Page 262 - Nursing: The Philosophy and Science of Caring

Hu ma n ExPE ri En cEs: HE a l t H , HE a l in g , a n d C ar i t a s N ur s iN g
Don’t pretend to know
something you haven’t experienced.
There’s a necessary dying. . . .
Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up
where you are. You’ve been
stony for too many years. Try something different. Surrender.
Jalaluddin rumi

BetteriNg our uNderstaNdiNg of HumaN sufferiNg:
HelpiNg to traNsform its meaNiNg
It is widely held that to be human is to suffer. All major religions and
wisdom traditions and text deal with suffering in one way or another.
One of our human tasks at the individual and collective level[s] is to
make meaning of our own suffering. We take it from the abstract con-
cept into our daily lives, when and where we are actually witnessing
and experiencing our own and others’ real, overt suffering.
However, we also know from our human experiences that we can
find new meanings and we seek meaning to assist us when we are
most vulnerable, fearful, and “suffering” the slings and arrows known
as life. It seems we learn through the deeply personal encounters with
suffering that we learn we can’t go around life, we have to go through
the experience in order to not only survive, but to thrive, to sustain a
sense of hope for continued existence, living.
We also are informed both by our experiences and testing of how
to live, as well as by our sacred texts for how to live, that as long as we
adhere to a fixed, solid, physical dimension as all there is to life, then
we are locked into concrete psyche and physical pain. Tolle (1999), in
his contemporary writings as well as ancient Buddhist texts, reminds
us that all suffering is ego-centered and due to resistance. For example,
the Buddhist’s basic philosophy was considered with inner transforma-
tion by achieving insight into the “Four Noble Truths” of Buddhism
(Solomon and Higgins 1997:19):

1. Life is suffering.
2. Suffering arises from selfish craving.
3. Selfish craving can be eliminated.
4. One can eliminate selfish craving by following the right way.

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