This is a definition that I used to use the most, but I’ve since changed it up a bit. Suffering is the state of being in pain by design, so that you are constantly in pain, yet you don’t act on it.
Suffering, or the state of being in pain, is our tendency to look for something that makes us feel good, instead of feeling sad. We have to get out of pain rather than feeling bad. Suffering is a state of being in pain, so that you are constantly in pain, yet you dont act on it.
The problem is that when we suffer, it does not feel good. It feels like someone is stabbing us with a knife and then it gets to be a fight. It comes with a sting in the tail.
You can feel that pain, but you don’t act on it. You act on your feelings instead of your feelings acting on you. You act on not wanting to be in that pain, instead of you not wanting to be in pain. You are acting on your feelings instead of your feelings acting on you. The thing about suffering is that it is a state of feeling good. Our suffering is a state of feeling good.
We are experiencing our own version of suffering, if you will. Like a child, we are experiencing something positive, but we act on that positive feeling instead of acting on something positive acting on us. We feel good. We’re in a state of feeling good. We’re acting on our feelings instead of acting on our feelings.
Suffering is about feeling good, our feelings about suffering is about feeling good. If you are suffering, you are acting on your feelings. If you are acting on your feelings, you are suffering. I would argue that suffering is a negative emotion, and acting on our feelings is a positive emotion, but even though my feelings of suffering can be positive, they still don’t make me feel good. They just make me feel like I’m acting on them.
The fact is you need to act on your feelings for as long as you can. People with self-awareness are able to exercise a little meta-cognition and say, “Hmm… every time my sister calls me and asks for money, I end up drinking a lot of vodkas. That might not be a coincidence,” a person without self-awareness just hits the bottle and doesn’t look back.
Being on autopilot for so long that we forget we’re on autopilot is one of those things that a person with self-awareness just hits the bottle and doesn’t look back.
I’m not sure I can quite get my head around the idea of someone who’s always on autopilot. I mean, I never am, right? I’ve always been here. I just don’t remember why I’m always here.
Being on autopilot for so long that you stop noticing you’re on autopilot is the exact opposite of how we should all be. But the problem is that people with self-awareness are able to exercise a little meta-cognition and say, “Hmm… every time my sister calls me and asks for money, I end up drinking a lot of vodkas.
