It is not at all difficult to see that pain and suffering are the basis of human existence - a simple but unbiased analysis of our own inner world is enough, which immediately shows how the three fundamental links of our being are associated with them by their very nature. The first thing we notice when we look inward is that they lie at the very source of every urge and desire. We even inhale and exhale forcibly, under the whip, for rejection of them immediately turns into pain; we seek food and drink, for we are driven to this by hunger and thirst - forms of suffering; we are looking for the company of other people, since loneliness is painful for us; we change the position of our own body, because any of them quickly begins to cause discomfort. A similar mechanism determines human goal-setting in other areas,whether it is the consumption of goods and services, career, creativity or self-development. Desire and impulse are based on lack, experienced as suffering, lack, they are welded together into an inseparable whole.
However, the very process of eliminating the deficiency, that is, the realization of desire, is permeated with various forms and degrees of pain. Moving forward and overcoming the resistance of reality to our efforts, we experience this very resistance as discomfort, intensified to the degree of suffering by our dissatisfaction with the speed and results of this movement, mistakes, failures, regrets, disappointments, doubts and boredom. Finally, they are also waiting for us at the end of this path - and not only if the goal is not achieved. What has been achieved is almost always disappointing and never consciously or unconsciously brings the expected euphoria, but even if this were not so, nature still will not give us a break. It invariably devalues what we already possess, and then drives us forward to new destinations,exaggerating their importance and whipping along the way with a whip of an irreplaceable lack, a void that is not filled with anything.
We have become so accustomed to this sad story of human life that we notice only strong bursts and high levels of suffering, not paying attention to small and moderate amounts of it, which are somehow present as a background even in moments of joy and happiness. This is how the patient feels healthy in moments of weakening of the usual ailment.
To understand the problem under discussion, it is now necessary to introduce a fundamental terminological distinction between pain and suffering. Pain is a physiological phenomenon that goes far beyond the boundaries of the human world, and the powers of consciousness in controlling it are extremely limited. Suffering, on the other hand, is a psycho-emotional phenomenon and is an invention of homo sapiens. It is suffering, not pain, that is responsible for human misery. The average and more or less healthy person rarely encounters pain, sporadically and even somehow not seriously, if we compare its volumes with the incredible amounts of negative psychoemotional states experienced by him all his life. Nevertheless, the suffering generated by consciousness lends itself to conscious control and elimination, in which there is hope.
The simple truth that suffering is inextricably linked with the phenomenon of desire has been known to mankind for a long time. It is the basis of the great teachings of early Buddhism, summarized in the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha. They can be roughly formulated as follows: 1) existence is suffering; 2) the cause of suffering is desire ("trishna"); 3) overcoming suffering occurs through the victory over desires; 4) a means of overcoming suffering - the Eightfold Path.
However, Buddhism does not emphasize the most important mechanism of connection between suffering and desire, what I will allow myself here to call existential dissonance - the difference between the desired and the actual. It is in the contemplation of the torturing rift between the way things really are and the way we would like them to be, that the only cause of suffering lies. Existential dissonance as a deep foundation of a human being cannot be completely eliminated, except in dreams, ideals (for example, Nietzsche's "amor fati") and tales about gray-bearded spiritual teachers. Its acuity, however, lends itself to a significant reduction, since it is based on an illusion, a cognitive distortion constantly generated by our inexperienced consciousness in working on itself. It systematically deceives us into believingthat the fulfillment of our desires will make us substantially happier than we are now, many times exaggerating the actual difference between these two points in terms of their subjective experience. Nature teases us with a carrot in front of our very noses, promising euphoria if our dreams come true, and the imagination paints a picture in thick bright colors, in comparison with which our current situation really begins to seem unenviable. The truth is that there is little difference between our ordinary, everyday life experience and what we experience in realizing our goals and dreams. It is artificially injected by the motivational centers of our brain with the active participation of the imagination and the habit of self-deception.many times exaggerating the actual difference between these two points in terms of their subjective experience. Nature teases us with a carrot in front of our very noses, promising euphoria if our dreams come true, and the imagination paints a picture in thick bright colors, in comparison with which our current situation really begins to seem unenviable. The truth is that there is little difference between our ordinary, everyday life experience and what we experience in realizing our goals and dreams. It is artificially injected by the motivational centers of our brain with the active participation of the imagination and the habit of self-deception.many times exaggerating the actual difference between these two points in terms of their subjective experience. Nature teases us with a carrot in front of our very noses, promising euphoria if our dreams come true, and the imagination paints a picture in thick bright colors, in comparison with which our current situation really begins to seem unenviable. The truth is that there is little difference between our ordinary, everyday life experience and what we experience in realizing our goals and dreams. It is artificially injected by the motivational centers of our brain with the active participation of the imagination and the habit of self-deception.in comparison with which our current situation really begins to seem unenviable. The truth is that there is little difference between our ordinary, everyday life experience and what we experience in realizing our goals and dreams. It is artificially injected by the motivational centers of our brain with the active participation of the imagination and the habit of self-deception.in comparison with which our current situation really begins to seem unenviable. The truth is that there is little difference between our ordinary, everyday life experience and what we experience in realizing our goals and dreams. It is artificially injected by the motivational centers of our brain with the active participation of the imagination and the habit of self-deception.
Lying on silk sheets on a tropical island in your own villa (or what else are you dreaming of?), You will not feel fundamentally different than in an ordinary bed on a cloudy autumn Russian morning. However, if you associated the first picture with happiness, and the second with the harsh reality to be overcome, then regardless of your real experiences after the fulfillment of the desired, which you do not even bother to compare with your subjective experience of the point "before", you will still try to hang on them in advance prepared label "happiness". Moreover, this pre-prepared label and image is so strong and shrouded in the light of euphoria that it will definitely spoil your sense of life with the contrast it creates between "I have" and "I want" all the time that you are on your way to this paradise, path,which may not lead anywhere. The only important difference that will make you happier on that very island is that the existential dissonance that holds us in its grip will temporarily loosen the bear's grip, as the rift between “I have” and “I want to have” will close. You will indeed be somewhat happier (however, not at all by such a noticeable amount as the imagination draws it), but mainly not due to the positive content of the new experience, but due to the weakening of the degree of suffering. What does this mean in a practical sense? And the fact that you can achieve this without any island, and in order to be transferred to it, all that is required from the point of view of subjective experiences is to unclench the claws of existential dissonance closed on our brain.because of which on that very island you will be happier, is that the existential dissonance that holds us in its grip will temporarily loosen the bear's grip, as the rift between "I have" and "I want to have" will close. You will indeed be somewhat happier (however, not at all by such a noticeable amount as the imagination draws it), but mainly not due to the positive content of the new experience, but due to the weakening of the degree of suffering. What does this mean in a practical sense? And the fact that you can achieve this without any island, and in order to be transferred to it, all that is required from the point of view of subjective experiences is to unclench the claws of existential dissonance closed on our brain.because of which on that very island you will be happier, is that the existential dissonance that holds us in its grip will temporarily loosen the bear's grip, as the rift between "I have" and "I want to have" will close. You will indeed be somewhat happier (however, not at all by such a noticeable amount as the imagination draws it), but mainly not due to the positive content of the new experience, but due to the weakening of the degree of suffering. What does this mean in a practical sense? And the fact that you can achieve this without any island, and in order to be transferred to it, all that is required from the point of view of subjective experiences is to unclench the claws of existential dissonance closed on our brain.because the gap between "I have" and "I want to have" will close. You will indeed be somewhat happier (however, not at all by such a noticeable amount as the imagination draws it), but mainly not due to the positive content of the new experience, but due to the weakening of the degree of suffering. What does this mean in a practical sense? And the fact that you can achieve this without any island, and in order to be transferred to it, all that is required from the point of view of subjective experiences is to unclench the claws of existential dissonance closed on our brain.because the gap between "I have" and "I want to have" will close. You will indeed be somewhat happier (however, not at all by such a noticeable amount as the imagination draws it), but mainly not due to the positive content of the new experience, but due to the weakening of the degree of suffering. What does this mean in a practical sense? And the fact that you can achieve this without any island, and in order to be transferred to it, all that is required from the point of view of subjective experiences is to unclench the claws of existential dissonance closed on our brain. What does this mean in a practical sense? And the fact that you can achieve this without any island, and in order to be transferred to it, all that is required from the point of view of subjective experiences is to unclench the claws of existential dissonance closed on our brain. What does this mean in a practical sense? And the fact that you can achieve this without any island, and in order to be transferred to it, all that is required from the point of view of subjective experiences is to unclench the claws of existential dissonance closed on our brain.
The shocking truth is that achieving our goals doesn't make us happier - or at least just for a little while. And vice versa, we are unhappy not at all because there is no desired in our life, but because of our own sufferings about its absence and the false idea of the rainbow happiness that awaits us if our goals are realized to incredible proportions. It will not be.
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The same mechanisms are involved in feelings of envy. We associate the possession of a desired thing, achievement, or lifestyle with a specific positive sense of life that we are confident they should bring. We believe (and this torments us) that we are deprived of something important, in contrast to another person - successful, beautiful, famous, rich, lucky or smart. However, from the inside, and not from the outside, he hardly lives especially better than ours (if not worse), and the small difference that exists can most likely be removed by working on straightening the distortions of his own perception.
The underlying cognitive distortion described here addresses both the past and the future in what I would call the “paradise lost” and “longed-for paradise” archetypes, respectively. Along the line of the past, the paradise of the lost, we are constantly tormented by regret for missed opportunities or ended joys. The generated images of past happiness against the background of partial oblivion and partial falsification of our real sensations in these periods and moments make us suffer from the emptiness of today and painfully contemplate this contrast inflated by the imagination. In retrospect, pleasant moments and periods are condensed into a kind of concentrated solar image. But real life is not a concentrate, and to evaluate it according to the pictures of the past fabricated by the brain is to mislead oneself. What the brain offers us along the line of the future, the desired paradise,- already described in sufficient detail above. This is a heap of promises, which we willingly buy over and over again, forgetting that all our lives the previous ones were not justified. But what prevents us from learning from the experience of our own inner life, why do we get up on the same rake hundreds, thousands of times? Perhaps the reason is the lack of desire, skill and habit of self-reflection, to that great ancient Greek "Know thyself" and the following "Change yourself".to that great ancient Greek "Know thyself" and following him "Change yourself."to that great ancient Greek "Know thyself" and following him "Change yourself."
To summarize some of the key points of this analysis, we get the following. The notion of happiness, past or future, is a product of our imaginations and the inherent cognitive distortions generated in service by the brain's motivational systems and sociocultural environment. The lack of experience of self-observation and introspection does not allow us to understand that the achievement of our goals (which, by the way, are very rarely really “ours”) will not bring, as it has been in our lives hundreds of times, the desired inner state. The subjective experience of the moments "before" and "after" has a minimal difference and depends not so much on the actual state of affairs in the external world as on the microclimate of the internal world. If we compare our real life with these phantoms and suffer from the constant contrast between them,then in a stupid way let us miss the real happiness in pursuit of its simulacra. The suffering we experience is generated by the same illusions and mirages, and our inner well-being depends on whether we are able to correct distortions of the perspective of perception without exaggerating the importance and results of achieving what we want. We create our inner life as a waking dream, we fall in love with some of the images we generate, others frighten us, others torment and crush us, the fourth give joy and peace, the fifth - plunge us into despair and misery. All of them are our creation, even the past and the future are only images and chimeras inside the "now", and the keys to human existence, apparently, lie on the path of active awareness of this fact.and our inner well-being depends on whether we are able to correct the distortions of the perspective of perception, without exaggerating the importance and results of achieving the desired. We create our inner life as a waking dream, we fall in love with some of the images we generate, others frighten us, others torment and crush us, the fourth give joy and peace, the fifth - plunge us into despair and misery. All of them are our creation, even the past and the future are only images and chimeras inside the "now", and the keys to human existence, apparently, lie on the path of active awareness of this fact.and our inner well-being depends on whether we are able to correct the distortions of the perspective of perception, without exaggerating the importance and results of achieving the desired. We create our inner life as a waking dream, we fall in love with some of the images we generate, others frighten us, others torment and crush us, the fourth give joy and peace, the fifth - plunge us into despair and misery. All of them are our creation, even the past and the future are only images and chimeras inside the "now", and the keys to human existence, apparently, lie on the path of active awareness of this fact.others frighten us, others torment and crush us, the fourth give joy and peace, the fifth - plunge us into despair and unhappiness. All of them are our creation, even the past and the future are only images and chimeras inside the "now", and the keys to human existence, apparently, lie on the path of active awareness of this fact.others frighten us, others torment and crush us, the fourth give joy and peace, the fifth - plunge us into despair and unhappiness. All of them are our creation, even the past and the future are only images and chimeras inside the "now", and the keys to human existence, apparently, lie on the path of active awareness of this fact.
© Oleg Tsendrovsky