Dialectic Two-Step – Suffering Has Helped You Become Who You Are?

Dialectic Two-Step  is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. – Octavio Paz  

Suffering Has Helped?

Question: How has suffering helped you become who you are?

Answer: Evolution is the process of selecting adaptive responses to our environment. Those species more capable of responding to the environment survive and reproduce.

As human beings, we have benefited fabulously from this brain of ours. It stores memories, which are fodder for learning. By reflecting on our past, we can develop adaptive responses to suffering quickly. Suffering is the trigger. Beings capable of recognizing the signal of suffering and learning adaptive responses to it will overcome.

I am what I am because of nature and nurture. I have the terrific advantage of having human DNA (nature), which in turn endows me with a brain to learn (nurture). Recognizing and responding to the signal of suffering is the lynch pin in both of these processes. Suffering Has Helped You Become Who You Are.

Get Each Week's Dialectic Two Step in your email box

First Name:

Last Name:

Email address:

Select a Weekly Series You'd Like to Follow:
One Minute Meditations
Tiny Drops (Photography series)
Compass Songs (My Favorite Poems)
Dialectic Two-Step
Modern Koans (interesting questions)
Sunday Morning Coming Down (Music Videos)
Relics (Timeless Republished Articles)

 

The post Dialectic Two-Step – Suffering Has Helped You Become Who You Are? appeared first on Andrew Furst.