The choice which attitude you wish to adopt towards any given experience you meet with in the course of your life is yours. Always. Generalizing the three options available to chose from are: the part of the victim, the perpetrator or the uninvolved, neutral observer.
In the matter of physical illness and suffering the general reaction in people is to see themselves as the victim and thus effectively making themselves one, too. It is very difficult to hold against the inclination to do so, because the commom belief of seeing illness as a fiend to be fought, is deeply rooted in society's way of behaviour and thinking -even the language mirrors this passive, victimized attitude.
And yet, the choice is lying with you, whether you accept the periods of physical suffering in your life, to accredit them their proper value and in so doing transcend them. Or wether you prefer to rail against the injustice of "having been taken ill"/"have been made to suffer"/"fell victim to the flu/an accident", whereby cutting yourself off the natural flow of life in addition to the pain the ill causes you anyway.
Of course, if you are the victim of an accident or find yourself seriously ill, you might justly be called a victim from a purely superficial perspective and have to be treated thus. Yet still, you can chose your own mental/emotional/spiritual attitude towards the situation. The more non-ambiguous the outward circumstances appear to cast you for a certain role, the more difficult it is to remain uninvolved, unidentified. Therefore it can justly be said that all suffering is self incured.
Bodily illness and suffering, just like happy, carefree days are path-stones upon the road to the bliss-state. Only by remaining uninvolved can you rise above your Lower Self which is inflicted by the suffering. Only in a state of non-identification are you able to see the Greater Picture in which every moment of your life has its proper place, makes perfect sense and cannot be dispensed with if the picture is to become perfect one day.
In the matter of physical illness and suffering the general reaction in people is to see themselves as the victim and thus effectively making themselves one, too. It is very difficult to hold against the inclination to do so, because the commom belief of seeing illness as a fiend to be fought, is deeply rooted in society's way of behaviour and thinking -even the language mirrors this passive, victimized attitude.
And yet, the choice is lying with you, whether you accept the periods of physical suffering in your life, to accredit them their proper value and in so doing transcend them. Or wether you prefer to rail against the injustice of "having been taken ill"/"have been made to suffer"/"fell victim to the flu/an accident", whereby cutting yourself off the natural flow of life in addition to the pain the ill causes you anyway.
Of course, if you are the victim of an accident or find yourself seriously ill, you might justly be called a victim from a purely superficial perspective and have to be treated thus. Yet still, you can chose your own mental/emotional/spiritual attitude towards the situation. The more non-ambiguous the outward circumstances appear to cast you for a certain role, the more difficult it is to remain uninvolved, unidentified. Therefore it can justly be said that all suffering is self incured.
Bodily illness and suffering, just like happy, carefree days are path-stones upon the road to the bliss-state. Only by remaining uninvolved can you rise above your Lower Self which is inflicted by the suffering. Only in a state of non-identification are you able to see the Greater Picture in which every moment of your life has its proper place, makes perfect sense and cannot be dispensed with if the picture is to become perfect one day.
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