It’s a wonder how today people suffer despite the fact that affording basic needs is not a problem for many of us, especially if you are reading this post. In the ancient times, the lack of food and shelter was the primary type of suffering, but today we suffer, yet these things are not hard for most of us to get.
Therefore, I believe that today, besides physical suffering, a large percentage of suffering is self-created because we are the main source of our problems. In this article, I’ll show you four reasons why we suffer.
1. We want more than enough
Most of us suffer because we want things that do not add value to our lives. We have a roof over our heads and enough money for us to work on our passion, but surprisingly, we are sad, because we do not have some luxurious gadgets that never add value to our lives.
The media, through movies, music, and advertisements have lied to us that our happiness depends on the number of things we own.
This lie has made people, who have enough money to be richer than half of the world’s population, to believe that they are inadequate, just because they do not own the luxuries that the rich and famous possess.
This feeling of inadequacy has led to mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety, hence resulting in suffering.
In addition, we fail to understand that we don’t have to worry about possessing luxurious products because the only thing we have to do is to work hard, and these things shall follow.
2. Attachment to the ungraspable
Another factor that results in our suffering is attaching ourselves to temporary things such as our material possessions.
Most of us attach ourselves deeply to our material possessions because we love them so much. We fail to realise the fact that these things are temporary. For instance, they are vulnerable to theft or destruction, and so we can lose them anytime.
We are not conscious of the fact that identifying ourselves with these possessions ensures that we suffer. For instance, you fail to realise that the frustration that arises after losing your phone occurs because you have identified yourself with the gadget.
Therefore, to avoid suffering we must release our attachments to temporary things and only identify ourselves with the divine intelligence, which is a permanent source of wealth and happiness.
3. Not realising that the source of creation dwells in us
Most of us believe that we are physical beings without any value on this earth. We fail to realise that we are spiritual beings living in human bodies and that we are Gods because the divine intelligence exists in us.
We do not realise that the divine intelligence in us is what takes part in enabling our bodies to perform bodily functions such as digestion, breathing, or blood circulation.
If we reflect on the fact that the divine intelligence exists in us, we will never suffer our hardships because we will realise that we have the power to overcome all the challenges that life throws at us. This knowledge also ensures that we are free from suffering because it makes us realise that we have enough wisdom in life to deal with our circumstances.
Therefore, we have to realise that we are Gods and that the problems we face only appear as problems because we ignore the fact that Creator’s spirit exists in us. Therefore, what appears as a problem must not make you suffer because it is nothing compared to who we are.
4. Comparing ourselves to others
Today, most of us love comparing ourselves with others, hence bringing stress in our lives because there are some people who will always be better than us.
For instance, no matter how much money you earn, there will always be some friends who will be making a higher amount than you. Also, No matter how good looking you are, there are always be people who are more good-looking than you.
Comparing ourselves to others also leads to suffering because it makes us care so much about people’s opinions about us.
Therefore, to avoid suffering, we must avoid comparing ourselves with others, and we must only concentrate on checking our progress by assessing where we are today and comparing our current situation with who we were yesterday.
I hope this post helped you understand why we suffer.
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Author: Isaac Wechuli
Isaac Wechuli, a Kenyan entrepreneur, professional research writer, and founder of www.unboundedwisdom.com. He loves sharing ideas related to success, and spirituality, and he also likes enlightening people on the factors that could help them live a happy and successful life.
