An Accidental Theodicy

A highly personal meditation on the nature and meaning of suffering. An adequate explanation of suffering is perhaps the most intractable issue in the study of religion and philosophy, and the answer to the question "Why me?" has eluded not only those who are the victims of suffering, but those who sympathize with them and try to understand and explain their suffering. In this highly personal account, Arvind Sharma shares his story of becoming the victim of a severe road accident and his gradual recovery from a fractured knee, which included a hospital stay, surgeries, unexpected setbacks, and a lengthy process of rehabilitation. In the second and most substantial part of the book, Sharma attempts to intellectually come to terms with his experience and to reflect on how the experience of suffering in one form or another is a universal condition of human existence.