Recipe for Reconciling
Human Suffering
Chapter 1: Honest Identification of the Problem
It’s the only constant...
We can count on it, in any number
of forms throughout our individual
and the human life span. It is 100
percent guaranteed, though the
degree, severity, impact and
repercussions will vary. It is nonnegotiable,
out of our control, as
certain as death and taxes.
It is interrupted by short-lived
periods of joy, moments of grace,
and soft reprieves that make it
barely tolerable.
It can always be held to
comparisons of worse or better
variations.
It binds us to guilt for what we
have, to fear of what we might
lose.
It intoxicates us with hope of
what’s to come and cripples us with
envy of others for what we lack.
It meddles with the mind, leaving
little or no room for peace. It
toys with the emotions, exposing us
to layers upon layers of
vulnerability.
It unleashes the poisons of
paranoia and anger by feasting on
steady frustration and bitter
disappointment.
It simultaneously fosters and
annihilates faith.
It rises with the sun and crawls
deep into the day’s length until
night descends and it curls up in
bed with us to taunt our dreams.
It is the ultimate trap and our
only salvation because accepting
it, escaping it, neutralizing it,
loving it, transcending it,
releasing it, embracing it all lead
to one reality...
That it is the only constant...
