Unconditional embrace of suffering? ✍️

I’ve recently been hanging out with a bunch of people trying to write down our metaphysics. One of the things I’m trying to account for is something like: If the nature of being is loving, how come there’s so much suffering? (theodicy) Is there something good about suffering? How do my opinions of this affect how we parent our children?

I think something about the suffering question isn’t quite zooming out enough. I think the structure of being is so collaborative—it’s so unthreatened by our individual meaning-constructions—that it’s willing to let us create personal hells. Being is an unconditional yes to whatever you’re bringing it even if it’s fundamentally deluded.

There's a lot more to explore here, and many ways I can imagine this being misinterpreted or misapplied. It reminds me of a passage from A Course in Miracles, “I will love you and honor you and maintain complete respect for what you have made, but I will not uphold it unless it is true. I will never forsake you any more than God will, but I must wait as long as you choose to forsake yourself.”

With love, Jordan