A Spiritual Approach to Hardship & Suffering  

by Rabbi Burt Jacobson

You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.
~ Albert Einstein

      When you place most of your attention on the hardship you are facing, or on your suffering, you come to identify with it. Whether you go into denial or you struggle against it, you still become its victim. My best advice is to accept the hardship or suffering. It is real. But know that it doesn’t have the last word.

      To deal with adversity, you will need a wider perspective, something larger than your suffering, larger than your ego. You can call this “God” or “the Spirit,” or the “Higher Reality” or “The Good in My Life”—whatever name you want to give it.

     Think back over your life: Was there a time when you experienced wonder, awe, joyousness, meaning? When you felt connected to the deep places in yourself, or when you felt intimately connected to another person, or to a community of people, or to nature, or to the whole of existence, or to the Source of existence?

     Consider how you might cultivate your connection with this wider perspective and make it more a part of your life. Perhaps through a spiritual practice such as meditation or prayer, either with your community or by yourself, or both.

     Your pain may not cease, but you may find that as you come to identify with this larger perspective, the suffering becomes more bearable. Then you may ask: What does this adversity have to teach me? How might I deal with it from a spiritual perspective?

     Meeting with a spiritual director (mash’pi’ah) can be helpful in working with hardship and suffering. Spiritual Direction, or Hash’pa’ah in Hebrew, can help you discover a wider perspective, find an appropriate spiritual practice, and learn what your adversity might have to teach you. Kehilla’s spiritual directors are (in alphabetical order): Laine Barbanell-Schipper, Rabbi Chaya Gusfield, Francis Kalfus, Rabbi Burt Jacobson, and Susan Schulman. If you are interested in contacting a spiritual director, please email info@kehillasynagogue.org   Learn more about Spiritual Direction.