“Pressure always seems to be around when things begin, but pressure never seems to be around when things end.”

I'm sure somewhere in blogging school, they tell you not to write ridiculously long posts such as this one. But I decided that it didn't matter to me if no one else read this. I just want it to be out there for someone who's desperately clawing for light as I am. Today I was sharing this with someone who is very dear to me. It's something that I wrote last year. I'm not trying to lift something I wrote up; I'm expanding on a brilliant point made about relief from a pitiless, unrelenting world. Hopefully it will help someone like it helped me.

Pressure is a proven enemy of man. There is nothing man can do to halt pressure in any situation: pressure on tectonic plates, pressure on gears in a machine, pressure on a family to make ends meet. One could spread the pressure out over a larger surface area or to the greater masses. While this will alleviate the pressure, it will not create an absence of pressure. Pressure never decides to stop pressing; it inflicts pain on its victim coldly, without care. The pain and suffering inflicted by strenuous pressure is unavoidable, but that does not mean it is unnecessary.

The Dispossessed is a novel that attempts to sculpt out the reasoning or potential madness behind brotherhood. Man appears to have an incessant need to involve himself in his neighbor’s life. He wishes to seek companionship in others; man tends to have an innate desire to be a part of a collective group. He may sacrifice exorbitant amounts of his abilities and time in order to achieve agreement from his selected group. Therefore, he must first choose the group that he wishes to be a part of. He, then, must choose to find a means of contribution to the group in order to make it better than when he entered it. In the novel, Shevek makes the claim that man’s reason for searching for this alluring fellowship is, ironically, the same thing that he should return to the group (LeGuin 60-62). He believes that man is trying to find a place to dump all of his baggage and suffering so that others can lend helping hands and support a fellow struggler. Once in the group, he will recognize how the group saved him from an inevitable smoldering of isolated pain and return the gift of offering support for another. It creates an interconnected cycle of support. It is not slave-master relationship but a relationship created by brotherly equals.

It makes logical sense that people should rally together in support of one another as they each face certain various forms of suffering. It is as if someone were trying to break a rock by applying pressure and high temperatures to an isolated portion of the rock. Eventually, that small section of the rock is going to crack or diminish in some sense. However, if that high temperature and pressure were distributed equally across the rock, it would simply cram the particles into a more compact shape; the rock would not break because all its surrounding sides are supporting it.

This is virtually what brotherhood founded in suffering is. Man knows that if he tries to carry his own suffering by himself, then the pressure will eventually become too great. The pressure of suffering would also bring the group closer together, strengthening its bond. Without any help from the outside, the solitary individual could not withstand the pressure; it would chisel him away, obliterating him from existence. There is hope for the individual if he grabs hold of another.

The Dispossessed is a clear description of the difference between the acceptance and understanding of suffering and the rejection and fear of suffering. On Urras, people live similar to those in the Western civilization. They try to drape themselves with lavish things that will distract them from life’s reality. They do not understand that they have been living a lie behind all of their fancy comforts. Their suffering is unavoidable. They will soon find that the beauty of their possessions will outlive the memory of their lives due to their inability to contribute anything except to perpetuate a need to hide from the reality of life. They are solely focused on their own individual reputations and well-being; they are absent of legitimate brotherhood. These people spend their whole lives trying to make everything look beautiful on the outside. The problem with this gilded society is that there is no support on the inside. While these individuals may look great on the outside, they will crumble easily when pressed with ample amounts of suffering. They have no foundation in what Shevek considers to be “the condition in which we live” (LeGuin 59). The people on Anarres act as the foil of Urras because they do not have much aesthetic beauty but are deeply rooted in brotherhood. Shevek openly tells the Urrasti that Anarres is not a very pretty, pleasant place. He simply states that the Anarresti are beautiful because you can actually see their faces, the faces both marked with pain and wrinkled with joy (LeGuin 228).

The fellowship founded in shared pain and suffering forges precious stones of brotherhood. Equality is the foundation of this purest form of comradery. All members come to one another broken and without anything to offer except for their pain. Everyone is on the same level; therefore, there is a unique level of equality. No one is above another casting out rations of suffering. No one is commanding another to suffer a certain amount. They all know that if they all suffer the same amount, then no one has to suffer the most. They are only brothers banning together to find comfort in a world that wishes its inhabitants to be as least comfortable as possible. There are no masters. There are no slaves. No longer will the slave’s back suffer the whip, and no longer will the rock crumble chip by chip.

Once one communes in this deeply rooted sense of brotherhood, he/she knows that there is a strong bond connecting him/her to his/her neighbor. This deep spiritual link between a brother and sister is indisputably what makes this concept of brotherhood so strong. People constantly search for the epicenter of this bond. They want to know why suffering with others makes them feel like they know these strangers very intimately. Some choose to tag this connecting adhesive as some sort of divine fusing. There are patterns supporting this in Christian and Buddhist theology and writings. In Philippians, Paul tells his audience that his most recent suffering due to imprisonment has brought him closer to his fellow inmates and empowered his other friends to fight for the Lord’s cause. The four noble truths of Buddhism are all founded on principles of understanding, dealing, and conquering suffering. Many people choose to interpret their close connection to their suffering companions as a spiritual connection because both parties experienced some form of divine enlightenment. Whether the brotherhood is spiritual or not, it is assuredly a deep, heart-felt bond.

There is enormous beauty in a rock that distributes pressure all around in order to stay wholly intact. Its particles simply come closer and closer, strengthening their connection. Shevek firmly believed that suffering, above all else including love, brought brothers together. One man decides to support another’s suffering because he, too, knows the weight of suffering. Shevek said that brotherhood begins there with suffering: Adam by Adam, atom by atom.

Shevek also believed that “true voyage is in the return” (LeGuin 84). So if brotherhood begins in shared pain, then it must have an end. That end comes in the memory. It is similar to a piece of coal that undergoes extremely high levels of pressure and temperature. That piece of coal is under intense duress for a long period of time, but then something majestic happens. That piece of common, ugly coal becomes a diamond. One no longer thinks of the ugly piece of coal that underwent the treacherous conditions; he/she now sees it as a beautiful, timeless gem.

Brotherhood can be seen in the same sense. It begins in the shared suffering of oppressive pressure. The transformation of the brotherhood of pain takes place after the brothers are all gone. They become an everlasting memory. Future generations will remember this group of brothers as a group that cared for and loved one another with extreme compassion. Observers will recognize the members’ individual love for the group, not the pressure and suffering of life that caused this group to come together. The future generations will not remember the initial suffering of the group in the same way that a person does not remember the straining piece of coal after seeing a diamond. This memory, like a diamond, will last forever and encourage others to assimilate in brotherhood in order to make the world a more beautiful place amongst the suffering.