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Why do we suffer ?

Medusa

Medusa

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share your feelings
 
Rather, the first question is: are you okay?
 
We suffer in order to react, to grow, to change. Suffering is part of the human condition, without which we remain stagnant as a species. To me, that's why the notion of Heaven is abhorrent. A place bereft of suffering, of eternal life of happiness, is the epitome of hell.
 
Essentially, to sum it up, we suffer because we have wants and desires that cannot always be met.

This is according to Buddha.

The degree of suffering varies.

I believe Buddha has a point.
 
Why do we suffer?

Because the difficulties of life remind us that choices are a necessity. Think about it, without challenges and even some suffering there is zero reason for growth or wisdom or evolution. It would be utopian but would also mean one would never need confidence, or aptitude to excel, or reason to adapt, or even self worth.
 
Ontologuy said:
Essentially, to sum it up, we suffer because we have wants and desires that cannot always be met.
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Which is coupled from the fact that we are delicate "biological machines" that inhabit a physical universe.

Our bodies react to the surrounding (not always safe) environment.
 
Humans evolved in reaction to their environment. Some things in this environment were harmful, some were beneficial. In order to distinguish the two, harmful things caused a variety of discomfort.

Pain also acts as a warning system. E.g. some people are born with a congenital insensitivity to pain, but they have short lifespans. They don't know that they have bumped or broken a toe; they don't know they have eaten food that is too hot, or burned their hand on a plate; they don't know they have a bruise or a cut or an infection.

Psychological mechanisms, like the hedonic treadmill (i.e. you get accustomed to a source of pleasure, and inured to it) are much more complex, and much harder to figure out. There are a lot of possibilities for such mechanisms, many of which are linked to humanity's social nature.

Along those lines, being social means being cooperative and competitive. Inflicting certain types of suffering can provide one individual with an advantage over others. Or, a behavior that is harmful to others in the in-group might be corrected by inflicting suffering on the offender.
 
It is a defensive mechanism.
 
For no reason.
 
Medusa said:
pleasee
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Well then, what is the purpose of suffering? Why should people suffer? What purpose does it serve? In order to answer this question you can't just say, well, it's to avoid injury or because of emotions because then you get stuck into why those things occur. Good luck answering the question on what is the purpose of suffering.
 
Visbek said:
...
Pain also acts as a warning system. E.g. some people are born with a congenital insensitivity to pain, but they have short lifespans. They don't know that they have bumped or broken a toe; they don't know they have eaten food that is too hot, or burned their hand on a plate; they don't know they have a bruise or a cut or an infection....
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That's why I'm not a big fan of painkillers. If I have a pain and go to the doctor, it's not to get relief from the pain, it's to find out what's causing the pain, and to correct the cause.

It just pisses me off when the doctor offers pain killers instead of a cure for the underlying pain.
 
I'm not sure exactly why but I'm pretty sure that whatever the reason it's Obama's fault!
 
imagep said:
That's why I'm not a big fan of painkillers. If I have a pain and go to the doctor, it's not to get relief from the pain, it's to find out what's causing the pain, and to correct the cause.

It just pisses me off when the doctor offers pain killers instead of a cure for the underlying pain.
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As a leukemia patient undergoing chemo I am grateful for the cure and the painkillers.
 
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Desire. I mean, would you really be suffering if you desired nothing and were content with what you had?
 
Uncomfortableness helps us strive to be in situations that are less uncomfortable. This is a chemical process, I am sure, which explains why some suffer more than others even when they are in good situations.
 
Luftwaffe said:
Desire. I mean, would you really be suffering if you desired nothing and were content with what you had?
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I suspect that the state of contentment is a form of suffering. In some of the "happiest countries in the world" studies, they determined that it was scandanavians who were the happiest, but one show I saw on the topic indicated that people living in those countries seem to be more content than actually happy.

If I had everything that I wanted, physically and emotionally, I would have no drive or ambition or goals. Seems to me that would be more or less like being a zombie. At least for me, the only pleasure I get is by accomplishing something.
 
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imagep said:
I suspect that the state of contentment is a form of suffering. In some of the "happiest countries in the world" studies, they determined that it was scandanavians who were the happiest, but one show I saw on the topic indicated that people living in those countries seem to be more content than actually happy.

If I had everything that I wanted, physically and emotionally, I would have no drive or ambition or goals. Seems to me that would be more or less like being a zombie. At least for me, the only pleasure I get is by accomplishing something.
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I may have worded myself in a wrong manner.

I wished there was a word that was deeper than simply "satisfaction" because I'm not just talking about satisfaction, but rather, something deeper.
 
Luftwaffe said:
Desire. I mean, would you really be suffering if you desired nothing and were content with what you had?
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I don't know much about it, but it sounds like you are talking about the Buddhist "Paradox of Desire". You might look into that.

Myself...I tend to stay away from such thoughts and discussions. It just makes me suffer. Ha Ha Ha
 
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