Reflection: Your Own Account of Suffering

Prompts to consider

• The problem of evil is often framed as an argument against God. But even for atheists, the existence of horrendous suffering, especially of innocents, is an existential challenge: if there is no divine purpose behind it, how do you find meaning in it or response to it? What resources does a non-theistic worldview have for addressing suffering that theism doesn't need, and what resources does it lack that theism provides?
• Ivan Karamazov refuses to accept a ticket to divine harmony if the price is a child's tear. Do you find his argument compelling or excessive? Is there a level of future good that would justify present suffering, and if so, who gets to decide what that level is? If not, what does that imply about consequentialist ethics more broadly?
• Think of a specific instance of suffering, in your own life, in the life of someone you love, or in history, that seems most resistant to any theodicy or meaning-making. What, if anything, do you actually do with that suffering cognitively and emotionally? Are you looking for an explanation, or something else, a witness, a context, a practice of continuing anyway?