Suffering

If one denies suffering, i.e., a greater purpose for suffering, he removes one weight—the lighter weight of the suffering itself—and in turn places the heavier burden of nothingness upon himself. All life tends towards death, nothingness.

And the cousins of these feelings of nothingness are skepticism, bitterness, and despair.

The one who subscribes to nothingness may not be a skeptic, bitter, or in despair, but the problem of suffering forces that one to become as such. This is because if all of life ends with a final breath, then everything between that first and last breath is judged by how happy we are. Suffering—deep, sorrowful, lasting suffering—is a sign of the end, and approach to nothingness.

Perhaps this is why Christ says that "my yoke is easy and my burden light" (Mt 11:30). He was ridiculed, tortured, and nailed to a tree—abandoned—and yet he says this still?

The one who suffers may be sorrowful or may have some joy because he understands that suffering has its place (in retrospect). He, therefore, bears his suffering, he feels his suffering more deeply, and moves forward—even if he trudges.

For the one who denies suffering, who sees all human suffering as a sign of nothingness, of random cruelty, is likely one who sees life as an endless cycle of suffering. There is no purpose to unjust suffering—and thus when they suffer themselves they tend to flee and hate suffering.

The one who rests in his suffering does not rest there forever. The one who flees suffering is forever a fugitive.