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3 Different Words for the “Right” Response to Unavoidable Suffering
Which word you use likely depends on whether you’re Religious, Spiritual, or Non-Religious but all of them mean the same thing
Somewhere East of Missoula, Montana, nestled in the hills, is a real-life homestead. There’s an industrial-sized greenhouse, a couple of log cabins, and a workshop. There are chickens racing across the lawn and goats leaning to scratch their flanks on Fir trees. The sky is Royal Blue and vivid against the grassy mountainsides that ring the property. We pull up and park.
There are little wooden signs, pointing the way to garden, to the bridge that crosses one of two small creeks that run through the property, and a sign pointing the way to something called a Prayer Lodge. There are little bible verses in the top right-hand corner of each sign — Philippians — something: something, Luke — something: something.
I came here to learn about suffering. Specifically, I came to partake in a traditional Lakota Sweat Lodge Ceremony. And, though I learned a lot through that experience, the most profound lesson on suffering came after, from the wife of the man who held the ceremony.
Like good homesteaders, they fed us dinner. And after dinner, we sat around…
