The ordeal that deepens
On the axis: The meaning of suffering · an ordeal lived through
Does an ordeal lived through ripen us, deepen us, "what does not kill me makes me stronger"? Or is that only a consolation, so much pain doing nothing but crush, embitter, destroy?
After months of fatigue, you are told you have a serious but not fatal illness: ahead of you lies a long stretch of ordeals, pain, and sacrifices, from which you will emerge transformed one way or another. The doctor leaves you a genuine choice in how to approach this path. One way favors comfort and maximal relief, even if it means going through the whole thing as an anesthetized spectator. Another leaves room for discomfort, but also for what this passage might teach you. You go home with these two paths in mind. How do you decide to face what is coming?
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Justification
For Nietzsche suffering is a condition of growth: what does not kill me makes me stronger, and the discipline of great suffering has produced every elevation of humanity. He explicitly despises moralities that make the abolition of suffering the supreme goal.
What does not kill me makes me stronger.Twilight of the Idols, "Maxims and Arrows", §8
Beyond Good and Evil, §225 · Twilight of the Idols, "Maxims and Arrows", §8 · The Gay Science, §338
Anchors: Nietzsche · Pascal · Simone Weil
leads to: The problem of evil (The ordeal that raises us)