I began listening to a book today which I’ve always known existed, but was afraid to read: Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s, Man’s Search For Meaning. As a survivor of Nazi death camps, he documents lessons for spiritual survival. He tells us that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. He writes that we can make a victory of any experience by seeing it as an opportunity and a challenge. There was an “ah-ha-moment” for him when he was lamenting a number of things going on around him, and suddenly he realized he could rise above the moment and see it as if it was already past. He suddenly saw himself on a stage, well-fed and comfortable, talking to a crowd of people about the psychology of a concentration camp. He saw his experience as an opportunity to learn about the psychological journey he was on, and convey that message to others. He quotes Spinoza: “Emotion, which is suffering, ceases to be suffering as soon as we form a clear and precise picture of it.” I’m reminded of another philosopher who said: Let it Be!
“Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sackcloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-winged dove descending upon you. The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.”
Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 574:25-30
“The miracle teaches you that you have chosen guiltlessness, freedom and joy. It is not a cause, but an effect. It is the natural result of choosing right, attesting to your happiness that comes from choosing to be free of guilt. Everyone you offer healing to returns it. Everyone you attack keeps it and cherishes it by holding it against you. Whether he does this or does it not will make no difference; you will think he does. It is impossible to offer what you do not want without this penalty. The cost of giving is receiving. Either it is a penalty from which you suffer, or the happy purchase of a treasure to hold dear.”
A Course in Miracles T-14.III.5:1-9
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