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Dariush Rohani

Professor Ditch

ENGL 115 APPR UNIV WRITING

8 November 2020

John Lewis’s Transformation of Suffering

In Matthieu Ricard’s article, “The Alchemy of Suffering”, he believed that there was a

sense of reformation in suffering. In the book, “March: Book One” by author John Lewis talks

about his life as an activist and how he transformed his suffering for a better use. What will be

discussed is how he transformed his suffering and the impact of the work and activism he has

done throughout his life. John Lewis has been through a lot suffering such as being beaten and

put in jail for participating in activism. Growing up, he was always called racial slurs and

horrible things. He went through a lot of pain and eventually learned to transform his suffering.

He transformed his suffering into a peace of mind which involved the philosophy where there is

only peace and nonviolence. This impacted his activism because it made it solely nonviolent

which is a very important factor. Going forward, he did not want anyone to get hurt or harmed

and he just wanted to express his beliefs in a professional and strong way.

Throughout Ricard’s article, he talks about what suffering is and the many different

aspects of it. He begins by talking about the three different types of suffering. There is first

visible suffering which is the noticeable by others. Second, there is invisible suffering which

stems from the blindness of our own minds. This type of suffering arises from feeling unworthy,

lonely, and useless. The last type of suffering is hidden which is when someone hides how they

are truly feeling under a smile. An example for this can be someone who is always laughing and

smiling with peers but when they are alone, they are their true self and suffer. Throughout his
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excerpts, he talks about how suffering is evident everywhere. Ricard stated, “According to

Buddhism, suffering will always exist as a universal phenomenon, but every individual has the

potential for liberation from it” (37). The meaning behind this is that suffering will always be a

thing and all over the world, but everyone has a chance to liberate themselves from it. Everyone

has a chance of freeing themselves from suffering as a whole. There are many different ways to

end that suffering, but the one Ricard described in the article was the four truth of suffering. This

was a practice used to get rid of suffering described in the article. The first truth is that you must

recognize that you are suffering. The second truth is to find the source that is making you suffer

and to eliminate it. The third truth is to end the source that is making you suffer and cut it off.

The fourth and final truth involves practicing that path which involves no more suffering. This

could be a way to get rid of suffering. One thing about suffering is that everyone has a chance of

liberating themselves from it, but there is still the chance that you will suffer and not be able to

free yourself from it. It truly depends on the person and if they have the will to overcome their

hardships. It also depends on the severity of the situation. There are many causes for suffering

and sometimes they are too horrendous for someone to heal from. Some of the causes of

suffering include, “disease, old age, death, separation from loved ones, forced co-existence with

our oppressors, denial of basic necessities, confrontations with what we fear, and so on” (Ricard

38).

John Lewis himself had been through lots of suffering and pain. In the graphic novel he

wrote, “March: Book One”, he talks about all the hardships and suffering that he has endured and

how he had overcome it and became the person he is today. Growing up, Lewis was

discriminated for being African American. He had wanted some change but at the time, he

wasn’t as inspired as he soon would be. The “I have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King
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inspired young Lewis. This sparked him to go out and try to make a change. He saw King as a

role model and a strong figure for the African American community. Soon after, he started to

practice preaching and talking about his beliefs. He began to start publicly preaching. He had a

strong and powerful voice that really got the message across. John Lewis stated, “I am a

preacher” (28). It was here that he knew what he wanted to do to help the African American

community. He recognized that he had the strength and intelligence to spread his word and

advocate for what he believed in. Lewis started activism pretty young in his life, “An as 18-year-

old student attending a training session for activist at the Highlander Folk school in Monteagle,

Tennessee, John Lewis stuttered and struggled to read” (Favors). This shows how devoted he

was to become an activist and preacher. He traded his college life and experience to start

advocating. Then, he began to start preaching. He started to gain a following of people who

aligned with his beliefs and morals. He started to do some activism with these groups such as sit

ins. In 1959, they had done one of their first test sit ins. There were restaurants and local stores

that wouldn’t serve any interracial or African American groups. Their plan was to go in the diner

as a group and ask for food, but if they got denied, they would simply leave. When they arrived

and got denied, they asked to talk to the manager. The manager simply just told them to leave.

They continued to do sit ins and people started to notice them for their activism. Everywhere

they went, they were mentally and physically abused. They were continuously called racial slurs

and demeaning words.

This is where John Lewis truly started to suffer. He was devoting his time for something

he believed in but was getting punished. He did peaceful protests and would end up getting

beaten up or thrown in jail. They simply would just sit there and take a beating which was

horrible. John Lewis however used this suffering to continue his protests and activism. He had
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believed in a practice called redemptive suffering. This was a practice in which you get

something positive out of suffering. He somehow felt cleansed or redeemed after some suffering.

In redemptive suffering, “there is something in the very essence of anguish that is liberating,

cleansing, and redemptive” (Dension). This states that suffering could be beneficial to a person

sometimes. In some ways, maybe a person needs to suffer a little bit to realize something. John

Lewis strongly believed in using redemptive suffering. He keeps a strong peace of mind

throughout all of his suffering which made him even stronger in which he transformed his

suffering into a better mindset and positive thoughts. He transformed his suffering into positivity

and into a better mind state. He does this by practicing redemptive suffering throughout his life.

To deal and transform your suffering, you must have a peace of mind, “Once we have acquired

inner wellbeing, it is easier to maintain our fortitude or to recover it quickly, even when we are

confronted externally by difficult circumstances” (Ricard 41). This is saying how once you have

acquired a better wellbeing and mental state, you can therefore recover quicker and transform

your suffering. The transformation of Lewis’s suffering had a very big impact on his activism.

After he transformed his suffering, he promoted only peaceful protesting and activism. The most

giant impact was that he used his peace of mind and strong love for god to stick with what he

believes in. He believed in peace and the notion of nonviolence in his protests and sit ins. Lewis

stated, “Our numbers were multiplying so fast that hundreds of volunteers had not yet been

trained in the way of nonviolence, so I wrote up a basic list of “Do and Don’ts” to be distributed”

(97). This shows how he wanted to make absolutely sure that there was no violence on the side

of the protesters towards anyone. He even wrote don’t hit back even if you’re getting abused. He

stood very strong on the notion of nonviolence. Being peaceful and being able to not hit or

respond back to anyone takes an extremely strong will. One must be very brave and strong to
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endure all of this pain to profit towards what they believe in. John Lewis’s will was strong

enough to transform his suffering into peace and then lead many people on that path of

nonviolent activism.

John Lewis had gone through so much suffering, but always stuck to his beliefs and

morals. He learned to transform his suffering in a positive way and not take it down a negative

route like most people usually would. He transformed his suffering into a peaceful state of mind.

Even though he had been through a lot of pain, he still stuck to solely being a peaceful protester

and preacher. With his strong will and bravery, he made a change for African Americans all

around the United States in a very positive way. He continued to make that change throughout

his whole life and to this day.

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Work Cited Page

Denison, Jim, et al. “The Death of John Lewis and the Power of 'Redemptive

Suffering'.” Denison Forum, 20 July 2020, www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-

article/the-death-of-john-lewis-and-the-power-of-redemptive-suffering/. 

Favors, Jelani M. John Lewis Traded the Typical College Experience for Activism,

Arrests and Jail Cells. 24 July 2020, theconversation.com/john-lewis-traded-the-typical-

college-experience-for-activism-arrests-and-jail-cells-143219. 

Lewis, John, et al. March: Book One. Top Shelf Productions, 2013.

Ricard, Matthieu. Pursuing Happiness 1st Edition. The Alchemy of Suffering, 27 Nov,

2015, pp. 34-43.