Suffering In Bharati Mukherjee's 'The Management'

Today, I am reminded of a saying: “there are places in the heart that do not exist, pain must be so that they may be”. In the past, I reasoned this saying to be a metaphor for compassion…that as we work through our pain, we become more connected and loving toward others. What I discovered is; that introspective examination assigning the meaning to pain and painful events is soul work while the work of connecting and loving others is a good but superficial start.

To further understand how to deal with suffering, one must explore suffering’s origin and what it means to suffer. What is suffering then? “Simply stated, suffering is anything which hurts or irritates” and “covers a wide spectrum; it can be pain or grief even emotional pain on a personal level”

In the world there are around 7.5 billion people, and in at least one fourth of those people have gone through traumatic experience and they have felt even a little bit of guilt. Everybody has felt guilt in their lives even if it was even a minor thing, but the difference is survivor's guilt has a lot more to go on with a person’s state of well being. Many people argue whether survivors of life and death situations should go through survivor's guilt. Some people believe survivors should go through the guilt, others feel they should not have to grough through it. Survivors of life and death situations should go through survivor’s guilt.

Among the personal conditions of human suffering it cannot be cancelled, but only accepted and coped with. (Diehl 36) This source is basically saying that a person cannot just forget about something that pains them, but they can learn how to cope and deal with the issue at hand. Every person copes with their pain and suffering differently, like Sonny in the beginning uses drugs as a coping method and then shortly after he is released from jail he uses music as his method of coping. However, the goal in life is essentially death, but because death is so uncertain and everyone fears it we find ways to escape that feeling by using various ways.

A survivor 's eyes sees purpose to look into a brighter future. When one has a purpose in life it helps them move forward and not just sit around and keep living in a bad circumstance. One can focus on their bad situation a little too much but if one has a purpose to succeed and thrive it helps them change the present and have a better future. Kayla montgomery, a teenager surviving with M.S, has a purpose in life to be a good runner and keep on going even when she falls, she says, “ I 've trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can 't control them and I fall” (Crouse).

Life should be lived to its fullest potential. There are so many joyful experiences in life as well as many sad ones. In Brian Doyle’s Joyas Volardores, Doyle explains that humans instinctively attempt to block themselves from pain. But, he says that this is not how we should live.

Identifying the causes is a very important aspect in each and every situation whether it is good or bad, because when we search for the meaning, it helps us to reflect upon our life and our responsibilities. Pope John Paul II says that “within each form of suffering endured by man, and at the same time at the basis of the whole world of suffering, there inevitably arises the question: Why? It is the question of cause, the reason, and equally, about the purpose of suffering.” Searching for the cause gives the understanding and meaning about suffering.

Hick concludes that the suffering and heartache does not have a purpose of pleasure, but the purpose of growth and “soul making”. The reason that there even is pleasure is for humanity to know what pain feels like and to be able to recognize that it is because humanity is imperfect and so we must learn from it (Hick,

On the contrary, he provides several examples of people who lose the hope of finding the meaning in the suffering and die as a consequence. The fear of unknown becomes the biggest psychological stress of prisoners. They are not provided with the dates of their relief, they do not know the duration of their abuse and its brutality. People who are incapable of determining the end of their circumstances are also unable to detect their main goals of the life. Victor Frankl compares this state of the prisoners with the state of unemployed workers becoming depressed with their life situation and constraining the ability to get a job even further.

"Follow it, and that will be Mara 's bewilderment. Follow it, you put an end to suffering and stress. " 3 Each part of this path is important and necessary, but the very first thing mentioned by the Buddha is right view, which he goes on to explain as "Knowledge of suffering, knowledge of the origin of suffering, knowledge of the cessation of suffering, knowledge of the way leading to the cessation of suffering..." 4 Here, Buddha emphasizes the importance of wisdom about human suffering. Essentially, the path to no more suffering is understanding of suffering, which may only be achieved through extensive meditation and learning over the course of many lives.

It is a convenient and comforting respond to unfortunate and even devastating ‘fate’. The pain becomes bearable to those who suffer because it is all part of a bigger plan, it is more than ‘you’. This concept is also built upon an irrational fundamental attitude, “the surrender of self to the ordering power of society.” (54) The problem of theodicy does not end at that.

leading to stress. It then becomes a question at hand of how we cope with stress and suffering. Different people cope with this in different ways based on their understanding of the problem. Some want to solve it, some want to find its root. All in all, we do not want to turn away from our suffering, but we want to face it and cope

The Human Condition has many components which become apparent in everyone’s lives. Throughout life, people will experience different events that will trigger a new aspect of the Human Condition. Birth, growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict, and mortality contribute to this. There cannot be one without the other. Throughout the texts used, “Dhammapada”, “The Examined Life”, and “The Case for Tragic Optimism”, all the traits have equal importance, but those in the texts had a choice of their attitudes, and with growth, conflict, and mortality, each of the texts explained the Human Condition with these aspects.

“The deep truth is that our human suffering need not be an obstacle to the joy and peace we so desire, but can become, instead, the means to it. The great secret of the spiritual life, the life of the Beloved Sons and daughters of God, is that everything we live, be it gladness or sadness, joy or pain, health or illness, can all be part of the journey toward the full realization of our humanity” Henri

I personally think that suffering helps us to notice and appreciate true happiness. If we did not feel pain, we would not realize how great life is. Aristotle implies we are able to control our happiness in this way. Once we have experienced suffering we know it eventually passes and life carries