Religious platitudes that assume shared belief can alienate nonbelievers and fail to meaningfully address suffering or acknowledge differing perspectives.
The New Math: Suffering = (Pain x Resistance) / Self-Compassion
Suffering = pain x resistance. When we resist our resistance and beat ourselves up, we multiply our initial suffering, leading to even greater distress.
As Viktor Frankl asserts, we are a meaning-seeking species... with a burning and inextinguishable "will to meaning," an unceasing need to know about and attempt to make sense of both the inner and outer worlds.
The deeply ingrained belief that suffering stems from external circumstances hinders our ability to see that true causes of suffering lie within our perceptions and reactions.