Religious Logotherapy of Suffering in Paradise Lost and Mathnavi Ma navi

Suffering is the undeniable and unavoidable fact of human life that its alleviation or reduction has always been a significant goal for religion and Science. As a new psychotherapeutic approach, logotherapy, has defined alleviation of suffering or making it bearable by finding a meaning for it. Christianity and Islam, as other religions, has accounted for suffering, explained its emergence and suggested certain attitudes towards it. Religious literary texts, by their capacity for conveying meaning to suffering can play a great role in giving a true meaning to our life. Since early 19th century, psychotherapist became aware of the book reading affectivity in psychotherapeutic process and now bibliotherapy has a half century of theoretical underpinnings. Religious literary text inspired by religious worldview and their effectiveness in influencing both emotional and cognitive components of their reader’s mind can be extremely useful in psychotherapy of believers. Paradise Lost and Mathnavi Ma’navi, respectively, are two very influencing and highly important text in Christian and Islamic cultures. So, inspired by their relative sacred texts can be highly effective in alleviating their reader’s suffering. This essay illustrates that, in this context, Mathnavi Ma’navi is so much more effective than Paradise Lost.