ACTION ATTITUDES of TRANSFORMATION: Suffering

Welcome back Viphilus*

Regarding transformation, we have learned that it requires:

SURRENDERING – cease being against something/someone (the emotional part)
SUBMITTING – start being for something/someone (the mental part)

Once again, let me say that these are, “necessary, but not sufficient.” This is an expression I learned from Dr. Hal Ritchie, a world-renowned Canadian atmospheric research scientist and leader. Hal would frequently refer to the necessary ingredients for certain weather phenomena to occur, but that the ingredients may not be sufficient, on their own. Of course, this made perfect sense to me as a hurricane forecaster. For example, hurricanes form only if ocean water temperatures at the surface are 26.5°C or warmer. However, those temperatures alone are not enough; other atmospheric parameters such as the nature of high and low level winds are also critical in the formation of hurricanes.

I have come to understand that this expression is pretty much universal in application … especially when it comes to human beings. It’s necessary, for example, to pay attention to what you eat, if you want to become fit. But that’s not sufficient because you also need to pay attention to activity level, sleep, and your stress load, to name some others. When it comes to the transformation of a person’s character, attitudes of surrender and submission are essential … but they just aren’t sufficient. More is needed.

Let me introduce: SUFFERING.

It is my contention that if surrendering happens at the emotional level and submitting happens at the mental level, then suffering happens at the spiritual level. And by “suffering” I don’t simply mean that we experience pain, anguish, disappointment or hardships. I am referring to the suffering that we willingly permit into our life for sake of a grander purpose … where we set aside all other life-objectives in favour of someone or something. And since it is “purpose” that anchors this in us, I am seeing this happening at the level in us where all things are anchored or rooted: in our Spirit.

If you have willingly endured the challenges and hardships of post-secondary education for the “prize” that awaits at the end, you have nobly suffered. You may be thinking, “but I did this for selfish reasons, after all, even delayed-gratification is a form of selfishness!”  I never said it wasn’t. This is why I believe that there are at least two levels here, one that ultimately serves mostly us (which I call the shallow spiritual level), and another that ultimately serves someone beyond us (which I call the deep spiritual level). Without getting into the semantics of this, let me clarify that, in my belief, even truly altruistic acts have a “selfish” component. Even Jesus’ numerous invitations to “follow me” or, “deny yourself,” or, “be the servant of all,” are greatly outweighed by HIS plethora of promises of something “better” that awaits us when we choose HIM. So let’s be honest … even in suffering and sacrifice there is still something in it for us.

But suffering is something that is willingly chosen only by those who are ready to be transformed. When hoards join fitness programs each January yet only 15% can sustain it past the third week, the “suffering” has weeded out those who aren’t ready to be changed. Passion is the ability to be able to choose to pursue something (or someone) in spite of the suffering inherent in the choice. I wrote in detail about this in my May 25 post {you can read the whole post here} … let me remind you of a bit of what I wrote:

Our English word, passion, originates from the Latin word, patior, meaning to suffer or to endure. People endure hardships with passion and conviction for seemingly incomprehensible reasons, because those reasons reside in the core of their spirit. To resist this crushes the spirit because it is working against called-purpose. To fight the inner calling of passion is debilitating and disorienting and renders most other things to be of little importance.

When we have chosen to pursue passion, whether that purpose is a person, thing or mission, it gets anchored into our spirit. My test to see whether it is REALLY taken root is to see the person's willingness to suffer for the pursuit of it.

Questions to ask yourself:

1. What am I willing to suffer for? Anything?
2. Do I avoid pain (and effort) at all cost?
3. Do I accept the truism, “no pain, no gain,” or do I detest that slogan?
4. Do I see a connection between suffering and growth (character development) or do I only see suffering as a bad thing?
5. Think about some of the reasons (principles or purposes) that someone might endure the following types of “suffering?”
1. Physical – I get up an hour earlier each morning to exercise
2. Emotional – I invite family, friends and colleagues to provide me with hard-truths about myself … the final 10% of what they wished I knew about myself
3. Mental – I give up some of my free time to coach/mentor someone even though I am introverted and need the alone-time to recharge
4. Social – I do not defend myself to someone when they tell me that a 3^rd party has been smearing my name and questioning my motives about everything
5. Spiritual – 3 months ago I committed to giving a fixed percentage of my income to a charity, and then my entire financial situation deteriorated ... but I continue anyway because of the commitment I made to them (and myself)

For each of these questions, if you can see reasons why a person might do these things, then you can see how transformation happens.

Final Points to Ponder

I have not dealt at all with the topic of how we cope with suffering or adversity that is thrust upon us; that is an important, but completely different discussion that I intend write about in a future post. Today’s take-aways are this:

Transformation hinges on you being willing to suffer for the worthy principles and purposes which you have anchored in your life. 

1. if you have no anchors, or if your anchors are not very good, then transformation will be non-existent, not sustainable, or shallow at best; 
2. the depth of your transformation is proportional to the degree to which you are willing to suffer for your purpose/passion. If that suffering approaches the point where it is better to use the word sacrifice because the pursuit is 100% selfless, even to the point of harm or death, then we have found the point where total transformation not only is possible, but it has likely already happened. More on this point next week.

I hope to see you back next Monday.

Blessings Viphilus,

Your friend, Omega Man

OCA Training

* Viphilus means, "lover of life"