There is an endless amount of people who embraced struggle in order to achieve or produce meaning and purpose in the world. Each story is evidence of the power of embracing struggle, rather than meaninglessness of living in comfort and pleasure. The story of Jesus Christ, whilst it is disputed for it’s validity or truth, there is no doubt that he embraced struggle for his meaning and his beliefs. First, the story of The Temptation of Christ is chronicled in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke in which The Devil appeared to Jesus and attempted to tempt him three times, firstly to turn stone to bread, secondly to cast himself off of a mountain after which angels would save him, and lastly offering him all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus refused these temptations, temptations of comfort and pleasure and instead embraced struggle, to ward the Devil away. The symbolisation of the Devil as temptation, pleasure and comfort can be morally understood as locking horns with that of Jesus representing struggle, meaning and purpose. Embracing struggle is refusing to give in to the temptations of the Devil. Don’t let him pull you off of your true purpose of meaningful struggle. It also represents the concept of voluntarily charging through struggle, accepting its existence and confronting it. Running from it will only make its return worse. It’s no coincidence that the primary strategy of psychologists for helping patients deal with fear is to confront it head on.
After chronicling his beliefs of compassion and humility later in life, Jesus was accused of holding the power of Satan. During his final few days, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, challenged moneychangers and merchants in the temple, and debated with those who questioned his authority and beliefs, mainly the high priests. Then, he informed his disciples about the following days and that Jerusalem's temple would be destroyed. So a pretty productive “last” week for Jesus. Whilst he was being productive, the chief priests and elders met with high priest Caiaphas, and arranged plans to arrest Jesus. One of Jesus’ disciples, Judas, met with them and offered to deliver Jesus to them (what a Judus). Of course later, Jesus learned of his fate of suffering and death and held the Last Supper in which he sat with his twelve disciples for the Passover meal and gave them his final words on faith. He privately let Judas know that he would betray him and told Peter that before the crow of a rooster, he would have denied knowing Jesus three times. As dessert was being served, Jesus instituted the Eucharist, which in the Christian faith, represents the covenant between God and humans.

We can either heroically embrace thestruggle, no matter how unfair or cruel that struggle is or curse the world, God and the universe for the unfair and cruel hand we’ve been dealt

Following the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus asked God if his suffering and death to come might pass him by. He persuaded a group of his disciples to pray alongside him, but they kept falling asleep (rude). Then soldiers, officials and Judas appeared. Judas gave Jesus a kiss on the cheek to identify him to the soldiers (a simple “that’s him” would’ve sufficed). One disciple attempted to stop the arrest and cut off one of the solider’s ears, but Jesus reprimanded him and healed the soldier's wound. Even when faced with one of the worst fates a human can face, Jesus remained morally stable and stuck with his beliefs of forgiveness. Jesus was then taken to the high priest, interrogated, hit and spat on for not responding. Peter had followed Jesus to the high priests' court and hid in the shadows. Three of the house servants asked if he was one of Jesus' disciples and each time he denied it, after each denial, a rooster crowed. Jesus was then brought out of the house and he looked directly at Peter. Peter recalled that Jesus had told him he would deny knowing him and he cried. Judas, who looked on from a distance, became mortified by his betrayal of Jesus and tried to return his payment for betraying Jesus, however he was told that he was guilty. He threw the coins into the temple and hanged himself later. The betrayal of Jesus’ disciples symbolises thesignificance of empathy, the toll of regret and therefore preaches the morals of good judgement and social conduct.
The following day, Jesus was brought to the high court where he was mocked, beaten and condemned for his claims of being the Son of God. He was taken to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. At first, Pilate said that he found no fault by Jesus, however, due to the demands of thecrowds, relented and ordered that Jesus be crucified. The Roman soldiers then whipped and beat Jesus, placed a crown of thorns upon his head and brought him to Mount Calvary. Jesus was crucified alongside two thieves with the charge against him, "King of the Jews” above his head. He was taunted by the soldiers and the crowd, as he shouted in agony. Meanwhile the sky darkened and following his death, an earthquake erupted, destroying the temple. He was then taken down and buried in a nearby tomb. That’s where we’ll leave this story as we all know what happens next.

What does the story have to do with embracing struggle? Well, Christ’s death represents the acceptance of death and betrayal and not thevictimisation of oneself. Jesus he embraced his struggles, he never wavered from his beliefs and accepted his suffering. There’s also the moral of sacrificial being within this story. Jesus sacrificed his life in exchange for his beliefs, his meaning and purpose and for the greater good. What we can learn from this is that the bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the struggle, thebigger the payoff and the more meaning that is brought on following thestruggle. Workout harder and feel better, burn more calories and receive better results, quit your high paying job to pursue a dream and become all that you have the potential to become or leave a comfortable and long term relationship in search for one who is truly what you deserve. Jesus sacrificed his very being for the greater good of humanity and the good of the world. He was then reborn, eternally changed and ultimately better. Being crucified on the cross, the symbol of suffering, is why many bear it’s symbol on their person, a reminder that life is suffering and that suffering is inevitable and that we must embrace it voluntarily and admirably just as Jesus did. It also should represent the rigid structure of belief in spite of groups on either side demonising those beliefs, however the very nature of religion may make this difficult or even impossible. Thus the Christian faith represents suffering via the cross. The inevitability of suffering and struggle is the only thing that stands a chance of being part of reality, except for the overcoming of struggle and suffering, so the only option for you is to bear that suffering voluntarily. Jesus’s struggle on the cross also represents the only two reactionary options we have in any situation as whilst unfairly put upon thecross, he cried “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” Whilst he has embraced the horrors that have befallen him, he is simultaneously embracing struggle and decrying his fate. He is simultaneously the right reaction and the wrong reaction to ill fate. We can either heroically embrace the struggle, no matter how unfair or cruel that struggle is or curse the world, God and the universe for the unfair and cruel hand we’ve been dealt. The latter producing nothing but hatred, regret and further cruelty, the former, at the very least, not producing that.

Keep On Struggling,

Gregor

New Album I’m Loving - Dropout Boogie by The Black Keys

This is another brilliant album by TheBlack Keys full of catchy choruses, bluesy riffs and fun themes. There are few artists in which I’ll listen to thefull album and these two are definitely one of them.

Listen to their single Wild Child below.

LISTEN HERE

Film I Can’t Wait For - Elvis

Elvis Presley and Baz Lurmhan. Enough said right? Although themovie industry is over-saturated with biopics, this one should be as incredible as it looks. The aesthetics and the lead Austin Butler make it look like one of the best movie biopics of all time.

Elvis Comes Out June 24th, Until Then Watch The Trailer Below.

WATCH HERE

Settings on My Phone I’m Using

Ever since re-watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix, I’m trying my best to loosen the grip that my phone has on me and loosen the grip I have on it, by making use of some recommended strategies from experts. First I have turned off all notifications except for the ones that are truly productive, I have deleted social media apps for the time being, using them only for professional purposes and I have turned my display to black and white. These are all minor tweaks that make a big impact. First, if you have no notifications, your phone isn’t constantly trying to get you to pick it up, if you don’t have social media on there, you’ll cut your usage time significantly and lastly, having your display in black and white reduces thechances of you being unconsciously affected by the colours that are deliberately used to keep your attention. Why do you think thenotification symbol is red? We respond to red faster than any other colour.

I’ve linked an article below exploring this further.

READ HERE

Quote to Ponder

I like to write. I've gone through different phases in my life of writing in a journal more or less frequently, but it's something I turn to, especially when I'm trying to work through something that's vexing me. I sit down and describe my situation in writing. I type. I use complete sentences. I guess I write it as if it's for an audience, even though I never show it to anyone. By having to explain it to a "reader" with no prior knowledge, I'm forced to identify and parse all the elements and nuances of what's really going on. Sometimes I arrive at new answers or conclusions, but even when I don't, I'm usually thinking more clearly and breathing a bit more easily - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

References

Article - https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/jesus-christ
12 Rules for Life - Book by Jordan Peterson
Jordan Peterson Interview - https://youtu.be/1xRtZybpyig