The gifts of suffering

the long version

This is a book about the gifts - insight, compassion, and renewal - of life's unavoidable suffering and pain. Polly Young-Eisendrath, a noted Jungian analyst, shows us how to move beyond our pain toward greater hope and understanding. Surrounded by anti-suffering campaigns and an optimistic, "can do" culture, we try to eliminate whatever hurts us: an illness, a spouse, depression, duty, work. What we don't realize is that much of our suffering is the direct consequence of our own (often unacknowledged) beliefs and attitudes, states of mind that are carried over into our perceptions and actions. The message of this book is that, while pain is unavoidable, we can choose to learn and grow through the experience, or we can remain locked in a cycle of chaos and more suffering. For it is not until we reach our limits that we know how to overcome them. Until we confront our greatest fears, we don't know our courage. Only when adversity has knocked down our defenses do we pose the big question: What is the meaning of my life? . Drawing on the traditions that have enriched her own life experience - the theories of Carl Jung, the practice of psychoanalysis, and the teachings of Buddhism - Young-Eisendrath illuminates the lives of four people who have faced tremendous hardships, yet found renewed insight and compassion as a result.