Theos-Talk Archives (August 2005 Message tt00344)

The community of Beslan, south Russia, decided to commemorate the first 
anniversary of the siege to School No. 1, in which more than 300 
children and some adults were killed, by erecting a memorial in the 
form of a tree - "The Tree of Sorrow" - which has wooden statues of 
children as its branches. The grief in that community, one year on, is 
still all-pervading, deep and almost unexplainable.

The devastation produced by hurricane Katrina in the Gulf area of the 
US is also almost beyond comprehension. There are estimates of more 
than a 1,000 deaths in New Orleans alone, with several hundreds of 
thousands homeless. The suffering is compounded by dead bodies in the 
water and the difficulties in rescuing all those still trapped in their 
own buildings. There were scenes of grief and despair on television 
news programmes showing survivors who lost not only their homes but 
more importantly their loved ones.

In Iraq, an stampede in Baghdad caused the death of more than a 1,000 
people, apparently triggered by panic created by a potential terrorist 
attack. Unlike Russia and the US, suffering and tragedy come on a daily 
basis in Iraq. 

In the period of a few days the world has been engulfed in deep sorrow, 
inexplicable suffering and despair. 

How do we respond to suffering? Are we content in explain it away 
philosophically or religiously and therefore alow ourselves to become 
numbed, desensitized to what is happening to our fellow-human beings?

If the tradition is to be believed, it only took one look at a wayside 
beggar to create in the young Siddartha Gautama an unconquerable 
resolve to find the cause of suffering. If another tradition is to be 
believed, there was a similar response on the part of a man called 
Jesus whenever he encountered suffering. Their responses, if those 
traditions are to be believed, came from a depth in themselves which 
lied far beyond anything the mind can touch.

Can Theosophy help us to respond unreservedly to suffering? If not, can 
it really be Theosophy?


pedro