| Are any in this life free from travail? And if not, than doesn't it make sense to counsel them about their attitude toward suffering? And if they could be free of suffering, but only on the condition that they were indifferent to their duties and disengaged from life, would that be better than to develop fortitude? Once, it was considered a virtue to possess fortitude, and people were admired for their ability to face hardship and danger. Christianity added the aspect of suffering as an expiation for our sins, or even something to be offered up for the sake of others. Perhaps, in the future, it will be like "Brave New World", and suffering will be banished by social engineering, an insistence on shallowness and casual sex, and ample supplies of soma, the perfect drug...... |
