• Possibility
    2.8k
    Is being in state of denial not a form of suffering? Here I observe man to be happy. I don't know though. He could be happily walking into ambush with three attackers down street. Maybe even I tell him about attackers but he choose not believe and is wilful ignorance which in this case could be seen as someone who just is not suffering yet?Spirit12

    Yes, it’s also possible for outside observers to recognise the potential for suffering prior to the suffering occurring. At the point that he chooses ignorance, he contributes to his own suffering.
  • Spirit12
    26
    What if happy man is man who is slave all of life and does not know better? What if culture not have words for "unfair" or "exploit"?
  • Possibility
    2.8k
    What if happy man is man who is slave all of life and does not know better? What if culture not have words for "unfair" or "exploit"?Spirit12

    If he’s happy in his ignorance, there is nothing for you to do here. You can’t force someone to be more aware. But happiness is only a temporary experience of positive affect - it comes and goes. In those moments when he is not happy (and we all have those times) he experiences prediction error: his conceptualisation of the world does not match the reality of his experience. This is suffering only if he chooses not to integrate the reality of his experience into a revised conceptualisation of the world.

    The words aren’t as essential as we might think - it’s the shared meaning that’s important. You can still help them to construct a concept of ‘exploitation’ if you understand the meaning behind concepts they do have.
  • ovdtogt
    667
    O Humans suffer more because they know they suffer.
  • Possibility
    2.8k
    Humans suffer more because they know they suffer.ovdtogt

    That’s circular. Humans suffer because their predicted conceptualisation of the world doesn’t match the information from their interactions with sensed reality, and they prefer to interact with their existing predictions than make the effort to revise their concepts.

    Revision is change: the experience amounts to:

    Pain: the recognition that energy is required within the system that hasn’t been budgeted for

    Lack/loss: the recognition that previously integrated information must be discarded as no longer relevant, or that the information within the system is incomplete

    Humiliation: the recognition that the system needs what is beyond the system

    Suffering is a refusal to recognise these. Humans suffer more because they think they know better than reality.
  • ovdtogt
    667
    That’s circular.Possibility

    No it is not circular. As a young child I lived in a very cold house (ice on the inside of the windows). We had no central heating, just an open fireplace in the living room. I constantly had a cold in the winter. However it didn't bothered me all that much because I thought that this was perfectly normal. Now I live in a centrally heated home but whenever I am anywhere where it is cold I feel miserable. Knowledge has a huge influence on perception.
  • Possibility
    2.8k
    No it is not circular. As a young child I lived in a very cold house (ice on the inside of the windows). We had no central heating, just an open fireplace in the living room. I constantly had a cold in the winter. However it didn't bothered me all that much because I thought that this was perfectly normal. Now I live in a centrally heated home but whenever I am anywhere where it is cold I feel miserable. Knowledge has a huge influence on perception.ovdtogt

    That’s not knowledge, that’s an expectation of control. You’re now so accustomed to having the temperature where you want it, that a situation where it’s your body that needs to make the adjustment is perceived by you as suffering. It’s a discomfort or lack of control that you don’t feel you should have to deal with. It doesn’t matter what the weather’s like - the temperature should just be 21C, because that’s where you want it.

    As I said - humans suffer when think they know better than reality.
  • ovdtogt
    667
    How much you suffer depends on your willingness to suffer.
    How much you suffer depends on your awareness of your suffering.

    I can give you many examples, but I consider these statements to be self-evident.
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