I've heard people who are being "spiritual," as the phrase would have it, say that the world is perfect, that all is "unfolding as it should," or "as it is meant to be." They explain that things don't look perfect because our perceptions and assessments are faulty, rather than with how reality is.
I disagree.
I think that pain is painful.
I think humanity has made a lot of significant mistakes.
We're suffering as a result, and the other life forms are suffering too. In fact, we are in the midst of unprecedented species extinction... one of the greatest, if not the greatest, mass extinctions in the history of our planet. The cause of all this death is none other than—us! How human society currently organizes itself, and how we relate to one another and to the other life forms, is basically causing what is termed a mass extinction event.
I spent years during my twenties asking myself what the meaning of suffering could possibly be.
One day I realized I was missing the boat with that question... I started off with the premise that suffering must have some kind of inherent meaning. But now I think that suffering doesn't have an inherent meaning, rather it is a signal pointing to a greater meaning. Suffering is what we experience when we are in a situation that could be unfolding much more pleasurably than it is. Suffering is a call to action.
Not just any action though. This is where our humility needs to come into play. My view is that any action we take to transform suffering into pleasure must be informed by natural/physical/biological intelligence—or it will basically fail.
We already have more than enough failure occurring on Planet Earth.
When you spend time observing a tree, a wild animal, a dog, a river, a mountain, an ocean, your own body and feelings, what do you learn about transforming suffering into pleasure?
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