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Daily Question, March 8

What helps me to see beauty even when there is suffering?

  • Dawn Noel

    This sanctuary and community help immensely with that and so many other things. Thank you for being here and so generously sharing your hearts.

  • GCharlotte

    The family of Abraham & Mary help me see the beauty when there is suffering.

  • reality
    First, "beauty is where you find it", a quote from the Madonna School of Knowledge. I see mostly beauty, though, of course, when I see notseeism or totalitarianism I see what's ugly about it- yet, never allow myself to define it so. Most of the time the person suffering is nearer to God than most; lower-middle-class to poor, disenfranchised, etc., and doesn't have the ugliness of avarice, superiority, decadence, etc.; and they are more grateful, thankful than most for the most common of human ...

    First, “beauty is where you find it”, a quote from the Madonna School of Knowledge. I see mostly beauty, though, of course, when I see notseeism or totalitarianism I see what’s ugly about it- yet, never allow myself to define it so. Most of the time the person suffering is nearer to God than most; lower-middle-class to poor, disenfranchised, etc., and doesn’t have the ugliness of avarice, superiority, decadence, etc.; and they are more grateful, thankful than most for the most common of human relations, emotions, like someone being a good listener, caring, empathetic, compassionate, patient, steadfast, etc.. As well, I would think that most anyone who studies spirituality, religion, etc., really, would glimpse, glean the person’s higher power, or studies of a like nature within them; which are truly beautiful- suffering does not hide a life truly lived. Thanks for all you All do; and have a great day 🙂 reality

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  • Malag

    I struggle with this one. It’s hard.

  • Blessings on Blessings

    Like a child who falls, I wonder if I am going to suffer, later.
    Sometimes the pain decides for you and I have to see the best in things.

  • Drew Blanton

    My faith. It says the sufferers are created by God, and He doesn’t create anything that’s ugly. If the suffering’s ugly, the sufferers made it ugly.

  • Tahsin Tabassum

    when I see their smiling faces

  • Dusty Su
    For me, it’s the in the love that remains, both in the receiving and giving of it. It’s the baptizing of personal pain through the lens of “How can this pain lovingly serve my soul, then in turn serve others? ” Usually, after much processing, a bridge of understanding is built for other’s pain through my experiences of it. If I can find meaning, or simply acceptance that there may be no obvious meaning, that can bring beauty. I teach caregivers for those in end of life that it’s inev...

    For me, it’s the in the love that remains, both in the receiving and giving of it. It’s the baptizing of personal pain through the lens of “How can this pain lovingly serve my soul, then in turn serve others? ” Usually, after much processing, a bridge of understanding is built for other’s pain through my experiences of it. If I can find meaning, or simply acceptance that there may be no obvious meaning, that can bring beauty. I teach caregivers for those in end of life that it’s inevitable we will take other’s sorrow with us. But, in order to reduce burnout, while with those we care for and then again before leaving the person, to mindfully, compassionately leave our love as being bigger than their sorrow. Never denying their sorrow, but in our helplessness and inability to solve or cure, we can love, and if only for us, the love being bigger is a powerful bolster to deal with possible trauma.

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  • Jennifer L. Wyatt
    I would agree that beauty and suffering are very closely related. Sometimes I am only able to see the beauty, I let go of the suffering. I love water and I am able to relax and rest when I am near the ocean or I am on at a place near a lake where I can hear the waves coming into the shore. Looking at the stars at night has helped me to realize what a small dot I am compared to the vastness of the universe. Suffering for me lately is grief turned outwards. I allow myself to mourn my losses and s...

    I would agree that beauty and suffering are very closely related. Sometimes I am only able to see the beauty, I let go of the suffering. I love water and I am able to relax and rest when I am near the ocean or I am on at a place near a lake where I can hear the waves coming into the shore. Looking at the stars at night has helped me to realize what a small dot I am compared to the vastness of the universe. Suffering for me lately is grief turned outwards. I allow myself to mourn my losses and slowly move into acceptance of what is. March 8, 2020.

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  • Elizabeth M Jones

    God speaks to us in countless ways. A little flower that was blooming very close to a drainpipe once reminded me that God kept me and gave me a place to make a stand and to bloom in the difficult situation that I found myself in.

  • Cailinrua
    Again, a tricky one. It depends. The person suffering may have no space for beauty, just managing the pain. The person suffering may need beauty or hope if it is offered, just to survive (I think of the residents of Leningrad who during that 900-day siege when they were starving, frozen, with dead bodies lying in the street, turned to the music of Shostakovich for a glimmer of something different). If one has a good practice (Buddhist, for example), one learns that beauty and suffering co-...

    Again, a tricky one. It depends. The person suffering may have no space for beauty, just managing the pain. The person suffering may need beauty or hope if it is offered, just to survive (I think of the residents of Leningrad who during that 900-day siege when they were starving, frozen, with dead bodies lying in the street, turned to the music of Shostakovich for a glimmer of something different). If one has a good practice (Buddhist, for example), one learns that beauty and suffering co-exist in life and that suffering is to be expected in life.
    But for me, the ability to see and fully accept this would require deep practice and I have not put in the time or the effort. . Other faiths have different ways of presenting the paradox and if one has been trained in that faith then it’s easier (I suspect) to see beauty and suffering. are life.

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  • TeriB

    The kindness of others. I am seeing this first hand as my hometown suffered a devastating tornado earlier this week. When all hope was thought to be lost, countless neighbors, friends, family, strangers, athletes, county music stars, songwriters, businesses from near and far came together as one to offer assistance.

  • Mica

    The beauty itself. I remember biking thru my neighborhood, long ago, and being uplifted by a pot of yellow daffodills by someone’s front door.

  • Michele

    Just look for it! Nature is everywhere.

  • Antoinette
    Deep suffering has taught me that wellbeing is also present. You can’t have one without the other. Sometimes it may seem that suffering is never going to end but nothing lasts forever. The truth is that everything is in constant change. The present moment helps us to see the truth of relative truth and ultimate truth. Residing in there here and the now helps me to stay connected to joy and happiness. A good practitioner can evoke both joy and happiness within themselves in order to see thems...

    Deep suffering has taught me that wellbeing is also present. You can’t have one without the other. Sometimes it may seem that suffering is never going to end but nothing lasts forever. The truth is that everything is in constant change.
    The present moment helps us to see the truth of relative truth and ultimate truth. Residing in there here and the now helps me to stay connected to joy and happiness. A good practitioner can evoke both joy and happiness within themselves in order to see themselves through the darkness.

    Read More
  • Katrina

    “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”― Fred Rogers…For me, I see beauty in those who are caring for or are instruments of peace and grace for the suffering.

    • Palm

      Yes, that is the beauty: the helpers. I’ll write this down too

    • Thanks Katrina, “looking for helpers” is a very comforting quote. I don’t know Fred Rogers but his words are a kind of help offered to people looking for.

    • Pilgrim

      Thank you, Katrina, and for the words of Fred Rogers. “Look for the helpers” … I am writing this in my journal.

  • Trish

    There is a real beauty in resiliency. In the middle of chaos there is a thread of hope for things to change & glimmers of joy.

  • Cathy
    Should I see beauty where there is suffering? Why? Will looking for beauty when there is suffering somehow gloss over the complexity of feelings of those who are suffering? Could that bring a sense of invalidation to the suffering? The suffering already experience isolation. Does instructing them to search for beauty in their suffering lend them companionship, or further isolate them when they are unable to find beauty? Can we befriend the suffering by simply sitting with them, witn...

    Should I see beauty where there is suffering?

    Why?
    Will looking for beauty when there is suffering somehow gloss over the complexity of feelings of those who are suffering?
    Could that bring a sense of invalidation to the suffering?

    The suffering already experience isolation.
    Does instructing them to search for beauty in their suffering lend them companionship, or further isolate them when they are unable to find beauty?

    Can we befriend the suffering by simply sitting with them, witnessing what they are going through without trying to find beauty because honestly, somtimes there is none.

    Acceptance can be a beautiful thing.

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    • Present Moment

      Seeing beauty is simply acknowledging in the middle of pain that I am alive. Being alive is beautiful.
      Nothing in the question mentioned counseling others.

      • Cathy

        These were deep thoughts about suffering that I’ve been dealing with lately. The question was helpful, to be able to write out what has been on my heart in this safe zone, expecting no judgment or rebuke.

    • Cathy, I am close to a mother in a deep pain for her daughter, not a matter of health, something I dare say worst.
      She can not see beauty in the circumstance she is living, you are right and I too belive that nobody could find some beauty in what she is living.
      She opens the doors of her pain, and when I am aware that she need to speak, I stay with her, i listen to her, And I am moved to tears with her.

  • Ose

    Again I feel to try to be balanced and grateful with an open heart, it is leaving space for both caring with the suffering and feeling joy with the beauty all around, which coexists wherever I turn my eyes and my heart to. The knowing that all this is embedded in an unlimited Heart makes me feel humble towards all.

  • Kevin

    Sometimes it’s very hard to keep appreciating beauty when there’s so much suffering going on. But that’s also the more reason why we desperately need all the beauty that there is, and to see it, appreciate it and breathe it into our beings.

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