Self-Inquiry with Joel Kroeker, November 23, 2025
We began by asking about sorrow and its relationship to love and suffering. Some wondered if life was intrinsically flavoured with suffering or if these were perhaps not intrinsically linked. A differentiation was made between suffering (as unnecessary) and pain (which is inevitable). K’s notion of psychological suffering versus other types was explored. It was stated that “sorrow can come to an end”. But it wasn’t clear if this was temporary or “permanent.”
Some members reported being able to accept “things as they are” without fighting against this in any way. Others felt otherwise stating that perhaps human suffering was not something to attempt to avoid or transcend but rather a part of natural life on the relative level. Meanwhile, from an absolute level, it was imagined that basic acceptance of things as they are would be an ideal attitude, but it was not fully clear why this would be any better than any other attitude in particular. The notion of “determinism” came up in relation to fate and whether humans have any agency or autonomy or influence. A question regarding how to best inhabit this realm of human agency arose, while some in the group felt this question was fraught as it is best to “accept things as they are” without evaluating (or reflecting apres coup in retrospect) as that was seen as futile.
– Joel Kroeker
