There is a purpose to suffering. It is a consequence of the Self, the image of God in hu(man), trying to incarnate within us. This presupposes (as I do) that the purpose for human existence is the evolution of consciousness. We incarnate into matter in order to undertake this journey.
Of course most of us avoid suffering and would like to eradicate it from our lives entirely. I am no exception. Some of us with great empathy also get really distressed at the suffering of others. But ultimately we should not and cannot avert our eyes or escape it. It is a consequence of being human in the first place.
Jungian, archetypal and transpersonal psychology advocate working through suffering, paying attention to the 'images' that present themselves - not to become attached to them but to understand what they are telling us. I have worked with images in this way most of my life. I didn't always understand why I was doing it or what the images meant.
Most Eastern systems head straight for nirvana, freedom from suffering simply because, like 'reality', even happiness is illusory. An image is just an image - this is true - but then nothing else is real either, or rather - everything is not-real and real at the same time.
I don't accept what I haven't experienced but having experienced this I have come to accept that the Void is our true nature, just as the Buddhists and Existentialists tell us. I am as sure about that as I can be sure about anything. Reality is created from nothing, from the Void, from what? Light? Energy? Spirit? I don't really know. I do understand now why 'Godhead' is not the same as 'God' - God is our image of the Godhead, the Void, made visible so we can see it. We can't see a void because it is a 'no-thing'.
Quantum physics confirms that matter spontaneously foams forth into existence in and from a vacuum, a void - it's the same phenomenon - science has finally caught up. Mainstream culture hasn't.
In my understanding the Collective Unconscious is what the East calls the Godhead, and the Self is the image of God reflected in us. The Self (with a capital) incarnates into 'matter', the self, us. The psyche, the soul, is the go-between and helps us become fully conscious. Significantly though, the Self has a dark aspect that has to be integrated for this to happen. Suffering reveals the darkness and we struggle to at first recognise, then reconcile, integrate and transform it in our own psyches. This means that rather than suffering being a sign that we are doing something wrong, we might be doing something right. It is comforting to think that within our 'woundedness, our neurosis, lies the numinosum' because suffering then has a meaningful role in our lives. (Jung)
So continues the great cycle, from Spirit to matter and back again, and all the while never separate.
Note: this is my personal view, though it is one informed by a lifetime of enquiry and study. I have relied heavily on Jung, Corbett's The Religious Function of the Psyche, Sogyal Rinpoche's Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, as well as numerous other sources and most importantly my images and personal experience.
