Suffering is Not Enough

The first of the Four Noble Truths expounded by the Buddha is the existence of suffering. Suffering is an unavoidable fact of human experience. But it’s not the whole experience. As Thich Nhat Hanh has said, “suffering is not enough.”

There’s a lot of real suffering right now - physical, emotional, financial. Global cases and death tolls from coronavirus and untreated illnesses are rising, lives are turned upside down, the most vulnerable are disproportionately impacted, and no one knows what the future holds.

In the midst of all this collective trauma and uncertainty, we may feel unable to pull ourselves away from the news (which these days is all about suffering). Even if we ourselves are not sick or taking care of the sick, we may feel like staying constantly connected is our way of showing that we care. But does immersing our consciousness in suffering help anyone?

When we immerse our consciousness in suffering, we usually become less resilient and able to respond. The global crisis at hand is a continuing one, and we all need to be able to be responsive, not reactive - personally and collectively.

How can we instead increase our resilience and inner resources to meet this moment? I’ve heard so many people say that working in their gardens, or walking in nature and appreciating the Earth and the sky, is helping them right now. I am reminded of Thich Nhat Hanh and Sister Chan Khong writing about gardening and getting their hands into the Earth during the Vietnam War. Connecting to the Earth in this way helped enable them to continue their work to try to bring relief and end the war, even as they witnessed daily atrocities.

The human mind has evolved to fixate on what is unpleasant and negative as a survival mechanism. But what can help us survive imminent danger can actually harm our health and well-being in the long-term, when our nervous systems stay in fight-or-flight mode over time. As a result of this “negativity bias” of the human mind, we have a tendency to gloss over the vast majority of neutral stimuli we encounter daily. There’s a lot of everyday, neutral stimuli - such as food, air, water, and how our bodies support us - that we take for granted and forget to see as the daily miracles they are.

Mindfulness is about seeing clearly, the blessings and the sorrows. Along with the suffering that is real, there’s much else that is here as well. It’s ok to allow yourself to connect with sources of joy and strength. Bringing into your consciousness that which is okay and good, every day, can grow your resources and capacity to hold the suffering.