Abstract:
Suffering has been and will be talked about until the end of time. It is our
historical condition, it encompasses us, it sometimes overwhelms us, it makes us
anxious, frustrated and rebellious. We are born through suffering and we continue to experience it during our lives. Death itself is often looked upon as suffering.
The fear of suffering and, generally, the philosophical reflection on the meaning
of suffering have always given rise to one of the greatest questions of mundane
human existence disseminated in each historical epoch: what for? why is suffering
necessary? which are the reasons for its existence? What is the meaning of suffering when confronted with the fundamental and central belief of mankind’s religious
consciousness, namely how does it relate to the existence of God? Isn’t there an irreconcilable difference between existence in suffering and the existence of God believed to be both Good and Omnipotent? Moreover, suffering invalidates the very plan
of creation, where “everything was very good” and there was no room envisioned for
pain or evil. And in more serious terms, how can one reconcile the suffering of an
innocent person and the kindness and omnipotence of God, who is called Father?
These are the questions that man has faced along his existence on Earth and on
which he has spent very much time, thought and material things, hoping to find
an answer. Testimonies are to be found in the various successful or unsuccessful
attempts at providing answers from within the history of religions, philosophy, literature and varied human expressive arts during the centuries.
