Pain:Suffering and its origins

Did anyone ever tell you that pain was the only thing that's real. The whole Emo thing where slitting your wrists was the only thing that showed people there was reality in their lives. I'm sure there's a fair few MSN avatars flying around the internet with a picture of some bloody wrists and words like "Pain, the only thing that's real". Funnily enough most of the people who have said this actually don't have a clue what they're talking about, they are merely too caught up (or down) in the cycle of suffering to realise the methods behind their psychologically unaccepted coping mechanism.

The belief itself that pain is the only thing that is real is actually based on Buddhist beliefs, whether intentionally or not (likely not). Pain and suffering are the things in the world that show us that things are not as real as they seem. Suffering is the only worldly thing that comes close to being truly real. Pain exists so that life does not continue without us noticing how false it is. If pain did not exist, it would all seem so real and perfect. Pain is the most real thing we can experience and no-one lives without pain.

The thing that must be accepted is that the world does not cause us pain or suffering; we do. People exist that will upset you. Things exist that will cause you pain. To accept that these things will hurt you is the first step. The second is to accept that we can only be hurt if we allow ourselves to be. This does not mean denying the existence of pain, it means accepting that our suffering is our own self-cause; we are only upset by hurtful or painful things because we allow ourselves to be.

The main pain that people fear is death. We do not want to die because we are not sure what to expect. We are used to life and do not want to end what we are familiar with. This is why we cling to worldly things, because it is all that we know and are used to and therefore we do not want to let them go. And so we conjure up images of a better place after death, one that is within the boundaries of our own understanding and so is often represented as a physical and spatial afterlife or heaven. If a man who believes in a heaven says that he does not fear death, he lies. If he did not fear death, he would have no need to believe in a life after death. For a man to say that he does not fear dying, however, is something that could well be very true. A man may not fear the process of dying, but still fears the prospect of lifelessness.

The teachings of Christ are laid down to prevent human suffering. Effectively, they are ideals for a perfect world. The concept is that, if everyone obeyed these rules, then no man would ever hurt another in any way. However, anyone who believes that this will ever be a reality is misguided; it is completely impossible to create a perfect world in such a flawed existence. Still, millions of suffering-fearing men and woman follow the religion. In all honesty, the principles are correct, but, in practice, it is a physical impossibility. As with Communism, the system simply cannot work, because humans are not perfect and too attached to worldly things.

In short, expect to be hurt and it will not shock you as much. Consequently, when you are hurt, you will not be disappointed, and, when you are not hurt, it will be a nice surprise.

'Assume the worst, so that you can best prepare for it.' -Althe