Suffering--Jordan Peterson

 On Page 43 of his book, 12 RULES FOR LIFE AN ANTIDOTE TO CHAOS, Jordan Peterson addresses the issue of human suffering and white it occurs, and, he does not provide a definitive answer, probably because there is not one. As a man of faith, I do not  believe it is because God is cruel, indifferent or does not exist.

At times it may be connected to good luck or bad luck, or divine justice as a reward or punishment for what we have done, or it may just be random or pointless.

One thing that is true is that humans are finite, and vulnerable as Jordan points out, and somehow he credits our being vulnerable as linked to our suffering and existence itself, and seem like a wise take on it.

That we suffer and know loss, including death, sickness and hurt from malevolence from Bad Spirits, from other human beings or it is self-inflicted does introduce change into our lives, into Being itself. And it could be that without change or adjustment or happenings, the world cannot become, develop, grow, or improve, and this applies to each of us too. Our suffering, our loss, is that existential boundary line between past and future, and it is an opportunity and catalyst for us to become larger, more loving, stronger, kinder, smarter, more creative, or more talented, and these directly or indirectly may be gifts from God, openings in Being for us to go the next level, whatever it is.

Jordan writes: "Imagine a Being who is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. What does such a Being lack? The answer? Limitation.

If you are already everything, everywhere, always, there is nowhere to go and nothing to be. Everything that could be already is, and everything that could happen already has. And it is for this reason, so the story goes, that God created man. No limitation, no story. No story, no Being.  . . . But there's something to be said for recognizing that existence and limitation are inextricably linked."

God is pure freedom and Satan is pure slavery. The human being, part beast and part angel is free to become, limited enough to have room to self-perfect, and perfectible enough to enjoy the capacity to improve. That is freedom, that is living, that is exciting, that is free will being demonstrated, that is meaning and making a difference. That is being alive, and mattering, making a difference. It is a human blessing and a human curse, but it is still suffering, and the hurts is real as can be.