Hi Alessa

When I read your antidote about your son and blinds I immateriality empathized remembering my own youthful follies as my heart felt connected. It is in a way a connection through shared suffering. I may not be communicating that well.

In the dialog quoted from ‘The Dispossessed’ the line from Takver where she says “The rest of us keep pretending we’re happy, or else just go numb. We suffer, but not enough. And so we suffer for nothing.” resonated with me. ‘We suffer not enough’… to take the leap of Transformation or is that Transcendence. Are we being asked to trust suffering as love, or path to love? I did feel a love empathizing with your son suffering the pangs of guilt and your response. A trial every child must pass though. I think your instincts served you well here.

Richard Rohr views love and suffering as intertwined, both being universal paths that G_d uses to transform us. He sees suffering as a necessary component of the spiritual journey, a way to break down ego defenses and open us to the divine love within. He believes that accepting suffering, even “necessary” suffering, is crucial for spiritual growth and moving towards a love-based life…

Suffering as a path to love seems like something we just say and not something I would ever say to someone who was in the depths of suffering trying to comfort them.. yet I suspect a Truth and a something each of us are tasked to come to in our own ways. Part of the Call to respond to life as it IS with a Yes.