Purpose of Suffering?

"Suffering, I was beginning to think, was essential to a good life, and as inextricable from such a life as bliss.

It's a great enhancer.

It might last a minute, or a month, but eventually it subsides, and when it does, something else takes its place, and maybe that thing is a greater space.

For happiness.

Each time I encountered suffering, I believe that I grew, and further defined my capacities--not just my physical ones, but my interior ones as well, for contentment, friendship, or any other human experience."

~ Lance Armstrong


What do you think? Is there a benefit to suffering?