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Question: The philosophy of pain: unnecessary or avoidable suffering!?
Nietzsche said "what does not destroy me makes me stronger," and others (e!.g!., Frankl: "Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering") have similarly expressed the idea of transforming pain and adversity into opportunities for growth and greatness!.
In light of the philosophy of pain, do we at times misguidedly perceive our suffering as opportune, when in fact it is of our own doing; that is, self-induced!? In such cases, our suffering may make us stronger, but it makes us no less ignorant!. At the top of your head, what are some types of unnecessary or avoidable suffering!? Does avoidable suffering have the same quality or end result as unavoidable suffering!? Thanks!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Nietzsche was was frail with severe migranes and plagued by syphilis (the 19th century's version of AIDS)!. The former had him bed-ridden and the latter made it impossible to marry respectably, hence why he had no female companionship!. Not only would not being able to marry have left him lonely, but it would have prevented him from dreaming of or attempting to be with the opposite gender, let alone with confidence, so it would have influenced his entire way of thinking!. He didn't seem to get on with his life because he was lonely and when the diseases madness set in he was left mentally crippled rather than great!.
What does not destroy me !.!.!. any outcome is possible!. A cynic says it's more than likely to just scar you for life instead!. But we all have a choice!.
Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional (a Tibetan monk)!. There is rarely such thing as unavoidable suffering!. Suffering is caused by thoughts and thoughts and thoughts can change!. Practice is more difficult than theory because it's a reality that an ideal environment produces ideal thoughts!.
Types of unnecessary and avoidable sufferings are painstakenly illustrated in the buddhist canon's division of metaphysics called the abhidhamma!. It says we have 121 forms of consciousness, each one unique!. Negative consciousness is largely confined to the roots of greed, hatred, delusion!. Examples of hatred-rooted consciousness include not just anger but also worry, despair and stress!. These can be divided into 'with knowledge' or without knowledge', and 'with promptitude' or 'without promptitude' (so eg!. hatred rooted consciousness > done with knowledge > with promptitude)!. Any form of consciousess rooted in these 3 categories is a form of suffering and it says they can be overcome!.
Unavoidable suffering is bad, not good!. If it's avoidable and a person engages in it then it's steeped in ignorance, and ignorance itself must be overcome to find happiness!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Absolutely!. For example, some people drink heavily or do drugs, and become addicted to them!. This causes them pain and suffering in their normal lives because they have difficulty holding a job, maintaining a healthy relationship with their spouse, etc!. That just drives them to do it more!. They could avoid it by not doing the bad behavior in the first place, or by realizing that they are causing their own pain and stopping!. Sadly, that generally takes a major leap since they usually blame others instead of themselves!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Man learns from his suffering of course!. He comes out of it by putting some positive efforts!. Effort is important!. Sufferings and difficulties in life do not come to kill us!. They are not to be treated as murderers!. They come to make us strong!. They come to make us morally upright!. They come to test our tolerance level and patience!. They come to teach us!. They come to make us aware of our shortcomings, deficiencies, drawbacks, defects, etc!. Of course self inflicted injury can be avoided by wise application of discrimination!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Sufferings is about readiness!.
Pain is the result of forces from the outside or inside effect of change!.
Sufferings is when a persons acceptance is not aligned to the changes!.
Change has two faces i) decaying process and 2) is growing process!.
Educating and learning in facing change is wiser move to adopt the positive pain acceptance!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
no pain no gain
without the pain, there would be no appreciation for times of happiness and bliss!.
I think sometimes we purposely put ourselves through pain, rather than do nothing!.Www@QuestionHome@Com