Suffering is the experience of pain or distress; loss, injury or harm. 1 The intensity of suffering is influenced by the extent to which we view it as avoidable or unavoidable, useful or useless, deserved or undeserved. There are reasons to believe that suffering is not avoidable, always useful and neither deserved nor undeserved. Suffering is not avoidable "Everything in this life has a purpose, there are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from." (Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, 1926 – 2004, Swiss-born psychiatrist and pioneer in Near-death studies) Scientific knowledge of the “vacuum” (discussed below) indicates that personal events are indeed determined by forces beyond the individual’s control. Suffering is useful “ God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars.” (Elbert Hubbard, 1856 – 1915, American writer, publisher, artist and philosopher) It might be easy to see the...