“Examine the lives of the best and most fruitful men and people and ask yourselves whether a tree, if it is to grow proudly into the sky, can do without bad weather and storms, whether unkindness and opposition from without, whether some sort of hatred, envy, obstinancy, mistrust, severity, greed and violence do not belong to the favouring circumstances, without which a great increase even in virtue is hardly possible. The poison which destroys the weaker nature strengthen the stronger - and he does not call it poison, either.”
- Friedrich Nietzche, Gay Science
Often we find ourselves wondering why suffering and hardships permeate our lives. I, for instance, often wonder why I always have difficulty in my daily life, in love, and in career. As if for some reason I was doomed to remain unlucky. I envied those people who seemed to get whatever they want effortlessly. I envied those who were born with fast metabolism and, so, remain slim, despite the amount of food they eat and their sedentary lifestyles. While, on the other hand, I have been with excess baggage since birth, and no amount of dieting or exercise could reduce me to the size deemed acceptable and healthy by today’s standards. I envied those whom need not worry if they are overspending because they have a lot to spare. I envied those people who seemed not to have suffered too much heartaches before finding their lifetime companions. I envied those who seem to make all the correct career moves because, for them, there is no way but up, while I’m shuffling back and forth in the career ladder.
It seems that people around me are blessed by the things which I have to work extra hard for. And it is, I think, unfair.
Then, I remember that line from the movie, The Matrix, which I have kept as a sort of life mantra: “There is a difference in knowing the path and walking the path.”
I remember the self-righteous priests who preach about forgiveness and patience and then rattle on about neo-pagans, as if these were the devils themselves (have the priests forgotten that devils, too, believe in God?) that should be eradicated from the face of the earth. I remember how in every wedding the presiding priest would talk about how the couple should proceed about their marriage. I remember how the priests would emphasize that the wife should be submissive to their husbands because Genesis tells of how God had taken Eve from the side of Adam and breathed life upon her.
What right do these people have to teach something that they personally know nothing about? Do they believe true knowledge is about mastering the biblical text and hearing the preachings of their superiors? Isn’t it by only walking the path could we truly know where it really leads to?
Perhaps, in essence, I should be thankful for the bad and difficult experiences I had in life. I should not hide my battle scars. In the future, when friends and loved ones would ask me for help on various life’s maladies, I would be able to credibly share what I have learned in my years of existence. No one, then, can accuse me of making conclusions based on hearsays and imaginary situations.
After all, knowledge is not true knowledge without experience.
