By Stephen Russell-Lacy.
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We find around us misfortune and misery. What causes some people to have horrible experiences and pain whilst others escape this fate? Innocent people can be the victims of tragic circumstances. Here are some possible answers offered from the perspective of Swedenborg’s spiritual philosophy.
Unfairly blaming the victim
People can unfairly jump to conclusions, blaming all victims of misfortune for their suffering. According to this attitude, the deformed, the poor, or the afflicted are somehow inferior. The individual is then seen as somehow deserving of their fate. This attitude is often very unfair.
However, you might agree that, in certain cases, the individual can at times bring trouble on himself or herself. There can be dire consequences when one makes mistakes, acts foolishly, shows wilful recklessness or engages in self-harm.
Worldly attachments as a cause of suffering
Our general medical condition affects our risk of becoming unwell. We can’t do much about growing older. However, we can make ourselves more at risk of disease. Several examples come to mind. One is failing to wash properly. Another is eating food to excess. Others are having an entirely sedentary lifestyle, smoking and drinking over-the-top amounts of alcohol.
Some of us try to take our minds off our difficulties by craving instant pleasure. We suffer the consequences of doing things to excess, for example, engaging in ‘retail therapy’, binge eating, or getting drunk. Other examples of worldly attachments are compulsive gambling, drug abuse or sex addiction. Sensory distraction may give an immediate lift, but the sensation does not last. Quickly we want the next drink or another cake. We indulge our senses and set up a thirst for more: and suffer ill-health as a result.
One element of Buddhism involves viewing an attachment to the world and its pleasures as the cause of pain. I understand that according to this view, suffering comes when one forgets guidelines for living. Problems get worse when we remain devoted to what we naturally desire. The codes to follow are to do with the rightness of our understanding, commitment, speech, action, livelihood, effort, etc.
There is a similar ethical perspective on suffering in the books of spiritual philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg. It is to do with prioritising possessions or bodily pleasures. Then, he writes, we create a block to receiving inner happiness from our spiritual source.
Inter-personal attachments as a cause of suffering
Another example of bringing problems upon ourselves is how we form attachments to others.
“We have all met people who are stuck in relationships that they seem to be able neither to settle in nor give up. Confusing emotions can be difficult to fathom and such situations tend to take a while or a long time to be resolved.“ (Caroline Brazier, author of Buddhist Psychology)
Negative self-attitudes as a cause of suffering
Constantly put yourself down, and you will suffer anxiety and depression. We can do this if we repeatedly engage in self-defeating talk like ‘I’m not good enough’. Then we will likely have personal problems as a result. Lasting and unrealistic attitudes towards what happens to us probably badly affect our health, happiness and well-being.
People doing thoughtless things as a cause of suffering.
Careless driving sometimes results in road accidents with serious bodily injury and death. I recently heard about a young man who sadly can never work again after a car crash. He was the passenger when the driver had been asleep at the wheel.
I remember many years ago once driving too fast with my father as a passenger in the car. We were going to a sports event. The light was poor. I was so keen to overtake another car that I hadn’t noticed the dip in the road. It was hiding the approach of an oncoming vehicle. How we avoided a serious crash I will never know. My family would have suffered a double horrendous blow due to my dangerous driving.
The individual can suffer adversity and sometimes suffer terribly when someone else takes their selfish conduct too far. I’m thinking for example of conduct to do with financial greed, pride, vanity, and showing off. Also the desire to get one’s own way. Selfishness usually involves self-justification and the use of irrational argument. Perhaps we all are too weak at times to resist these attitudes rather than following higher principles of living.
Criminal behaviour as a cause of suffering
Extreme examples of self-centred actions are crimes of robbery with violence, murder and rape.
All types of child abuse have a devastating emotional aspect that can do long-term psychological damage. This is especially the case if the offender was a person whom the child should have been able to trust. Those adults who are willing to exploit the weak can so easily take advantage of the simple outlook of children. They tell the child lies from the position of authority, combine abuse with giving attention, threaten punishment and so on.
“Those in whom self-love reigns are such as despise others in comparison with themselves; they hate whoever shows them no favour, fails to serve them, and does not in a way worship them; and they take a cruel delight in revenge and in depriving others of position, reputation, wealth, and life.” (E. Swedenborg Arcana Coelestia 2057:4)
Natural disasters made worse by human thoughtlessness
People might unfairly suffer from earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis that come out of the blue. They lose their livelihoods, their homes, their families or even their lives. Some endure great hardship and misery.
We may blame fate for nature badly damaging their homes. But public bodies could do more. They could prevent housing development on flood plains or near mountains with a record of a volcanic eruption. Developers could construct buildings to better withstand earth tremors, fire or dampness. Likewise, politicians could produce policies with real teeth. They could stop the thoughtless dumping of toxic waste, thus reducing the cause of cancer.
Famine can strike at unexpected times. But society could store more food during times of plenty and share it out more fairly during times of shortage.
Nature plays a role in diseases. This is in line with the presence of harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites in the environment. However, social and political decisions can also contribute to disease. One example is not stopping poor sanitation where harmful microbes can breed. Also, not preventing the extreme poverty that causes vulnerable people to be malnourished. In addition, funding only inadequate provision of health care to treat the sick.
Natural disaster as a cause of suffering
Swedenborg had many inner experiences of what we might call the ‘spirit world’ which is hidden from our bodily senses. According to his testimony it consist of human beings both dead and alive. In this hidden dimension of consciousness, people are said to differ. Some have selfish vices whilst others unselfish virtues. I’m interested in what he wrote about a correspondence between this veiled ‘spirit world’ and the world of nature which we do see around us. In other words, we can learn deeper lessons from the natural world. We speak of enlightenment and warmth of affection. Also of being in the dark or having being cold-hearted. So physical states of light and heat reflect the reality of spiritual states.
However, in his spiritual philosophy, Swedenborg goes further. You may feel somewhat startled if first coming across his position. It is that there is an inflow of energy and form from the ‘spirit world’ into the natural world. So that for example beauty found in nature not only reflects, but is caused by, what is good in the spiritual world. Likewise, according to this theory, what is ugly in nature not only reflects, but is caused by, what is bad in the spiritual world – a general condition he calls ‘hell’.
We can apply this theory to what we know about the natural world. If so then the ultimate cause of disease and natural catastrophe would be a general selfish malevolence present as one part of the spirit of human consciousness. We know there are innocent victims caught up in natural disasters through no fault of their own.
“Nothing whatever happens in the physical world that does not find its cause and therefore its origin in the spiritual world and that what is good comes from the Lord and what is evil comes from …hell. ‘The spiritual world’ means both heaven and hell.” (Emanuel Swedenborg)
According to this approach, a nasty part of the hidden world of spirit influences the material world. This extreme condition of selfishness has terrible consequences. It results in tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, and earthquakes.
Perhaps the fallen disordered spiritual state of human beings results in a fallen disordered state of nature.
Summary
Generally speaking, the cause of suffering seems to be neglect and foolishness associated with human self-centredness.
This state of mind can sometimes be in the individual who is suffering. It can sometimes be in the attitudes of others that cause the individual to suffer. Also, it can be in humanity as a whole.
It is shown in wilful thoughtlessness, harmful relationships, unethical conduct, unrealistic negative attitudes, and worldly attachments. Also it is shown in nature with its disease, and decay.
In other words, we reap what we sow: the mistakes and wrong choices we make in this life. But we also unfairly reap what other people sow: people around us who do us harm.
And we also unfairly reap what is sown by those who lived in the past. This is so if Swedenborg is correct in claiming that they still exert a corrupting and malignant influence in the world today.
“It is human spiritual disorders like lust, vengeance, cruelty and oppression that incubate disease and misfortune.” (Bruce Henderson, Swedenborgian writer)
Why doesn’t the power of love stop suffering? Perhaps part of the answer is that suffering is not without its useful function. This question is explored in another post asking whether life is futile because of innocent suffering.
Copyright 2022 Stephen Russell-Lacy
Author of Heart, Head & Hands Swedenborg’s perspective on emotional problems
