overcoming suffering

When I was very little my father took it upon himself to force-feed me the foods I refused to eat. Described to me later in life by the two witnesses at the table – my mother and older sister – these episodes apparently played out…

God died the other day after a long battle with leukemia. With his death god took all the answers with him, the ones that might have helped me to understand why he bothered with the whole creation thing if he was just going to be…

I used to think life was about finding one’s purpose, bliss, cause, etc. That we were born with a life sentence and before its end date we had this very tangible goal to achieve. I also imagined there was this tiny population of people out…

It is said the worst punishment that can be meted out to a prisoner is solitary confinement. Lock someone in ‘the hole’ long enough and he starts to go mad (note the metaphorical connection between ‘hole’ and burial/death). Seems rather clear to me now that this…

An avid reader as a child, at some point I remember being intrigued by a rather simple discovery: that most of the really interesting people in life came from difficult circumstances. I don’t remember any notable personalities, artists, writers, etc., emerging from the antiseptic…

A lot of people have been pretty upset about Robin Williams’s suicide. Many reasons for their unhappiness are given. Ultimately, I think it boils down to this: If someone like Robin Williams – a man who ostensibly ‘has it all’ – finds life unworthy of…