Even when I was ten, I worried constantly about the suffering in the world, but other people didn’t seem worried, and they told me to stop worrying so much. That’s why Buddhism fascinates me. It was the one thing I encountered that didn’t tell me that someone else will take care of it and it will all just be OK.
Instead, it told me, yes, there’s suffering. And if you do what must be done, you can resolve it. DO THAT! Do it now!
In Buddhism, there is no unseen superhero you can pray to who will swoop in and take all your suffering away. In a very real sense, Buddhism is the study of causality of suffering. You investigate what causes suffering and, consequently, how to “uncause” it. Like any investigation, the first thing you have to do is to honestly face the facts, which in this case means recognizing suffering. So, if you were worried and depressed about suffering, that is due to your courage and integrity. Now be sure to have enough courage and integrity to go beyond worry and depression. By facing the problem, find the solution.
Fortunately, honestly facing a big problem does not have to be unpleasant if there is a pleasant solution. The Buddha taught an effective path to complete liberation from suffering, and it includes increasingly refined experiences of joyful mental states. For that reason, honestly facing profound suffering turns out to be a great thing. Not only does it motivate you to reach the end goal of total liberation, the path itself includes one experience of inner joy after another.
Activities
