Escape
February 14th, 2026
Much of theology and moral philosophy seem to focus on alleviating or escaping suffering and the other less desirable aspects of being human in our world. Sometimes these pursuits focus on the individual, what they can do to become more moral or to understand some deeper nature of reality.
Yet no matter what the individual or the disciplines of theology and philosophy achieve, the world around us still exists. Unless the population of the world becomes ascetics, each time an enlightened individual dies they give rise to further suffering as the active good they can do is taken away and their ability to ease the suffering of others is lost.
Many theologies and philosophies simply allow a person to escape the world, rather than accepting it and joining with it. What of animals, those with brain injuries, and those with intellectual disability who lack the faculties to reach some concocted form of higher consciousness?
Just as those who invest too fully in material things to escape the harshness of reality, a person can use intellectual and spiritual pursuits to do the same: consoling themselves while forsaking others. At some point the suffering returns after you disengage from the pursuit you put yourself into. We know the human mind can take us to amazing places, and yet that feeling does not last forever. All these pictures of reality that theology and moral philosophy give us are incomplete. Why commit yourself to seeing the world solely through a specific lens?
Much of this world is unexplainable. There are many convenient stories we can tell about it to explain away things or to make sense of things. Yet, must the world make sense? Or can it simply be allowed to be an oddity? An absurdity? Must there be an answer to everything? Or should we simply make do, the best we can, with what we are given?
We can dizzy ourselves all day with thought and separate ourselves further from the world. Or, we can humbly join with the world and live life. Instead of seeking to overcome pain and suffering, we can accept their existence and as we live do what we can to comfort and ease the pain of those who bear it.
© 2026 Austin Lochan Dodd