Value for Sunday of Week 04 in the season of Dormancy

Suffering

With a concept of justice in hand, we step back to consider suffering, the bane of our existence as living beings.

Suffering is the price of being alive . . . [variously attributed to Judy Collins and others]
Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark, And shares the nature of infinity . . . [William Wordsworth]
Birth is suffering, aging is suffering . . . [Guatama Siddhartha (Buddha)]
. . . although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. [Helen Keller, “Optimism” (1903).]
There is no normal life that is free of pain. It’s the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth. [Fred Rogers, quoted in The World According to Mr. Rogers.]

We have identified our aim, to seek, promote and realize the well-being of living beings. Yet suffering persists, and characterizes much of the human condition. Our understanding of it is an important weapon in our struggle against it.

As justice is what we seek, suffering is what we wish to avoid. Because it is an inescapable feature of life, we must acknowledge it. In the bitter cold of winter, in the Northern hemisphere, we descend, by choice, into a week of darkness.

“Suffering (may be) be defined as an unpleasant or even anguishing experience, severely affecting a person at a psychophysical and existential level.” “Suffering might be understood as the undesired experience, of considerable intensity or duration, of a negative physical or affective state.”

Suffering is present in conjunction with physical pain, and also other experiences. “. . . 1) pain and suffering are inter-related, but distinct experiences, 2) suffering is a subjective experience, 3) the experience of suffering is characterized by a negative affective valence, and 4) disruption to one’s sense of self is an integral part of suffering.” “Depression and the subjective experience of suffering are distinct forms of distress, but they are sometimes commingled with one another.” Dimensions of suffering include physical, psychological, social, existential, and ethical suffering.

“. . . suffering is—‘objectively’—bad: it’s only possible to respond with indifference towards anyone’s suffering if we don’t fully understand that they are suffering in the first place.” However, the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard argued that “‘negative’ affects (are) crucial for a rich and complete life.” “. . . suffering is linked to meaning in life . . .” A psychology of suffering has been proposed, based on Martin Buber’s writings, and otherwise.

Nietzsche famously observed: “What does not kill me makes me stronger.” Suffering tempers us. “. . . suffering can best be understood in the context of the flourishing life . . .” “Wisdom emerges from the experience of suffering. When things go well, we rarely stop to ask questions about our lives. A difficult situation, however, often forces us out of our mindless state, causing us to reflect on our experiences. To be able to see deeply, to develop what King Solomon referred to as a wise heart, we must brave the eye of the storm.”

Real

True Narratives

Stories about human suffering:

Susan Gubar, Memoir of a Debulked Woman: Enduring Ovarian Cancer (W.W. Norton & Company, 2012): a noted feminist describes her battle against disease, including her public advocacy, and her approach to life and death with a deadly disease.
Joel Brinkley, Cambodia’s Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land (PublicAffaris, 2011). “A journalist finds that poverty, trauma and corruption persist in Cambodia.”
John Lahr, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh (W.W. Norton & Company, 2014): Williams spun unhappiness into dramatic gold.
Fenton Johnson, Everywhere Home: A Life in Essays (Sarabande Books, 2017): “. . . Johnson shows us so many varieties of human pain as well as glimmers of hope”
Matthew Sanford, Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence (Rodale Books, 2006).

Biographies of Billie Holiday:

Donald Clarke, Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon (Da Capo Press, 2002).
Julia Blackburn, With Billie: A New Look at the Unforgettable Lady Day (Pantheon, 2005).
Billie Holiday and William Dufty, Lady Sings the Blues (Doubleday, 1956).

Technical and Analytical Readings

Works on suffering generally:

Iain Wilkerson, Suffering: A Sociological Introduction (Polity, 2004).
David B.B. Morris, The Culture of Pain (University of California Press, 1991).
Eric J. Cassell, The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine (Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 2004).

Physical suffering (pain):

Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World (Oxford University Press, 1985).
Rachael Coakley, When Your Child Hurts: Effective Strategies to Increase Comfort, Reduce Stress, and Break the Cycle of Chronic Pain (Yale University Press, 2016).
Patrick Wall, Pain: The Science of Suffering (Columbia University Press, 2000).
Richard Ambron, The Brain and Pain: Breakthroughs in Neuroscience (Columbia University Press, 2022).
Rajkumar Rajendram, et. al., eds., The Neurobiology, Physiology, and Psychology of Pain (Academic Press, 2021).
Nina Lohman, The Body Alone: A Lyrical Articulation of Chronic Pain (University of Iowa Press, 2024).
Sarah Coakley & Kay Kaufman Shelemay, eds., Pain and Its Transformations: The Interface of Biology and Culture (Harvard University Press, 2008).
Lori Heshusius, Inside Chronic Pain: An Inside and Critical Account (Cornell University Press, 2009).

Psychological suffering:

Katie E. Cherry, The Other Side of Suffering: Finding a Path to Peace after Tragedy (Oxford University Press, 2020).
Eric Boynton & Peter Capretto, eds, Trauma and Transcendence: Suffering and the Limits of Theory (Fordham University Press, 2018).
Thomas J. Brennan, Trauma, Transcendence, and Trust: Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Eliot Thinking Loss (Palgrave MacMillan, 2011).
Nancy Johnston & Alwida Scholler-Jaquish, eds., Meaning in Suffering: Caring Practices in the Health Professions (University of Wisconsin Press, 2007).

Social suffering:

Arthur Kleinman, et. al., Social Suffering (University of California Press, 1997).
Iain Wilkerson & Arthur Kleinman, A Passion for Society: How We Think about Human Suffering (University of California Press, 2016).
Pierre Boirdeau & Alain Accardo, The Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary Society (Stanford University Press, 2016).
Douglas W. Hollan & Jane C. Wellenkamp, Contentment and Suffering: Culture and Experience in Toraja (Columbia University Press, 1993).
Luc Boltansky, Distant Suffering: Morality, Media and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 1999).

Existential suffering:

Micah Sadigh, Existential Journey: Viktor Frankl & Leo Tolstoy on Suffering, Death, and the Search for Meaning (Wyndham Hall Press, 2019).
Allan Køster & Ester Holte Kofod, eds., Cultural, Existential and Phenomenological Dimensions of Grief Experience (Routledge, 2021).

Ethical suffering:

Cynda Hylton Rushton, ed., Moral Resilience: Transforming Moral Suffering in Healthcare (Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2024).
Marc LiVecche, The Good Kill: Just War and Moral Injury (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Joshua Pederson, Sin Sick: Moral Injury in War and Literature (Cornell University Press, 2021).
J.M. Bernstein, Torture and Dignity: An Essay on Moral Injury (University of Chicago Press, 2015).
Tom Frame, Moral Injury: Unseen Wounds in an Age of Barbarism (NewSouth, 2016).

Photographs

Documentary and Educational Films

Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Novels and stories:

Amos Oz, Scenes from Village Life (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011): “Each of the collection’s eight stories shows someone searching, either literally or metaphorically, and without success, for relief.”
Mohammed Hanif, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti: A Novel (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012): “Fresh out of prison and despite formidable odds, Alice Bhatti, a Catholic nurse in present-day Pakistan, has wrangled a job at Karachi’s Sacred Heart Hospital for All Ailments, a cesspit of gangrene and incompetence.”
J.M. Coetzee, The Death of Jesus: A Novel (Riverhead, 2020): “J.M. Coetzee’s Jesus Sees the World as Don Quixote Does”.
Leone Ross, Popisho: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2021): “a (magical novel) that transforms humanity’s worn-out suffering into something new and astonishing”.
Colin Barrett, Homesickness: Stories (Grove Press, 2022): “In Barrett’s stories, homesickness mostly afflicts those who’ve stayed home, but no longer fit. Their lives orbit physical and mental illness, alienation, substance abuse, wounds, suicide and bad luck that exceeds society’s margin for error.”
Cristina Rivera Garza, Death Takes Me: A Novel (Hogarth, 2025) offers a perspective on the biblical fall of man narrative. “The novel argues that reading isn’t just detective work or a form of interrogation; it’s deadly, in and of itself. Reader, writer, killer vividly collide. As the novel’s anonymous message writer says, ‘Those who analyze, murder. I’m sure you knew that, Professor. Those who read carefully, dismember. We all kill.’”

Poetry

As I ponder'd in silence,

Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long,

A Phantom arose before me with distrustful aspect,

Terrible in beauty, age, and power,

The genius of poets of old lands,

As to me directing like flame its eyes,

With finger pointing to many immortal songs,

And menacing voice, What singest thou? it said,

Know'st thou not there is but one theme for ever-enduring bards?

And that is the theme of War, the fortune of battles,

The making of perfect soldiers.

Be it so, then I answer'd,

I too haughty Shade also sing war, and a longer and greater one than any,

Waged in my book with varying fortune, with flight, advance and retreat, victory deferr'd and wavering,

(Yet methinks certain, or as good as certain, at the last,) the field the world,

For life and death, for the Body and for the eternal Soul,

Lo, I too am come, chanting the chant of battles,

I above all promote brave soldiers.

[Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1891-92), Book I: Inscriptions, “As I Ponder’d in Silence”.]

Other poems:

Charles Bukowski, “A Smile To Remember”
Stevie Smith, “Not Waving but Drowning”
Robert Frost, “A Question”
Edgar Lee Masters, “Robert Fulton Tanner”

Books of poetry:

C.M. Burroughs, Master Suffering: Poems (Tupelo Press, 2021) is “transcendent: revealing anguish, vulnerability, and a guttural beauty. The nucleus of this searing treatise on bereavement and belief, is a younger sister’s death.”
Andrés Cerpa, The Vault (Alice James Books, 2021): “Andrés Cerpa is our Virgil, offering us a path through the dark realm of loss with fragments of unsent letters, indelible imagery, and exquisite language.”
Diane Seuss, frank: sonnets (Graywolf Press, 2021): “Seuss has created a technically exquisite, beautifully painful book.”

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

From the time when addiction and illness began to ravage her person and her voice, Billie Holiday sang with a sharp edge of pathos perhaps unmatched by any other jazz singer. This period was roughly from 1945-1959, when she died. “Born to an unwed 13-year-old mother, Sadie Fagan, in 1915, she was in and out of trouble from an early age. She was incarcerated in reform school for the first time at the age of 9, and she dropped out of school for good when she was 11.” Her iconic song, “Strange Fruit”, appealed to her “not only because she was a Black American but also because the song reminded her of her father, who died at 39 from a fatal lung disorder, after being turned away from a hospital because he was a Black man.” As an adult, she turned to alcohol and illicit drugs. Of her time in a reform school when she was a teenager, she later said: “For years I used to dream about it and wake up hollering and screaming . . . It takes years to get over it.” More likely, she never did. You can see the pain on her face, on the cover of her 1955 album “Lady Sings the Blues” (38’).

Carl Orff called his Carmina Burana (Songs of Burana) (1936) (approx. 55-65’) (lyrics) (recordings) a scenic cantata, in which he presents scenes of springtime, on a lawn, in a tavern and the court of love, before returning to the theme of the introduction, which holds that fortune is the "empress of the world." The text is drawn from 24 medieval poems. The insistent percussion in the introduction and the finale cements the main theme. The work incorporates the main elements of suffering: powerlessness, presented as fate (songs 1, 2 and 25); the material world and the human body (songs 6-10); mortality (song 12); and separation/alienation (songs 15-23, on the pathos of amore). Top recorded performances were conducted by Ormandy in 1962, de Burgos in 1966, Jochum in 1967, Ozawa in 1969 ***, Shaw in 1978, Blomstedt in 1990, Thielemann in 1998, Runnicles in 2002, Rattle in 2004, and Kegel in 2012. Following is a brief comment about each song, with their song titles.

Fortune, Empress of the World. 1. O Fortune: The choir begins ominously, then the inexorable march of time begins. Fate is monstrous and empty, a malevolent whirling wheel. 2. I Bemoan the Wounds of Fortune: A male chorus bemoans the falling of good fortune. Jealousy appears.
I. Spring. 3. The Merry Face of Spring: Flutes announce spring’s arrival, vanquishing winter. Yet joy eludes the people. “Let us rush to compete for love’s prizes.” 4. The Sun Warms Everything: A baritone soloist responds to the Sun’s rays. He sings of rejoicing but concludes with: “Whoever loves this much turns on the wheel.” 5. Behold, the Pleasant Spring: Finally, the choir seems lighthearted, yet again they express jealousy “. . . let us glory and rejoice in being Paris’ equals.”
On the Green. 6. Dance – a brief, upbeat instrumental dance. 7. The Noble Woods are Burgeoning: The chorus begins happily, freely, but the men and women call out for each other. “The woods are turning green all over, why is my lover away so long?” 8. Shopkeeper, Give Me Color: Young women call for makeup. “Look at me, young men! Let me please you!” 9. Round Dance: A dignified waltz. The women need no men – but then again, they do. 10. If All the World Were Mine: a frivolous revel about the Queen of England.
II. In the Tavern. 11. Burning Inside: A baritone soloist sings of his dissatisfaction. 12. Once I Lived on Lakes: the lament of a swan on a spit, being roasted. 13. I Am the Abbot: Dissatisfaction again: “. . . what have you done, vilest fate? The joys of my life you have taken all away!” 14. When We Are in the Tavern: The underlying bassoon mocks the contrived busy-ness of gambling, as the men take themselves too seriously, and everyone drinks.
III. The Court of Love. 15. The Cupid Flees Everywhere: a romantic theme in the flutes, then voices join – the longing of amore. 16. Day, Night, and Everything: “. . . everything is against me . . . As a cure, I would be revived by a kiss.” 17. A Girl Stood – like an object. 18. In My Heart” “. . . my lover does not come . . .” 19. If a Boy with a Girl: The men sing of sexual desire. 20. Come, Come, O Come: The men and women call for each other. 21. In the Balance: “. . . between lascivious love and modesty . . . I yield to the sweet yoke.” 22. This Is the Joyful Time – a song of youth and passion. 23. The Sweetest One: A high soprano voice sings, “I give myself to you totally!”
Blanchefleur and Helel. 24. Hail, the Most Beautiful One. For a few brief moments, joy and contentment envelop all.
Fortune, Empress of the World. 25. O Fortune: Fate returns, as the opening song is reprised. It never left.

Pyotr Iylich Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, TH 30, “Pathétique” (1893) (approx. 43-55’) (recordings): Some people say that this is a symphony about death, perhaps because Tchaikovsky died only a few days after its premiere performance. The music speaks to the broader theme of suffering. Tchaikovsky’s homosexuality was an open secret, and “. . . the symphony was often interpreted as a specifically homosexual tragedy within the gay community . . .” Still, other people say that the title “Pathétique” resulted from a mistranslation, and that Tchaikovsky saw the work as being about passion. That may not be amiss: much of the symphony is cheerful and energetic. However, the opening and the finale are dark, like bookends of life. Top recorded performances are conducted by Koussevitzky in 1930, Furtwängler in 1938, Toscanini in 1941, van Kempen in 1951, Giulini in 1959, Mravinsky in 1960, Kondrashin in 1965, Jansons in 1986, Bernstein in 1986, Pletnev in 1991, Jansons in 2013, Vasily Petrenko in 2017, and Hindoyan in 2025.

1. Adagio - Allegro non troppo. A brooding bassoon opens the symphony, ominously. The strings announce a more rhythmic theme, also quite dark. The brass issue a triple-tongued call, then a romantic theme emerges from the strings. A flute and a bassoon parry the romantic theme, and a dance begins. Then the theme re-appears, more grandly than before. Foreboding is always just under the romantic theme. Then disaster strikes, and all is chaos. Trumpets blare. There are rays of hope and ideals but repeatedly, conflict intrudes and disaster strikes; yet after every conflict or disaster, the romantic theme emerges anew, joined by the voices of conflict. The end of the movement could be characterized as “hope springs eternal”, as the romantic theme ends in resolution, not defeat.
2. Allegro con grazia. The movement begins with a cheerful waltz, apropos of the concluding bars of the first movement. The dance continues and develops throughout the movement, which plays out without incident.
3. Allegro molto vivace. This movement begins with a flurry of activity. This time, the trumpet calls sound not like war but like the busy-ness of business. The loud cacophony near the end of the movement is an affirmation.
4. Finale (Adagio lamentoso - Andante). The finale begins with an Adagio lamentoso, as in the ashes of despair. Nothing prepared us for this, yet here it is. A romantic theme emerges, loaded with pathos. The orchestra cries out, loudly, then sinks again into despair. The strings maintain the main romantic theme but without joy. Increased volume signals growing awareness and resignation. The symphony ends by fading into nothing, like Mahler’s 9th, but without any sense of acceptance. In life, suffering is inevitable, though it may be interspersed with happiness and joy.