Hiya Rosie!I'm so glad you mentioned this, as I have been thinking about it since I first read the post. I agree with Seraphin, I think that suffering is also woven into the fabric of the universe and is in a sense unavoidable. But, the question I have is weather there is a way to avoid it as the Buddha. The Buddha have up everything he had and he had a lot, including his family and he went and lived with monks who lived in caves and lived on one grain of rice a day and meditated all day long. When the Buddha finally reached "enlightenment" then his suffering truly ended for he understood the meaning of life and every secret of the universe and therefore realized he didn't need his family or gold or anything. If you think about it Christians have a somewhat similar philosophy. There is good and there is evil and the best way to escape the suffering caused by evil is "salvation". Even gnostic Christians are searching for "gnosis" or knowledge. Just leaves me wondering, is there a state of being that one can reach and be suffrage free?
I think you have answered your own question. I personally believe that through enlightenment, we can end our seemingly unavoidable sufferings! Folks who have already achieved their higher consciousness sometimes can look at their lives and identity precisely where every lack is coming from and what is its remedy. Few of us could do this, simply because our choices, preferences and decisions are scribbled all over with so many misdeeds, dishonesty, and omissions that it's impossible to distinguish causal connections. This is what Yoruba teaches regarding "Epe" (curses and misfotunes), "Ewon" (imprisonment) and "Ese" (afflictions). Our sufferings should serve as a catalyst of self-reflection and realization.
However, when our faulty actions and malfuctions are so numerous, it becomes difficult to trace our hardships and sufferings to specific causes.
Thus, often when we look, we can't find. Sometimes when we think we've found the answer or identified the source, we've come up with the wrong connection. This is especially true when we have this arrogance to interpret other people's problems and suffering, a tendency at which many of us are master. "I know why he's experiencing this. It's because he was soooo ignorant." I know I don't have the right to tell this (since I sometimes do tend to be self-righteous ass) but I think this is the right to say that the appropriate response to other people's suffering is to share their pain, not to pulpiteer about how they deserved it.
Living within a world defined by darkness and chaos is one of the hardest challenges that we face, isn't it? This is the challenge of not being able to interpret events with enlightenment. Despite our sincerest efforts to reflect and search ourselves deeply, sometimes we simply can't understand why a particular affliction has struck us. Enlightenment can of course achieve through series of tests and challenges, they'll catapult us into change and growth . Once we gain the ability to interpret the source of our sufferings, then that's the time where we can avoid them.
