no-fault suffering

"Whether one attributes one's feeling vile to others or to oneself -- the Socialist does the former, the Christian, for example, the latter -- makes no essential difference. What is common to both, and unworthy in both, is that someone should be to blame for the fact that one suffers -- in short, that the sufferer prescribes for himself the honey of revenge as a medicine for his suffering . . ."
-- Nietzsche (his italics)

The suffering Nietzsche refers to here is the suffering of the soul, of the psyche, of the mind; the suffering that comes with being alive. He points to two blame scenarios.

Blame Scenario One: I suffer. Someone will pay for this. Someone out there is to blame for my suffering. It is (choose one or more): relatives, republicans, democrats, independents, the Devil, the God, society, capitalism, socialism, theism, pointy-headed intellectuals, the media, technology and its technicians, science and scientists, evolutionists, christians, jews, muslims, hindus, anarchists, radicals, atheists, the dumb bozos of the masses, free trade, global economy, women, men, permissive parenthood, and everyone who is not like me. I will get revenge. I will make them pay. At the least, I will hate them in my heart with every waking breath. Unless I am distracted. But my distraction won't last for long.

Blame Scenario Two: I suffer. Someone will pay for this. Someone is to blame. It is me. I am to blame. I am (choose one or more): weak, evil, stupid, ignorant, incapable, worthless, a duh-head, spineless, deserving of punishment, deserving of scorn, unthinking, blind, heedless, maker of wrong choices, not a good christian, not a good jew, not a good hindu, not a good taoist, not a good muslim, not a good buddhist, not a good citizen, not a good parent, not a good sibling, wavery, hesitant, and just not as good as everyone else. I will get revenge. I will make myself pay. I will hate myself in my heart with every waking breath. And while I sleep too.

Of course, both Blame Scenarios produce suffering, aggravate suffering, escalate suffering. It is like having an earache so you hit yourself in the head with a hammer.

The way out: no-fault suffering. Suffering is life itself unfolding, the continuous birthing of life. Have you ever listened to the birthing of your garden? Those splitting seeds in the cool dark ground gasp and sigh as they unfold into further life.

Life is suffering. So what? Get on with it. No fault. No blame.