Peace of mind is too comprehensive for modem psychology to define completely. But probe deeply into the teachings of the great religions and what you discover is a goal, a welJ defined spark of light leading one to tranquillity, spiritual serenity, inner equilibrium, inward happiness - in short, peace of mind. A major benefit of being spiritually fit is reaching that rare quality in life, peace of mind. One cannot achieve this through accumulating wealth, power, a high-paying job, or by surrounding oneself with family and friends. There are many things in our daily lives that can rob us of peace of mind. They feed fears, increase our insecurity and lead us to anxiety and depression. They make us feel unloved and unappreciated. They are capable of partially or totally paralyzing us, physically, mentally and spiritually. They allow us no movement forward. Because of them, we lose hope and trust. And because of them we lose our ability to lovel our Maker, ourselves, life, our families and our friends.
Suffering is a state experienced in relation to our physical, mental or spiritual being. We all have a certain ability to endure pain in each of these areas, but this requires no testing on our part and self-inflicted suffering does not necessarily enhance it. But the other extreme of seeking total insulation from suffering is a denial of reality. . The Buddha advised: "Monks, what is the noble truth about suffering? Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, death is suffering, grief, lamentation, discomfort, unhappiness and despair are suffering; to wish for something and not obtain it is suffering. "' Suffering is difficult to judge from the outside. It is always subjective, always judged best by the person undergoing it. The spiritually fit have a strong ability to manage their own suffering. To them, physical and mental suffering are manageable. As long as their relationship with their Maker is strong, based on mutual love, they can live with physical and mental pain and can seek help. To them, the real healer is their Maker, Him they fully trust, and to Him, they fully surrender. In this life we are all tested, for this is a trial period. If we take care of the soul we will be in a state of happiness, we shall overcome suffering. And we will be in state of happiness even at the moment of death, as we meet our Lord. We will be happy with the Lord, as He will be happy with us. This is real and true happiness. All the suffering we have endured until that moment will vanish. We will have then fulfilled our obligations, having followed God's guidance to be patient. We all feel sad when we see others suffering. We should be supportive, sympathetic and tty to help. Ufe is such a wonderful gift from the Creator that we should not end it, even if we suffer physically or mentally. We should acknowledge that suffering is part of life. We should do our best to minimize its effect on ourselves and on others. But we cannot eliminate it completely.
The best way to minimize its effect is by not allowing it to affect our spiritual fitness. Instead, we can use that suffering to enhance it. The worst types of suffering are the ones which leave our souls scarred, our faith in God weakened, our trust in Him shaken and our spiritual fitness greatly affected. God is fair, but in life it sometimes appears that He isn't. God loves good for all people, but people often don't. Thus, as long as we have free will, suffering cannot be eliminated. Our worldly phase is only a very short chapter in the book of life. This is as true if we die as young infants, or as seniors in extreme old age. The only difference is that, if we survive into adulthood, we are required to exercise our God-given free will. But if we die before we reach adulthood, we are still in a state of purity and are therefore taken to Heaven. This world simply cannot be made free of suffering. God did not mean it that way. If it were so, we would not be free moral agents or thinking beings, capable of doing good and evil, and responsible to our Creator, fellow humans and to ourselves. Take illness and disease. God states that each illness or disease has a cure, we just have to try to find it. Exceptions to this natural rule are aging and death. We cannot stop aging, but we can slow it down. We cannot eliminate death, but we can reduce its impact.
And the most effective way of reducing its impact on ourselves is by knowing the Creator, loving Him, serving Him and living our worldly lives according to His guidance. But why dots God allow suffering' Why do babies suffer' Why do innocent people, average people, nice people, suffer' Why should anymrt suffer' Suffering results from tragic aCcidents, illness, loneliness, rejection, failure, poverty, broken relationships, a troubled childhood, fear, or guilt. None of us can escape one or more of these afflictions. And none of us can escape death. The key is to enhance our natural God-given immune systems to deal with our own suffering and the suffering of others. Nourishing a strong relationship with the Creator through spiritual fitness is the best method of enhanCing that immune system. We are sometimes better prepared to critidze God than to fault ourselves. This is the easy way out. We like to believe that it is God's fault and we are not responsible. Even if we individually accept responsibility, we do not accept, collectively, that every one of us is responsible and capable of aggravating all forms of suffering, especially the worst form of all, the suffering of the soul.
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