power that keeps bursting forth like springs of fresh water from the depth of our pain. ↗

— Henri Nouwen

#joy #pain #suffering #water #beauty

It is singularity which often makes the worst part of our suffering, as it always does of our conduct. ↗

— Jane Austen

#lady-russell #life-lessons #singularity #suffering #life

The healing power of even the most microscopic exchange with someone who knows in a flash precisely what you're talking about because she experienced that thing too cannot be overestimated. ↗

— Cheryl Strayed

#healing #love #miscarriage #solidarity #suffering

Sometimes it takes great suffering to pierce the soul and open it up to greatness ↗

— Jocelyn Murray

#greatness #loss #love #pain #soul