Isn't There a Pill for That?

Thursday 3/13/2014 3:15 AM

I live in a culture that despises suffering.  We do everything we can to avoid it.  Any physical or emotional suffering is avoided by taking some sort of medication.  Headache?  Take a Tylenol.  Feeling depressed?  Take a Zoloft.  Being teased because of your lack of hair?  Take Rogaine.  Feeling anxious?  Take a Xanax.  And so it goes.  Any kind of thing that ails you, there is a pill for that.

This kind of mentality leads to an expectation of instant gratification and a lack of perseverance when dealing with problems or difficult situations.  Its effects can be seen in a variety of ways.  Students refuse to spend more that a minute or two trying to solve a problem on a homework assignment without looking to an answer key or the internet for a solution.  Married couples experiencing difficulties in their relationship get a divorce rather than working to find common ground.  Countries try to resolve differences with war and terror rather than sitting down to work out those differences through a long-negotiated peace.  Political adversaries attack each other and call each other stupid idiots rather that sitting down respectfully with each other to broker a compromise.

My reading today includes that of Theophan the Recluse who makes a similar observation about our spiritual growth.  He writes, “It must be realized that the true sign of spiritual endeavor and the price of success in it is suffering.  One who proceeds without suffering will bear no fruit.  Pain of the heart and physical striving bring to light the gift of the Holy Spirit, bestowed in holy baptism upon every believer, buried in passions through our negligence in fulfilling the commandments, and brought once more to life by repentance, through the ineffable mercy of God.. …Every struggle in the soul’s training, whether physical or mental, that is not accompanied by suffering, that does not require the utmost effort, will bear no fruit. … Many people have worked and continue to work without pain, but because of its absence they are strangers to purity and out of communion with the Holy Spirit, because they have turned aside from the severity of suffering.  Those who work feebly and carelessly may go through the movement of making great efforts, but they harvest no fruit, because they undergo no suffering.”

I am guilty of avoiding the difficulties of my spiritual life.  Rather than spending the time and energy to wrestle with God when faced with circumstances that challenge my faith I walk away from the situation and say that God must not care because he would never let bad things happen to good people.  I rush to judgment without giving consideration to any other point of view.  I am a spoiled brat, wanting everything to go my way without any effort on my part.  I want intimacy with God without putting in the work required.  Isn’t there a pill for that?