suffering

created by Saucepan

(idea) by udim (6.1 y) (print) ? I like it! Sat Feb 17 2001 at 22:14:00

The main affliction of the human race. Suffering is caused by ignorance. If you don't know the processes that happen in your mind, then you can't control them. This is part of the Buddhist philosophy.

For example: attachment to objects and people causes suffering. By attachment, you depend on something to always be there, whereas the world is ever-changing. You are bound to suffer this way.
Another example would be the attachment of emotions to goals in life. If you are worried or anxious about something you loose your peace of mind, thus impairing your judgement and performance (ex: studying for a test, a job interview). How many times do you remember excelling when you didn't care?

(idea) by dscotese (6.5 mon) (print) ? I like it! Sat May 28 2005 at 0:15:00

A Note on the Suffering of Others

We don't like to see suffering, and so alleviating it wherever we see it is one of the things we want. Unfortunately, we expect others to help us pay the cost of relieving the suffering. But I don't see suffering as a total negative. I have suffered at times, and in response I changed myself. Had I not suffered, I wouldn't have changed. In that sense, suffering is an invaluable motivational tool for changing us.

When we relieve someone else of suffering, we take the risk that they will get themselves into the same mess again - that we have prevented them from changing in a way that makes their life better. We might realize this, but still go ahead and relieve the suffering anyway because we like the effect it has. In fact, if we like the effect enough, we may start to help people get into such messes so that we can relieve their suffering and benefit from it over and over again. In fact, this is the bread and butter of high-yield credit card companies.

When we cause someone else's suffering, for example by throwing them in jail for whatever reason, we run the risk of having them change in a way that reflects our motivations, rather than in a way that improves things. Of course, often they change in a way that improves things and reflects our motivations. This is the essential mechanism at work when parents punish their children.

So when we consider the suffering of others, let's first ask if the suffering is bearable enough to be allowed to go on while it might be making the sufferer change for the better. When we can't bear it, let's not force others to help pay the cost of relieving it - this is what leads to all the taxation used to support social programs. Instead, let's get together with our churches, our friends, our neighbors, and anyone else that can't bear it any longer and collect whatever voluntary contributions we can to alleviate it.

Those who relieve a person's suffering are his saviors, but if he was about to change in response to his suffering, then they are also responsible for keeping him down. This is a risk each of us needs to take on his own. The taxation used to alleviate suffering prevents those willing to help from being recognized as saviors, prevents those who would choose to let suffering do its motivational work from doing so, and keeps the recipients from becoming more productive toward their own well being.

(definition) by Webster 1913 (print) 1 C! I like it! Wed Dec 22 1999 at 3:34:24

Suf"fer*ing, n.

The bearing of pain, inconvenience, or loss; pain endured; distress, loss, or injury incurred; as, sufferings by pain or sorrow; sufferings by want or by wrongs.

"Souls in sufferings tried."

Keble.

Suf"fer*ing, a.

Being in pain or grief; having loss, injury, distress, etc.

-- Suf"fer*ing*ly, adv.

printable version
chaos

Hate	I was expecting it to hurt like a fuck	Logotherapy	Jean-Jacques Rousseau
On the Suffering of the World	Religion's contact with reality	The Second Noble Truth of Buddhism	Christian fundamentalists will end the world through fear and suffering
rugged individualism	September 19, 2002	This silence, it hurts me, just so you know	Pretend you're not dying inside
After Auschwitz	Quae nocent docent	Leibniz's philosophy	Baroque
blue juice commando	Penitentiary of the Gods	The suffering passive	Animal Liberation
Nigredo	Fourteen Precepts for Engaged Buddhism	Is God a Dork?	Aitareya Upanishad

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