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Why is life so unpleasant?

Pegasus said:
Emotions exist simply to help get the body into better circumstances. Much like pain inflicted by a flame tells you something worthwhile about your body (that it is not resistant to flame), emotional pain says something also-- It is just a bit harder to figure out.
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Why are we here?

Because science.

Meh... it's an unsatisfying answer to the question. People ask the question with the intention of getting a philosophical / ontological answer, not a scientific one.
 
Dr Pepper said:
Unless you are in chronic pain i dont really have sympathy for you. life fucking sucks.
i had it all and then a surgeon ruined my life and i lost everything i loved. so fuck you
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I'm not asking for sympathy. I'm asking a philosophical question. Everyone seems to be reading this thread like I'm throwing myself to the ground screaming "WHY GOD WHY?!" Hell, I even provided my own answer to the question in the first post, then I said 'what's your reason?' But either way, what an amazing attitude you've got there. 8)
 
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. One is a sensation and one is a perspective.

The root of all suffering is attachment. Let go of suffering and you will understand pain as the transient experience it is.
 
you suffer when you resent or deny having pain. the resistance to it, and dwelling on it which causes it to grow. in essence, pain is a physical state while suffering is a mental state.
 
in the first moment there was a singular all-powerful consciousness. in its infinite loneliness its longed for something more than just itself, so it introduced chaos into the universe.

perfection would be too lonely imo

but this universe can be Heaven if you want it to be

if you're not making your Heaven then you're waiting for Hell
 
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Where... did my post go?

I said sorry to you Captain Heroin for coming across snarky, and then I refuted the suffering / happiness duality argument. Hope it pops up. :\
 
L2R said:
you suffer when you resent or deny having pain. the resistance to it, and dwelling on it which causes it to grow. in essence, pain is a physical state while suffering is a mental state.
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I see. :) Suffering is still inevitable. At least, in youth, before we learn to transcend it.


I'm very grateful to be a part of this magnificent universe, pain, suffering and all. <3 Wouldn't have it any other way.
 
TheAppleCore said:
Why are we here?

Because science.

Meh... it's an unsatisfying answer to the question. People ask the question with the intention of getting a philosophical / ontological answer, not a scientific one.
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I think you must have meant to quote someone else. The answer I gave is purely philosophical, with no scientific rationale given. Read it again:

Pegasus said:
Emotions exist simply to help get the body into better circumstances. Much like pain inflicted by a flame tells you something worthwhile about your body (that it is not resistant to flame), emotional pain says something also-- It is just a bit harder to figure out.
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I don't know how much more philosophical an answer can get.
 
L2R said:
how could life survive if not for suffering?
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^This is part of it, and while I've believed I was going to die enough times to have life demonstrate for me that I do in fact believe in something more than that we are meat puppets of the accidentally self-replicating molecule DNA, such a perspective is instructive so far as it regards the OP's inquiry. Namely: we live in a world that, on a large scale at least, develops in a way that is indifferent to our suffering. Quantitatively speaking:

“parasites outnumber free-living biodiversity by as much as 50%,” they note in Biological Conservation. At least 76,000 parasitic species, for instance, inhabit nearly 45,000 vertebrate hosts.
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article original source

So the way it shakes out things are fundamentally stacked against us. It's amazing humans didn't wipe themselves out via suicide as soon as they evolved high level self-awareness (and I mean that in a quite contented and optimistic sense!)
 
TheAppleCore said:
What is the difference between pain and suffering?
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Pain is just pain, suffering is when a type of pain or types of pains transforms your mood to being unhappy/upset.

Pain is a sensation, and suffering is just an overwhelming perception of the aforementioned pain.

Flickering said:
I said sorry to you Captain Heroin for coming across snarky
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It's all good :) I can be kind of snarky too =D
 
Pegasus said:
I think you must have meant to quote someone else. The answer I gave is purely philosophical, with no scientific rationale given.
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No, I indeed meant to quote you. I disagree that your answer is philosophical as opposed to scientific. The way I read it, you're saying that pain can be explained by evolution, which is what biologists are interested in. Philosophers want to know how pain relates to the meaning of life.
 
from a phil. point of view pain is necessary to appreciate happiness/joy. there are plenty of arguments on why evil exists in the universe by philosophers but doesn't really give a satisfying answer overall.

I like the idea that suffering is different than pain; i feel i suffer a lot but if it's because i'm fighting the realization that pain is necessary, then that can ease my suffering... something i never thought of.
 
psood0nym said:
^This is part of it, and while I've believed I was going to die enough times to have life demonstrate for me that I do in fact believe in something more than that we are meat puppets of the accidentally self-replicating molecule DNA, such a perspective is instructive so far as it regards the OP's inquiry. Namely: we live in a world that, on a large scale at least, develops in a way that is indifferent to our suffering. Quantitatively speaking:


article original source

So the way it shakes out things are fundamentally stacked against us. It's amazing humans didn't wipe themselves out via suicide as soon as they evolved high level self-awareness (and I mean that in a quite contented and optimistic sense!)
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my point with that post was that no species would survive without some form of sensational alert for when harm is being experienced. we know to remove ourselves from hazards by that kind of input alone.
 
L2R said:
my point with that post was that no species would survive without some form of sensational alert for when harm is being experienced. we know to remove ourselves from hazards by that kind of input alone.
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but (philosophically/spiritually/religiously) why does harm/hazard have to exist in the first place? why death?
 
^ Yes. There are SO many benefits to looking at life as a game / form of play, as opposed to serious business.

People think that they'll suddenly stop behaving responsibly, and start living like hedonistic couch-potato zombies, if they stop taking things seriously. The exact opposite is true. When you stop stressing about everything, you actually gain a new level of mental clarity which allows you to be much more successful.
 
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