After reading my favourite book, Looking for Alaska, one question that stayed in my head was when Alaska posed the question asked by Simon Bolivar on his deathbed. The question was, "How do I get out of this labyrinth?". The labyrinth mentioned is the suffering in this world that is not foreign to every one of us. I still really do not have the answer to this question despite first reading the book 9 years ago. As I delve deep into the question, I find 3 monumental beliefs that answers this famous question. This will somehow help us understand suffering and how should we navigate through it.

Buddhism holds that the reactive pattern of the mind indicates a failure to acknowledge that pleasure and pain are both necessary components of life. Suffering stems from a refusal to accept life's experience in its whole. Therefore, from a Buddhist standpoint, to be freed from the shackles of delusion and its accompanying mechanism of clinging and rejecting is, in the end, to cease suffering.

Instead of rejecting suffering and clinging to joy, we learn to embrace both. We also break free from our reactive mind pattern and achieve "equanimity," which is a level of even-mindedness in which we observe the world objectively and do not react negatively.

According to the Stoics, we attempt to exert control over the things in life outside of our control. Attempting to control the uncontrollable results in feelings of helplessness, frustration, anxiety, ineffectiveness, bitterness, anger, and so on. We endure suffering. We cannot transcend our circumstances when we refuse to accept responsibility for the things that are under our control because we are not concentrating our efforts where we can make a difference. We are still in a bind. People who are stuck here frequently whine, moan, and develop a victim mentality. The Stoics' endorsement of the dichotomy of control allows us to change our viewpoint in two crucial ways: we stop wasting time and effort attempting to change things once we are able to identify those things that are beyond our control.

We accept it for what it is, look on what we can manage, and see it for what it is. We may concentrate our time and efforts on acting in these areas and progressing when we are able to identify what is under our control (beliefs, values, and deeds). We become far more productive and efficient as a result. According to Epictetus: "Use your resources as efficiently as possible, and accept the rest as it comes." Although the control dichotomy is frequently criticised for being passive or defeatist, in reality it directs our energies to the precise areas in our lives where we can make a positive difference. Instead of squandering it on things that—despite our complaints, suffering, or hatred—will not go away.

According to Islam, which believes that human beings are drenched with exhaustion of this world, "Indeed, we have created humankind in 'constant' struggle." [90:4, Quran]. Islam has the most unique take on suffering—it states that reaching out to religion won't help you with your sufferings in this world. What Islam preaches is basically having the calm inside of you when everything in your life is falling apart because you have faith in God.

The prominent prophets in Islam, who are the most tested throughout their whole lives, pretty much lived lives completely different to our definition of a good life. Islam teaches that this world is merely a pitstop to the next world, which is the ultimate goal of human beings. Believers could benefit from either situation. When they are in agony, they are patient, and when they get good news, they are appreciative. They therefore always enjoy a good relationship with God.

Furthermore, other stories suggest that after receiving an eternal recompense on the Day of Reckoning for his suffering in this world, a person would wish for even more agony than he had previously experienced. But for those who disobey, the suffering is a subtle warning that they will face a greater punishment in the hereafter. In Islam, as opposed to Stoicism, accepting suffering with faith in God is encouraged since it promotes inner peace despite enduring misery.