A thought on conscious suffering

Simone Weil:

The false God changes suffering into violence. The true God changes violence into suffering.

The false: escape from terror or dread by means of a substitute sacrifice (i.e., if I sacrifice a sheep on the altar – or read about a Baghdadi child losing his arm to a mine in the newspaper, or even make a lot of busy-ness in my life – I can reassure myself that it is not I, not I who is suffering or dying. I am alive).

The true: making oneself a sacrifice (i.e., submit and bear the suffering consciously).