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The Trial
CHAPTER TWELVE
MAN TRIES to avoid suffering. But could there be a purpose to suffering, some role it plays in the unfolding of consciousness? It may be presumptuous to try to understand the deepest meaning of this profound human experience. Suffering can be so penetrating, so total and profound, that concepts and words which try to explain become empty and meaningless. Beyond thought, beyond understanding, suffering reaches beyond mind to the center of our being. And perhaps this may be the key. By thus humbling our mind, it destroys the presumptuousness of mankind’s “wisdom,” earned by avoidance of the unfathomable. It forces us to face our mortal fear and reveals a reality deeper than mind. And if we can find a power great enough to soothe that suffering—to bring strength and peace in the face of unendurable and incomprehensible pain— then we may have found our innermost reality.
The great Jewish story-teller and philosopher, Elie Wiesel, who was in both Auschwitz and Buchenwald German concentration
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