Is life essentially suffering? Also, is it impossible for someone to understand another person's experience of consciousness?

[Deleted member 23885]

Is life mostly suffering?
Also, is your individual experience of consciousness- thoughts, feelings and perceptions- unique. So, are they qualitative differences in consciousness between optimists and pessimists. Does it have something to do with pain sensitivity?

 

[WornOutLife]

Damn, you really blew my mind with those questions.

I think life is mostly suffering even you have lots of friends, girls/boys, money, etc. Otherwise, rich and famous people would never CTB.

And I love the second question, I think the feeling of consciousness is unique and different for each person. I mean, we can all interact and share opinions about anything but, are we really doing it? What if this a simulation and there's only 1 player and many NPCs? Or maybe, lots of players and I'm the NPC?
I know, I'm obsessed with the simulation theory but this life just doesn't make any sense and I can't find interest or belief in religions.

 

[Deleted member 23885]

So, is it that some people are more conscious than others?

 

[WornOutLife]

So, is it that some people are more conscious than others?

I think it might be like that.
I mean, look at us! We make ourselves questions about consciousness, the universe, life and death, etc while some other people, just get up, go to work, have kids, and then die. Is that "conscious?" It's as if they were in some kind of pilot mode! (like the movie CLICK. Adam Sandler is on it, I highly recommend it!)

 

[Deleted member 23885]

Oh okay. Interesting thoughts.

 

[VainVanity]

I personally believe if you COULD measure out the amount of negative(pain, suffering) and positive(pleasurable, satisfactory) experiences in the totality of the individuals OR the whole of being for practically all sentience, that suffering would outweigh the pleasure of this world by a longshot. There is a quote that makes you think about this by the famous philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, in which he states, "Pleasure is never as pleasant as we expected it to be and pain is always more painful. The pain in the world always outweighs the pleasure. If you don't believe it, compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is eating the other." This is interesting to dwell on and makes you think, are our lives all that they're cracked up to be? After all, the rules of nature haven't changed. We(The human animal) have evolved to compete and eat one another in different ways now.

 

[Chupacabra 44]

I've concluded that unless one is blessed with the perfect elixir of neuro chemicals and can find happiness in little things, then life is filled with unhappiness, boredom, and suffering in many cases. And then, even with those who seemingly have their neurotransmitters dialed in, oftentimes it's seemingly all an illusion, as many of these neurotransmitter exceptions aren't as happy as they seem to present. Lots of people mask and give off the air of happiness, especially in this era dominated with social media.

 

[constant_grief]

People are definitely wired differently. But we also have to remember that for life as we know it to exist, suffering has to exist. There's no happiness without sadness. So suffering is an inevitable part of life.

 

[Deleted member 23374]

Life without suffering is technically coma or death right ?

 

[demuic]

Yes, it is mostly suffering with short respites of "happiness."

I've thought about this a lot. I find it "lonely" how we will never be able to experience another person's consciousness, we are forever trapped in our minds and can only see things from our own point of view. I think if there was ever a way for human's to experience another person's life/consciousness, feeling everything they feel and living in their shoes, it would be very interesting...a true form of empathy.

 

[sephlove]

Consciousness is one of the least understood phenomenon, by scientific standards. It is not really "thoughts, feelings and perceptions" and those 3 are more so part of cognition and behaviour rather than consciousness. There are some similarities between all of our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. You can find some extensive studies under Cognitive Science/Psychology on this.

Actually, consciousness has less to do with your thoughts than you think. Take some LSD, read watch some videos from some gurus and you'll realize that the ultimate state of consciousness is achieved in the absence of all thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.

 

[darksideofthebright]

Although I'm not one, but growing up in a Buddhist family has partly influenced how I see life and sufferings. Throughout our lives (excluding only when we are suicidal), life is about balancing between sufferings and happiness. When we are suicidal, life is about balancing between sufferings and the resources we have to cope with them. So essentially, regardless of which situation you are in, life is about balancing sufferings and something else. Therefore, sufferings are really a part of life that will always be there.

The second question, I think consciousness varies from one person to another. We were all born at the same starting point. However, right from the VERY FIRST second, our lives all branch into different ways. And these ways: the environment, the people, the upbringing, etc. and the surroundings essentially, influence how we view the world. Because of that, that will affect our sensitivity levels to pains.

People say we shouldn't compare our happinesses with others', and based on that logics, we also shouldn't compare our sufferings with others', because we all view life differently, and our tolerance levels with bs from life are also different. That's why it's always important to remind ourselves and others that our best is good enough. And that's why we can NEVER understand someone else's situation, we can only SYMPATHISE with them.

 

[Deleted member 23885]

Thanks for your informative post! I watched a movie with my mum and am feeling slightly better now!

 

[Tired of existing]

I guess there is a balance of suffering and happiness or at least the prospect of happiness.

But yeah, suffering ist part of life.
When suffering outweights happiness it is up to us to look for solutions.
Some start over again and change their life and push on for a while.

Others seek peace.