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The following reflections of suffering come out of some recent reflections that my wife
Angela and I have been making. These are informed both by our recollections of a Day of
Reflection on this topic, which was held many years ago in Wolverhampton and led by
Sister Ishpriya and also from our own personal lived experience.
Throughout history, in all cultures and Faith Traditions, people have questioned
the why and how of suffering. The reasons for and causes and meaning of,
suffering is for most, a difficult issue and there are no easy or ready answers.
Some of our difficulty could be caused by our, all too human, tendency to search
for ‘sense’ but to paraphrase Frankl (a famous Austrian Psychologist) ‘If we seek
sense we often find non-sense. It is much better to seek meaning. Perhaps this
search for meaning can only begin when we take up our responsibility for our life
and its choices. Doing this could lead us on to face one area of suffering where
we have a direct input and direct responsibility .and this is the whole area of
‘man’s inhumanity to man’.
The Holocaust is often used to argue the futility of Faith and Religion in the face
of suffering. One of the greatest psychologists of the 20th Century was Viktor
Frankl, a Jew from Vienna. He survived four concentration camps, including
Auschwitz. He was a man who had survived death at least 4 times as he stood in
the queue for the Ovens. So he certainly understood the awfulness of man’s
inhumanity to man. The following is an extract from his book ‘Man’s Search for
Ultimate Meaning’ He argues about the real meaning of faith and belief in God,
a belief which he argues that cannot ‘be imposed’ on people and reflects of the
impact of the Holocaust. He first outlines his understanding of belief and
faith and then, drawing on his professional and personal life, he
addresses how faith responds to suffering – and particularly the suffering
Auschwitz.
So perhaps we could reflect on these words from Viktor Frankl, a man who
experienced evil, an evil that caused so much pain and suffering.
Just believe’ we are told ‘and everything will be OK’. But alas, not only is this
order based on a distortion of any sound concept of a God, but even more
important it is doomed to failure. Obviously there are certain activities that simply
cannot be commanded, demanded or ordered. You cannot order anyone to laugh
– if you want him to laugh, you must tell him a joke. And if you want people to
have faith and belief in God, you cannot rely on preaching along the lines of a
particular church, but must, in the first place, portray your God believably – and
you must act credibly yourself. In other words ,, you have to do the very opposite
of what so often is done by representatives of organised religion when they build
up an image of God as someone who is primarily interested in being believed in
and who rigourously insists that those who believe in him be affiliated with a
particular church. Small wonder that such representatives of religion behave as
though they saw the main task of their own denomination as that of overriding
other denominations
Religion did not even die at Auschwitz, nor “after Auschwitz”, to allude to the
title of a book that was authored by a rabbi (who incidentally had not been there).
I personally think that either belief in God is unconditional or it is not belief at all.
If it is unconditional it will stand and face the fact that six million died in the Nazi
Holocaust, if it is not unconditional it will fall away if only a single innocent child
has to die …. .
The truth is that among those who actually went through the experience of
Auschwitz, the number of those whose religious life was deepened- in spite, not
to say because, of this experience- by far exceeded the number of those who
gave up their belief. To paraphrase what was once said about the effect that
separation has on love, one might say that just as the small fire is extinguished
by the storm while a large fire is enhanced by it- likewise a weak faith is
weakened by predicaments and catastrophes whereas a strong faith is
strengthened by them Viktor Frankl
Now Frankl was an Austrian Jew. He came from a Tradition that not only has
suffered much but also has ‘struggled’ with the concept of suffering and how this
impacts on their relationship (Covenant) with God. Whereas, I , an Irish Catholic,
come from a Celtic Culture which respects and honours death and whose
people also have suffered , albeit not as much as the Jews. Thus I feel that
Frankl’s words could be helpful to peoples of different Faith Traditions or none.
Because, they come from a lived experience of suffering – a suffering caused by
one of the greatest acts of man’s in humanity to man. Yet Frankl, like Nelson
Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, could rise above his culture, ethnicity and
religion, and reach out with compassion, forgiveness and understanding to their
oppressors.
For me, this brings me back to the essential message of Jesus the Christ, the
Master I try to follow. Like many other great Teachers, he taught by his example
and for Christians He embodies, and is, God’s example to us on how to live a
compassionate life .He had a breath of vision as wide as his compassionate
heart. He reached out to all, regardless of gender, class, position or religion.
Sadly, over the past two millennia, so many of his followers have failed to follow
this example. So Lent continues to provide us with the opportunity to ‘repent’ – to
turn around and change and begin to play our part towards ‘building a planetary
vision and a universal heart’ and thus reducing suffering in our world.