“In the West, we build apps to avoid discomfort. In India, they build temples to bear it beautifully.”
-N.E.U.H India Trip Report
India is in the rearview mirror. As that frenetic chapter of this Noble Expedition to Understand Humanity (and eat more than one kind of curry) closes, I’m struck by the brilliance of a society engineered not to solve problems… but to spiritually outweigh them.
In the West, we install modern sewage systems. In India, they install Gods.
- Why fix infrastructure when you can build moral frameworks that remove the need for better intrastructure?
- Why question authority when you can earn karmic points and try again next life—maybe with better plumbing?
In India, suffering isn’t battled tooth and nail with medicine or convenience. It’s transcended—through caste, duty, and a healthy dose of cosmic guilt. Your role (or at least your caste) is chosen at birth. Marriage is assigned by your family. Jobs are often inherited. It’s not chaos—it’s choreography. Not oppression—it’s a feature, a divine to-do list designed by your past incarnations.
India doesn’t promise relief from suffering. It promises context. It promises an explanation for it all.
In the west, we often say, Meaningless Suffering. In India, it’s Purposeful Suffering.
USA: What’s with all the Meaningless Suffering?
INDIA: Remember that thing you did in 1831?
You aren’t suffering because the world is broken. You’re suffering because it’s exactly as it should be, and your paying for that fire you accidentlly started in 1284 A.D. It’s elegant. It’s maddening. A metaphysical masterpiece built on the idea that all hardship has a reason—even if that reason is your past life’s failure to properly respect your mother-in-law.
In the West, we build apps to avoid discomfort. In India, they build temples to bear it beautifully.
C.P. Phillips
P.S. well, that was weird! A reflective and spiritual sort of post… Interested in a different flavor? Check out more posts below!
Check out more India Posts here:
My First Ride on an Uber Moto in India
How to Walk Through Pahar Ganj Without Losing Your Mind
Night Train to Rajasthan: Dramamine, Stepwells, and Desert Survival
Crossroads in Agra: Heat, Horizons, and the Art of Choosing
