Has there ever been more of a repeated question throughout history? Some might say that the biggest and most important questions ever told are ‘who are we?’, ‘where do we come from?’, and ‘where are we going?’. I certainly agree, but those three are usually synonymous with the curious and the philosophers among us. We are all curious, and we all have asked them at one point looking up at the stars, but for most of us, these three questions don’t stay very long in our minds as they don’t need to exist to play a role in our day to day lives. We don’t interact(not consciously anyways) with them to see the larger importance. A moment here, a moment there, we are simply too distracted with our everyday affairs to ponder them in great depth.
I believe the most popular, but not necessarily the most important mystery, is the reason why we have to suffer. And it comes up most when we are faced with it, not only as individuals, but more as a society. Whether it’s suffering through a period of war, natural disasters, poverty, sickness, or even our own personal conflicts such as rage and jealousy, we look at the big picture and ask ourselves if all that suffering could be avoided. That is because we are a pleasure-seeking specie who will stop at nothing to reduce pain and increase pleasure. It is what drives our entire lives. And when something such as pain gets in the way, we go about trying to understand what the cause is, where it came from, and most common, how it can be avoided and eliminated.
Being as curious as we are, it is only natural that we begin to find the source of our anguish so that measures can be taken against it. This has led to the creation of entire systems and doctrines such as the medical system, psycho-therapy and charities worldwide in order to prevent mental and physical pain. My main goal in any philosophical topic is to dig up the root truth, which may or may not exist. In this article, I will talk about my views and beliefs about the causes of suffering and what suffering means. I have always been interested in my own suffering and the suffering of others. Not to say I get pleasure seeing others suffer, but I merely observe and try to discern the causes so I can better understand my existence. It is never pleasant to look at others suffer in order to understand the meanings of life, but in order to understand ourselves, it is something we have to face.
What is the root cause of physical suffering?
To put it plain and simple, the actual root cause of suffering is because of a defensive mechanism programmed in every species’ DNA in order to ensure our survival and to avoid death. From the simple mouse to the giant elephant to the homo sapiens, we are programmed to try and survive as long as possible. Why that’s the case is my biggest mystery. Why does life even want to exist if it has to put up with so much suffering and chaos? I know there’s the entire spiritual side of humans which brings us great joy, and a lot of people say that it’s the reason we exist, to experience God or the Great Spirit, but in the eyes of a cat or an ant, to say that humans are the reason is starting to sound really old and egocentric. What is the governing force behind everything dictating that life should exist or continue to exist at all? Simply saying that it’s God’s will isn’t an answer anymore and it’s always been too easy to fall back on. But living for the sole sake of avoiding death is also not feasible in my opinion. But let’s ignore that greater mystery and accept the force behind our existence as being a constant, something that will never change. We will always have that will to survive, and it’s that mechanism of pain, or more specifically, the mechanism of avoiding pain and death, that keeps us and every animal breathing. Without there being a consequence of a negative experience associated with an action that can cause our death, we would not survive very long. So even though we don’t know why we are here in the first place experiencing all of this right now(I assume there is a reason), it is essential that pain exists in order to continue this quest on the physical plane.
That inherit force that alerts us that death might be close by is called fear. We don’t have to have previously experienced the situation for the fear to come up and alert us. It simply exists inside all animals as an instinct, developed and gotten really complex over the millions of years of evolution. The fear is really telling us, ‘I don’t understand the outcome of this phenomena happening, so I alert you with this painful sensation of fear in order for you to focus on the situation so that you may avoid it, because it might cause death.’.
Some say that fear only stops as being an emotional feeling, like fearing the dark, but it is also physical in nature. If I cut myself, the reason I hurt is because the body is fearing death. The actual burning feeling is real fear in a sense. The brain makes me experience that unpleasant burning sensation in order for me to tend to my wound and prevent death. Over time, evolution has configured us in this way not because the force behind it is vengeful, evil, or trying to teach us something, but because It selfishly wants to live, so it unconsciously and accidentally self-programmed herself to feel pain through the process of natural selection. If we did not feel the burning pain of a cut, we wouldn’t exist very long. We wouldn’t notice our cuts and we would bleed to death.
On a lighter side, we can certainly file complaints on evolution in order to improve her system and make us suffer less. First, do we really need to feel seemingly unnecessary pains we might not have control over? Ignoring the miracles of science and technology because these are very new, how is an animal supposed to take care of his inner wounds or malaise? Why must he suffer for that? Nothing can be done about it, so stop zapping us with pain on the insides, dammit! I get it, for the “invention” of pain to work, it has to be connected to all organs and systems through a central nervous system, otherwise it wouldn’t always function for situations I can’t think of. I’m sure this pain mechanism can’t work any other way and it can’t be picky on the pains it chooses to give us, which is a bummer.
What is the root cause of emotional suffering?
The emotional sensory system is a lot more complicated to understand than the physical sensory system. We have become extremely complicated beings and we no longer suffer from physical pain and primitive fears alone. On top of that, we humans have an entire schmorgesborg of feelings and emotions we suffer with, which most say are more powerful and painful than mere physical pains. Not only do we have the basic primitive fears, but we also suffer a lot with more complex forms such as anger, jealousy, sadness, worthlessness, etc. I will start by telling you that by no means do I understand the reason we need such complex emotions, but it is evident that a system as complex as ours couldn’t be a fluke or an accident were it not directly attributed to our survival needs. The body has created protection measures just like our physical pain sensors. And again, the root drive of our emotional pain is fear in order to protect us. Right from birth, our brain is wired to always create new synaptic connections that constantly change our perception of how we see the world. Over time, we develop automatic reactions and triggers that the individual unintentionally created in order to protect themselves from the pain they perceived in the past to prevent it from happening again. These myriads of created perceptions happen early on in life as children, but get reinforced as we get older by continuously reacting the same way, not only causing the reactions themselves to become more intense, but also by making them more and more difficult to break free from them. Over time, if nothing was ever done about it, they turn into complex systems of unintended reactions, perceptions and anxieties causing the adult to suffer. It’s very difficult to pinpoint the root cause of a certain negative emotion because of the way they form connections with the other emotions. The emotional system is a complex network of sensations and perceptions developed and reinforced by the brain over time using a sophisticated feedback method to self-propagate new patterns of sensory input by reconnecting and reorganizing the brain’s neural pathways in order to help the individual make sense of the world and protect him from death.
Should we avoid suffering at all costs?
It is obvious we have come a long way in science and technology at fighting and eliminating physical and emotional suffering on this planet, and it will most likely continue until we feel no more pain at all. But is that such a good idea? Do we really want to eliminate all pain entirely? If not, which pains do we leave, and what are they good for? Looking at the trends these days, we suffer a lot less from physical and emotional pain than we used to because of pain killers and anesthetics just to name a few reasons. I can really understand the need for such an invention because who wants to suffer through pain when you don’t have to. Just pop this pill and feel no more. Over the years, the easy accessibility of body and mind numbing drugs has caused an entire planet to depend on pain killers and medication too much for any small reason. I don’t blame the planet for becoming addicted to the elimination of any discomfort. It’s a busy world and work needs to be done, we can’t waste time trying to manage this pain or that cold. Just take these meds and on you go.
Not only do we numb our pains with medication, but also with distractions. We are the most entertained generation of any other in existence. Any moment we have free we find a way to distract ourselves from our inner problems with television, computers, cell phones, music, hobbies, etc. Not that they are bad things, quite the opposite, but when you can’t sit still with yourself and stare at a wall if needed, then there’s a problem. We grow up in a world not being able to sit still and watch something like the clouds and feel satisfaction from it. The point I am trying to make is that we have become too accustomed to ignoring, repressing and numbing our pains that we ourselves, as individuals and as a society, have become numb. We no longer know how to feel anymore. We have become paralyzed by allowing small life-enhancing inventions turn into a frenzy of mass consumption. By allowing ourselves to join this gluttonous feast, we become more and more lazy, insensitive, agitated, anxious, depressed and unappreciative. And in this fast-paced modern world, it’s becoming too easy and almost necessary to join the feel-good race in order to fit in with the rest. The pressure to consume new ways that promise a quick fix is all around us and is very difficult to ignore. Like moths attracted to a light, we have been influenced all our lives by the corporate agenda which is designed to influence our emotions and thoughts to make us feel unsatisfied with our bodies and lives so that we can buy into their promises of quick satisfaction and happiness.
So it seems that numbing our pains at all costs furthers the development of an unhappy society. By slowing down and simplifying our lives, by practicing to feel and breath again, we can create the time and endurance necessary to tolerate, heal, and learn from our pains. We develop more patience and satisfaction this way. It is by this process that we become wise and happy, not by suppressing and ignoring our pains at all costs. What we do want is to find the root of our suffering and find ways to eliminate the misalignments in order for our bodies to express itself to its fullest potential naturally. Because the body performing at its fullest is one amazing machine.
Justin Bohemier
