Or is this just one of those things you’re not supposed to think too hard about?

(Edit) lmao, people who’ve never heard this mantra whenever you say that maybe there should be less suffering in the world… I envy you.

  • Spacehooks@reddthat.comEnglish
    0·
    11 months ago

    Some humans feel that it adds to life like: “It builds character” or “pain makes him a real man”. Or that Suffering could enable people to appreciate the good but no, hurting people in general is unessessary because the world does that daily. Actively harming humans is actually counter productive because too much suffering can turn them evil or into living husks/zombies due to too much loss.

    Now there are select humans that would benefit from this as they seem have not been exposed to any hardships of the masses. Still the pain didnt give meaning. all it was is a catalyst to give a person empathy. Even then physical pain is not the solution it needs to be a series of emotional experiences/trials that can be overcome.

    The only people I know where suffering is the meaning/point would relate to something like karma or something like a slaanesh cultist who couldn’t live without pain because without it they have no life.

  • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Or you could go Buddhist and consider “good” sensations to also be suffering and make it your goal to escape from all of it entirely. I’m kind of an inverse gnostic these days. I’m hyped to be a rock again someday. Or maybe a nice pile of dirt.

  • aramova@infosec.pub
    0·
    11 months ago

    So there are two flavors of Republicans…

    1. Is the selfish narcissistic egomaniac who will destroy his own country to fulfill his own desires.

    2. Are the people you described, pain is good. Hurting people makes them stronger or dead, either way it’s a good outcome.

    • november@lemmy.vgOPEnglish
      0·
      11 months ago

      I would classify “suffering” as a particularly intense kind of “hurt”.

          • nocteb@feddit.org
            0·
            11 months ago

            The main difference is that suffering is internal while being hurt is an external factor that can lead to suffering. People suffer from all kind of things: sickness, being bored etc.

          • ArseAssassin@sopuli.xyz
            0·
            11 months ago

            The Second Arrow parable does a pretty good job.

            You are walking in the woods and suddenly you get struck by an arrow (someone fires an arrow at you) and it hits your arm and it really, really hurts - it’s very painful and you feel that physical pain in your arm, and it’s bleeding. And then immediately your mind starts to think - "Oh my god, what’s gonna happen? What if I bleed to death? What if this is infected and I can’t walk back properly? Or I lose energy and I can’t get back to my family? What’s gonna happen to my family? What’s gonna be happening to my husband / my wife / my children? What’s gonna happen to me or what’s going to happen to their future, how will they be doing?”

            The Buddha describes the first arrow as the physical pain and the second arrow is what your mind does - it starts thinking about the worst scenario that can happen. And he says “be warned of the second arrow.”

            The first arrow represents the pain - the actual physical pain, and the second arrow represents what you call suffering. So we distinguish between pain and suffering.

              • ArseAssassin@sopuli.xyz
                0·
                11 months ago

                That’s a good question. I’ve never studied the topic, but your answer sounds reasonable. I did read over some relevant bits from Wikipedia

                While the motivations for self harm vary, the most commonly endorsed reason for self harm given by adolescents is to get relief from a terrible state of mind.

                Many people who self-harm state that it allows them to “go away” or dissociate, separating the mind from feelings that are causing anguish. This may be achieved by tricking the mind into believing that the present suffering being felt is caused by the self-harm instead of the issues they were facing previously: the physical pain therefore acts as a distraction from the original emotional pain.

                Alternatively, self-harm may be a means of feeling something, even if the sensation is unpleasant and painful. Those who self-harm sometimes describe feelings of emptiness or numbness (anhedonia), and physical pain may be a relief from these feelings.

                Those who engage in self-harm face the contradictory reality of harming themselves while at the same time obtaining relief from this act. It may even be hard for some to actually initiate cutting, but they often do because they know the relief that will follow. For some self-harmers this relief is primarily psychological while for others this feeling of relief comes from the beta endorphins released in the brain.[93][medical citation needed] Endorphins are endogenous opioids that are released in response to physical injury, acting as natural painkillers and inducing pleasant feelings, and in response to self-harm would act to reduce tension and emotional distress.

  • glimse@lemmy.world
    0·
    11 months ago

    Your premise is wrong but you should watch Bojack Horseman and pay attention to Diane’s arc, specifically the episode Good Damage

  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
    0·
    11 months ago

    Hurting people is not generally good.

    It is also not as directly related to suffering as your text suggests.

    • jupyter_rain@discuss.tchncs.de
      0·
      11 months ago

      Tbh I did, in my early youth. Films and art often depict suffering that way and being happy was generally just not on my agenda as a goal, because of my career and academically fixated parents.

  • crt0o@discuss.tchncs.de
    0·
    11 months ago

    How does suffering give life meaning? Sure, a balance/contrast between pleasure and suffering can help create meaningful experiences, but that’s a different case