What Is Suffering? Why Psychotherapy? (part 1)
In the fifth century before the common era, the Historical Buddha taught the world about the commonalities of human suffering. In essence, all human beings suffer in the same and in very predicable ways; such that no matter who you are, where you were born, when you were born, what God you worship or what culture you were raised in – if you are a human being, you will suffer in these ways: 1. Birth 2. Aging 3. Sickness 4. Death 5. Unfortunate Circumstances Beyond Your Control 6. Separation from People, Places, and Things You Desire 7. Impermanence It is useful to walk through these sufferings to make them more readily apparent to you. We begin, of course, with birth. All humans are born. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 250,000 people will be born this very day. All of us begin in the uterus, enveloped in warmth and darkness, with all of our needs being automatically met. We are then forced, through violent muscle contractions, into a world that is illumi...