“Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim". Arthur Schopenhauer “
Although suffering is an unpleasant and inescapable aspect of human existence, it is not a flaw of creation nor a punishment from God. Suffering is an integral component of the human experience, it is the propellant that accounts for evolution and individual human development. It is through the nature of suffering that we perceive our collective and individual consciousness.
Buddhism teaches us: that all suffering is rooted in desire, and all desire ultimately leads to suffering. In other words suffering and desire are of the same substance, you can't have one without the other. This insight should force us to confront the nature of our own existence, and the motives behind our desire and its subsequent suffering.
If we were to rid ourselves of desire entirely, what sort of existence could we have? It's almost an absurd question, yet deserves serious consideration since most of our human efforts concern the solution of suffering. For it is desire that drives us forward in life, and desire gives us purpose and direction. Without desire and the resulting aspects of suffering and satisfaction, life would not function as we know it.
While suffering may not be the ultimate goal of life, it is nevertheless a powerful and essential force that shapes and guides us. Therefore if we can learn to understand and embrace this reality, we may find that our lives are richer and more meaningful for it.