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About ArmaVirumque ( AHR-mah wih-ROOM-kweh) In the Aeneid, the Roman poet Virgil sang of "arms and a man" (Arma virumque cano). Month in and month out, The New Criterion expounds with great clarity and wit on the art, culture, and political controversies of our times. With postings of reviews, essays, links, recs, and news, Armavirumque seeks to continue this mission in accordance with the timetable of the digital age. Recent posts
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Jul 05, 2007 04:51 PM The Meaning of Suffering: Part XVI (conclusion)
In this special blog feature, The New Criterion invited Frontpagemag.com’s managing editor Jamie Glazov to arrange and host a panel on the meaning of suffering, with contributions from Roger Kimball, Dr. Gregory Yuri Glazov, Frimet Roth, Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Judea Pearl, Sheikh Palazzi, Fr. Maurice, Rabbi Yellin, and David Evanier. Parts I-VIII constitute the first round of discussion. Parts IX-XV are follow-up responses. This is the final installment of the roundtable.
Roundtable Index: Introduction (includes biographies of participants) | Part I: Roth | Part II: Palazzi | Part III: Pearl | Part IV: Yellin | Part V: Guimond | Part VI: Glazov | Part VII: Evanier | Part VIII: Kimball (end of round one) | Part IX: Roth | Part X: Palazzi | Part XI: Pearl | Part XII: Yellin | Part XIII: Guimond | Part XIV: Glazov | Part XV: Evanier | Part XVI: Kimball (Conclusion) |
Kimball:I have been desperately trying to think of some aspect of the problem of suffering that hasn’t been touched on here. Only one thing occurs to me, and it is something that I suspect all of the participants--notwithstanding the differences that separate them--can agree on. It is this: that when we speak about human suffering it is appropriate to speak of the problem of suffering. That may sound cryptic. What I mean is that man is a meaning-seeking (and meaning-finding) animal. For him, suffering is not simply a natural event, synonymous with pain or misfortune. Suffering is not an end itself; it becomes what it is only in the context of the cares and concerns of human life. Even the existentialists, who championed absurdity as the meaning of life, couldn’t rest until they bore witness at least to that hard-won truth (if it is a truth) about the human condition. Man would rather have the void as meaning, Nietzsche observed, than be void of meaning. A dog or a cat might suffer; they don’t regard their suffering as a challenge to their understanding of the world.
I am not sure that there is much solace to be wrung from the fact that man is the only animal for whom suffering is a problem. But it does remind us of the radical incompleteness of human life: that no man, as Donne put it, is an island, entire of itself. That does nothing to blunt the sting of suffering. Understanding is not an analgesic. But it is, perhaps, a light shining in the darkness.
Glazov: Roger Kimball, Dr. Gregory Yuri Glazov, Frimet Roth, Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Judea Pearl, Sheikh Palazzi, Fr. Maurice, Rabbi Yellin and David Evanier, thank you for joining The New Criterion’s Roundtable on Suffering.
It was a priceless and profound discussion. And it was a privilege and an honor for me to be here.
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