Asking Why and How Much…

In facing or anticipating our suffering, we cannot take recourse in anything. The only thing that helps is humility in the face of the unknown and in our lack of magnitude. When we do this, we chance upon the knowledge that we can only accept the odds that are against us, so to speak. While we assume that the odds really are, we might glimpse design even in our pain. But our smallness bounces back and we cannot see anything except the prospect of our pain. And that does not have to be anything to be ashamed of. However, in all likelihood, we keep asking why and how much more pain is in store for us. Humility in our smallness really means that we can never know.

The only thing that brings some solace is fully and irrevocably accepting this. If we persist in asking why and how much, we hurt ourselves. And thinking that we can know is really arrogance. We are flesh and bone, subject to the vagaries of something as little as the ground we happen to walk upon, not to mention fellow beings and the elements. That we can have moments of peace or perhaps even joy and happiness is really enough of an endowment. We cannot ask for more.

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