Essay: Philosophical Perspectives on Suffering, Causes, and Relief

This essay provides a comprehensive exploration of the phenomenon of suffering, delving into its multifaceted nature and significance in human experience. It begins by defining suffering and differentiating it from pain, highlighting its emotional and psychological dimensions. The essay then examines various perspectives on why humans suffer, including the role of desires, the pursuit of happiness, and the search for meaning. It explores how suffering can be a catalyst for personal growth and a source of deeper appreciation for life's joys. Furthermore, the essay delves into philosophical insights on the causes of suffering, particularly drawing upon the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) and the concept of dukkha. It discusses the Four Noble Truths and the role of attachment and craving in perpetuating suffering. The essay concludes by exploring potential methods for alleviating suffering, emphasizing the importance of acceptance, compassion, and finding meaning in difficult circumstances. The essay draws on the works of various philosophers and thinkers to provide a nuanced and insightful analysis of suffering and its impact on the human condition.

Essay on Suffering
Suffering/Pain: Critically examine the phenomenon of suffering? Why do we suffer?
What causes it? What, if anything, ought we do about it? What alleviates it? You may
focus your essay on a particular kind of suffering (e.g. chronic illness, etc.) or
address the question more generally.
To Live; to suffer. To Survive; to Find Meaning in Suffering (Frankl, 2014, p.8) If
there is a purpose in life at all, there must be a purpose in suffering. Human
existence encompasses a complex interweaving web of pain and suffering, a web
we are unfortunately unable to escape from. Be it hundreds of years ago or this
present day, suffering is so deeply rooted within the structure of sentient life it can be
seen as a major theme in the works of literature and numerous pieces of art. The
Oxford dictionary defines suffering as “the state of undergoing pain, distress or
hardship”. With every triumph there is loss, and with every loss, there is suffering.
Oftentimes, suffering is misinterpreted as pain. Pain is a physical discomfort. It could
range from the occasional muscle ache to a stabbing back pain. Suffering, on the
other hand, is an emotional experience which may conceivably be connected to pain.
Even though these two elements may go hand in hand, suffering is often etched
deeper into a person’s mind. An individual may be laughing all the time, but as Robin
Williams, a famous actor and comedian once said: “I think the saddest people try
their hardest to make people happy’.” This suggests that someone who is smiling
may be suffering the most, encapsulating the volatility of suffering. Suffering can be
interpreted as a loss of innocence or portray a person’s success and failures. The
complexity of human suffering is hard to grasp due to its infinite forms and is often
deemed to be universal and inescapable. Many philosophers have pondered over
questions pertaining to suffering throughout history. Siddhartha Gautama and Arthur
Schopenhauer each pondered this topic. This paper will encompass different
characterizations of why humans suffer as well as insight by philosophers on what
causes suffering and how to best alleviate it.
The first part of the essay talks about different characterizations of why humans
suffer.
Humans often suffer due to their innate desires. According to Walpola Rahula,
“all the troubles and strife in the world, from little personal quarrels in families to
great wars between nations and countries, arise out of this selfish 'thirst'. From this
point of view, all economic, political and social problems are rooted in
this selfish 'thirst'” (Rahula, 2014, p.30). People are often unsatisfied due to their
struggles to gain luxuries in life. Whenever we crave or even demand that our reality
be different than what it is we suffer because of the desire of wanting it to be
different. A small portion of our lives is characterized by satisfied desires and the
majority is marked by unsatisfied desires. No desire in which we seek is satisfied
immediately and thus we endure a period of frustration and suffering before the

desire is fulfilled. To make matters worse, Life is often a “treadmill of desires”
(Benatar,2007). Although the fulfilment of some desires is temporary due to the
fulfilment becoming undone, desire fulfilment is much often temporary because even
though the desire remains fulfilled another new desire quickly arises in its place.
Cicero states that, “Moreover, foolish people are forgetful of past successes, and fail
to enjoy present ones. They simply await success in the future, but because that is
necessarily uncertain, they are consumed with anxiety and fear.” (Cicero, 2001,
p.21) Humans are helplessly trapped in a cycle of desire-fulfilment and suffering.
This is supported by psychologist Abraham Maslow who famously observed a
hierarchy of desires noting that desire gratification lead only to temporary happiness
which in turn tend to be succeeded by another higher discontent. (Benatar,2007) The
Buddha explains that “sense-pleasures” causes suffering. Sense pleasures are
basically any pleasure that comes from one of the 6 senses which encompasses the
eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. Rahula quotes, “when you see a pleasant,
charming, and a beautiful person, you like him . . . you enjoy seeing that person again
and again, you derive pleasure and satisfaction from that person. When you cannot
see that person, you become sad, you may become unreasonable and unbalanced,
you may even behave foolishly” (Rahula, 2014, p.18). Humans often have desires to
seek happiness and prosperity in life. When we resist what is infront of us and not
accept our current reality, we suffer due to wanting it to be different. The anxiety
brought about by being unable to achieve our ideal reality can drive us to act selfishly.
As Rahula explains, such an individual would want other people to feel their pain,
resulting in them hurting others through verbal or physical abuse. One’s emotional
pain from their unattainable desires is a form of suffering. It is unavoidable and exists.
When this negative stimulus causes them to lash out unreasonably and act vile,
suffering becomes like a virus, infecting and spreading from one person to another.
Humans suffer so that we can learn to fully appreciate the heights of joy by
experiencing the depths of pain and sadness. Suffering gives us greater appreciation
for moments of comfort. If we were to live our entire lives unperturbed and
comfortable, we would not be comfortable at all, because we would not be able to
conceptualise what comfort is. In fact, the most profound feelings of happiness and
triumph often come after suffering. Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson
Mandela are some of the greatest men and woman to have ever existed. They
experienced inconceivable suffering, only to become the most influential figures in
the world (Navilon,2019) Suffering and pleasure are both instigators of
consciousness. We are unable to achieve consciousness with only pleasure and
without suffering. The reverse is true as well. We will not achieve higher
consciousness by living life in the middle – by constantly avoiding suffering. Even
from a biological standpoint, physical suffering can enhance pleasure. An example
would be an experience commonly referred to as “the runner’s high”. After a period
of intense physical exertion, runners experience a sense of euphoria that is linked to
the production of opioids, a neurochemical also released in response to pain
(Bastion,2017) Individuals who are able to find contentment after enduring some
tribulations appreciate their joy more. Richard Nixon believes that, “Only if you have
been in the deepest valley, can we ever know how magnificent it is to be on the
highest mountain.” Life generally does not have to be lived in extremes – extreme

highs and extreme lows. However, if we want to open ourselves up to those few
profound moments of elation, we need to allow ourselves to suffer.
Humans suffer in order to add deeper meaning into their life. This aids in personal
development as well. To find greater meaning in one’s life refers to the personal
enlightenment surrounding their central motivating aims – the reasons an individual
gets up in the morning. Victor Frankl mentions that, “The way in which man accepts
his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives
him ample opportunity – even under the most difficult circumstances – to add a
deeper meaning to his life” (Frankl, 2014, p.76) Frankl explains that humans may
find greater meaning in life when confronted with a hopeless situation or facing a fate
that cannot be changed. Under these circumstances, what then matters is the
human potential at its best, which is to change a personal tragedy into a triumph.
When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change
ourselves. According to psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun,
who interviewed people who suffered traumatic life events including grief or serious
illness, dealing with trauma sets a powerful spur for personal development
(Collier,2016) Life is potentially meaningful under any conditions, even those which
are most miserable. This presupposes human capacity to creatively turns life’s
miserable aspects into something constructive. David brooks states that, “The grief
of having a lost a loved one smashes through what they thought was the bottom floor
of their personality revealing an area below,” (Brooks, 2014) Brook explains how
suffering can enhance a person’s character and make them stronger. Not only does
suffering allow individuals to add meaning and new purpose into their lives, it also
allows them to see their life in a new way. Suffering enables humans to reveal new
depths of their character and better understand themselves. A helpless victim in a
hopeless situation, facing a fate he is unable to change may rise above himself and
grow beyond.
The next part of the essay talks about the insight of philosophers pertaining to
causes of suffering as well as how to best alleviate it.
Siddhartha Gautama is widely recognized as the founder of Buddhism, and the
Supreme Buddha. Buddhism is built on the doctrine that humans are eternally
burdened with suffering, or otherwise known as dukkha. Due to asceticism and
hedonism being deemed irrational (Chan ,2010), Buddhism was born, representing
the middle way between the two.
According to the Discourses of Buddha, the origin of suffer is craving, otherwise
known as tanhā. Tanhā can be translated as craving or attachment to desire (D.
Teasdale & Chaskalson, 2011, p.94) Due to overlaps between attachment to desires
being the reason and cause for human suffering as covered in the first part of my
essay, I will not go into detail in this part of my essay. Aside from attachment to
desire, Gautama found that, “life is brief and painful; birth is evil, and death is
release; and the best way to live is to fall out of love with life and develop a state of
mind that will provide an authentic experience of peace and joy” (Christian,2008). He
believes that having emotional attachment to anyone or anything would only cause
suffering. Gautama once said, ‘He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves

no one has no woes.” (Bodhipaksa,2012) Loving people is seen as an unnecessary
source of suffering. The less an individual loved, the less suffering they will
experience. The love which the Buddha is referring to has characteristics of
possession and ownership, otherwise known as affection. The dukkha that we are
spared from by not having loved ones is the added suffering that comes from being
unable to bear the pain of loss.
Buddha believed that the way to free oneself from suffering is to embrace and follow
the Four Noble Truths. The first of the Four Noble Truths is, “To live is to suffer”. The
First Truth reminds us that all humans beings share the experience of suffering. As
individuals, we often feel that we are unable to get our lives sorted out and discover
the secret to lasting happiness, whereas everyone else has gotten this to work out.
We identify this phenomenon as our own private failure, and that identification
worsens our sense of unsatisfactoriness. The Buddha cuts through this
personalization of isolated dukkha by quite simply asserting that “There is dukkha”
(D. Teasdale & Chaskalson, 2011, p.91) This highlights that human nature in not
perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we will inevitably face
physical suffering such as pain and sickness along with psychological suffering such
as sadness and disappointment. The inevitability of dukkha is rooted in the way our
minds are structured at the current state of our evolution. Once we realize that
humanity experiences suffering as a whole and that no individual is exempted, this
realization can not only help us feel a greater sense of connection and compassion
to other human beings but also alleviate our sufferings. Even though there are
varying degrees of suffering, along with positive experiences in life perceived as the
opposite of suffering such as comfort and happiness, life in its totality is incomplete
and imperfect. This is due to our world being subjected to impermanence. We are
unable to keep what we strive for permanently because happy moments die out, and
ourselves and loved ones will suffer the same fate someday as well. The Buddha
puts it as such “But in the case of a well-taught noble disciple, when he is touched by
a painful feeling, he will not worry nor grieve and lament, he will not beat his breast
and weep, nor will he be distraught. It is one kind of feelings that he experiences, a
bodily one, but not a mental feeling. It is as if a man were pierced by an arrow but
was not hit by a second arrowing following the first one” (D. Teasdale & Chaskalson,
2011, p.92) Unpleasant physical sensations or emotional feelings are inherent in life.
However, they are not the problem. Rather, dukkha is the suffering we pile on top of
the unpleasant feelings by how we relate to them. The essential message of this
teaching is as such: where uncomfortable feelings are inevitable, dukkha pertaining
to the sense of suffering is optional. For example, with regard to experiencing failure,
the first arrow would encompass a simple feeling of sadness. That arrow would be
transformed into a more intense and persistent state of depression upon adding the
second arrow of ruminative thinking. By learning how to not shoot the second arrow
at ourselves and skilfully relating to unpleasant feelings, we can alleviate suffering.
In the studies of Pessimism, Schopenhauer argues that suffering is intrinsic to
human existence. He states that suffering is caused by emotion. Schopenhauer
claims that “lower” animals experience significantly less suffering as they lack deep

emotions. They are “much more content with mere existence than man”
(Schopenhauer, 2004, p.5) The life of a brute not only carries less sorrow with it, but
proportionally less joy when compared to the life of human. The lack of emotions has
resultantly granted these brutes freedom from the torments of care and anxiety.
Humans lack the tranquillity of mind possessed by the brutes and we allow our
thoughts and emotions to cause us suffering. In addition, Man’s fixation with the past
and present also causes us to become “restless and discontented” (Schopenhauer,
2004, p.5) Humans anticipate pleasure to such an extent that upon attaining a goal
its pleasure is not so nearly pleasant as we expected. However, when we experience
something painful we find it to be very much more painful than anticipated. This
highlights the cycle of suffering humans are put through due to the complexity of our
emotions.
Perhaps even worse is when humans cease to anticipate. When humans are bored
and stop struggling, he suffers. Schopenhauer believes that an existential vacuum,
otherwise known as boredom, is also a cause of suffering. According to Viktor
Frankl, “Now we can understand Schopenhauer when he said that mankind was
apparently doomed to vacillate eternally between the two extremes of distress and
boredom. (Frankl, 2014, p.112) The existential vacuum is becoming an increasingly
widespread phenomenon of the twentieth century. This is not surprising due to a
twofold loss man had to undergo since becoming a true human being. At the
beginning of human history, man lost some basic animal instincts which an animal’s
behaviour is imbedded in. Recent developments to traditions which has buttressed
human’s behaviour are rapidly diminishing (Pendleton,2016) Instinct no longer
governs our actions. Traditions no longer pressure us what ought to be done.
Sometimes, humans are unable to decide on what they wish to do. The existential
vacuum has manifested itself in the state of boredom. When people become aware
of the lack of content in their lives, a void within them manifests, causing them to
suffer.
As pessimistic as he may be, Schopenhauer did not devote the majority of his work
convincing one to end their life. His recommendation to reduce suffering were
generally stoic in nature. He states that one should completely abandon emotion and
“give play to the intellect alone” (Schopenhauer, 2014, p.19). This suggests that an
individual should detach oneself from emotional elements of existence in terms of
material desires as well as relationships. Any form of emotion; in other words, every
movement of the will oftentimes outweigh intellectual elements in consciousness,
making humans appear as a being who wills rather than knows. Humans are driven
by their emotions and this often leads to fits of anger or unrestrained displays of fear
which cause us suffering. A life void of emotion can stop unnecessary human
suffering and even alleviate it. He furthers his recommendation by stating that human
should “turn his back upon the world” (Schopenhauer, 2014, p.7) To Schopenhauer,
the denial of the way to live is redemption. One should cast off emotion as much as
possible, including hope as suffering will ultimately soon follow. When an individual
ignores the superficialities of the world and starts to regard the varying degrees of
disappointment as anything but unusual or irregular, they will be able to alleviate
suffering in their lifetime.

Helen Keller once said, “The world is full of suffering, but it is also full of people
overcoming it”. Though she is not a philosopher, this quote encompasses the
importance of suffering in life. The fact that so people face suffer every day and
question its very existence is the reason why so many people strive to make the best
out of the times when they are not suffering. After all the research which I have done
for this essay, I would have to say that I am unable to find what I consider truth of the
matter pertaining to the any of the beliefs which the philosophers have mentioned. I
think that this is also true for many people as we all have different opinions of the
world and we all react differently to suffering. I personally believe that everything that
happens in life happens for a reason, and that we are shaped by the choices we
make throughout our lives and the things we experience. This goes for suffering as
well. I do believe that suffering is an inescapable part of life, but it is also a
necessary part of living. Suffering is not something that I would wish upon myself or
others, and as hard as it can be to overcome, possess inherent advantages. The
most important takeaway from suffering should be that tomorrow is never promised
today and we must take what we have now and make the most out of it. We must not
dwell on the suffering we endure but overcome it and take away the important
lessons it has to teach us.
(3000 words)
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