Suffering: A Silent Scourge - Essay Example

We see around us that apart from humans, all living creatures suffer in one way or other, from hunger and pain, cold and heat, disease, and deprivation, oppression, and exploitation. Mental agony or psychological disorders is another major cause of suffering that humanity tries to reckon with day after day. Albert Schweitzer called pain "the most terrible of all the lords of mankind." (UCLA, 1998). Naturalists believe in the evolution of life as a random process, and deny that anything exists outside of matter.

As a corollary, they also do not concede any distinction between humankind and the animal kingdom, considering man as a mere part of nature. (Leaderu.com, 2005). The naturalist is unwilling to assign any moral purpose in life or to distinguish between absolute good and bad. Accordingly, a naturalist perspective does not see any specific cause or purpose behind the occurrence of suffering in the world, except a natural process that applies to humans and animals alike. The theists in general and the Judeo-Christian world view in particular, on the contrary, are convinced that God created life, and there is much more than what the eye perceives in the matter.

This view also believes that man is a very special creation of God with a distinctive status, and he is bound by the moral truth as contained in the Scriptures. Suffering and death came into this world through the sin of man, and liberation from it lies in returning to God. Oriental philosophy accounts for suffering as an action-reaction process explained by the term karma. Humanism also assigns special status to mankind, as distinct from other living beings, and accordingly believes in social responsibility to alleviate the sufferings of our neighbors.

It also calls upon humankind not to inflict suffering upon other people. Certain other extreme humanistic viewpoints such as the Buddhist edicts prohibit humankind from even causing suffering to any other creature on this earth. Suffering, in the medical world, is explained as a neurological phenomenon that causes the experience of painful sensations in the mind of the sufferer. Alleviation of suffering is therefore attempted through an external intervention such as anesthesia and the use of pain-killers, etc.

Human misery is compounded time and again by man-made causes such as war and terrorism, and natural calamities such as floods and famines, earthquakes and tornadoes, storms and hurricanes, fires and explosions, plagues and pestilences. We often wonder as to why God permits such things to occur and devastate the people with immense suffering. David Pack (or call it everyman) questions: "The world is filled with suffering of every kind. Countless millions know little else. Yet God allows it. Why has He not stopped the terrible suffering that afflicts so many Is there a reason God has not intervened Does suffering have a great unseen purpose that can be understood" (2005).