Avoiding suffering doesn’t seem like an option in this world of ours. But what if you could bring your pain into a new order of understanding and then use it to be transformed into someone who never suffers the same way again. All the usual pain that had been a useless torment would become the means of ultimately transcending all suffering.

This is the message of the great sages and philosophers through time. They tell us not only can we work with our pain so it becomes useful, but that fully experiencing and using our pain consciously is a natural part of the process of becoming truly human.

Here is this stunning revelation expressed by one of our great poets:

“Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?” ~ John Keats (1795 – 1821)

What does this mean for us? We’re not taught how to use our pain. We’re more likely taught how to avoid it, deny it, or complain about it.

OneJourney founder Guy Finley has been teaching about the transformational power of pain for over forty years. He tells us:

“We gain inner freedom when we understand that the higher purpose of suffering is to ground us in the existence and Presence of an altogether higher level of (our own) Being… where neither time, nor that pain holds a claim on us.” ~ Guy Finley (1949)

Here are more quotes on the subject that you may find helpful:

The decrease of the general cause of suffering — illusion — is the only pleasant work which lies before a man, and gives him that true happiness in which his life consists. ~ Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910)

Suffering, if it does not diminish love, will transport you to the furthest shore. ~ Buddha (circa 560 – 483 B.C.E.)

Whenever evil befalls us, we ought to ask ourselves, after the first suffering, how we can turn it into good. So shall we take occasion, from one bitter root, to raise perhaps many flowers. ~ Leigh Hunt (1784 – 1859)

There is value in everything that happens to you, especially in those events that appear sorrowful or troublesome. Suffering can supply us with the very ending of suffering, if only we listen to its lesson. Fear, when carefully examined, can free us from fear. ~ Vernon Howard (1918 – 1992)

“How Can I Learn More About This?”

Start by joining us for free live-streamed talks every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening.

Guy Finley has been helping men and women progress on their inner journey for over 40 years. And you are invited to join him for his free, live-streamed talks on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM Pacific, and on Wednesday nights at 7:00 PM Pacific.

You will be able to see and hear Guy online and share in a live Q&A session following each talk. You can pre-register for the free livestream at guyfinley.org/webinar.

You will be sent a reminder email with the link right before each talk. And if you can’t make the live talks, you will receive a link so that you can watch the replays at a later time.

I hope to see you online!

Best wishes,

Dr. Ellen Dickstein
The OneJourney Project

P.S. Submit a quote to our Living Book! Does your tradition also speak about the importance of looking within to make real changes in the way you interact with life? If so, please share a quotation about it with the OneJourney community. When we see the same truth expressed, again and again, it strengthens our resolve to pursue it for ourselves. So, please click this link to submit your quotation to the OneJourney Living Book.