G. H. Morling on further purposes of suffering Not all suffering in our world can be assigned a purpose; nor, arguably, should it be. One problem in searching for purposive explanations of suffering, in contrast to causative purposes, is that so much is left to the imagination. For example, we may identify clear evidence-based …
What would George do? (Part 4)
G. H. Morling on the purpose of suffering As we reflect on the Covid-19 pandemic, and the negative impact it is having on individuals and whole populations, some of us will be asking, “Why is this happening? What is it for? What purpose does it serve?” We are not so much interested in causative …
What would George do? (Part 3)
G. H. Morling on further causes of suffering As a child, I lived for six years in regional Papua New Guinea. Some of the parents or grandparents of local people I knew grew up in a stone-age culture and could recall the first time they saw a “white man.” It was an extraordinary time …
What would George do? (Part 2)
G. H. Morling on the causes of suffering One unforeseen development in the present pandemic is the rise of the coronavirus meme, from the hilarious to the deplorable, shared like viruses on social media. Laughter is an important and effective stress reliever in these times, and many of these memes are extraordinarily good at lightening …
What would George do? (Part 1)
The experience of suffering and grief in the life of G. H. Morling Bush fires aside, the year 2020 was supposed to be a good one. A new year, a new decade, the year number itself a virtual palindrome – what could go wrong? And then Covid-19 stepped in, no longer a far-off disease …
