Alleviating Life's Suffering | Arthur Schopenhauer

Nature is propelled by an all-pervasive force that the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who lived in the nineteenth century, named Will, or more precisely, the Will-To-Live.

Humans are driven by an unconscious, blind, and aimless energy that creates an endless need within them.

Our entire existence is a manifestation of Will; we cling, crave, and attach ourselves to things outside of ourselves. We also feed on other living things to survive.

The pursuit of pleasure that never, ever satisfies in the long term is the outcome of our never-ending hunger and our incapacity to sate it, which is why misery stems from the will.

Schopenhauer, who is known for his gloomy views, made the attempt to develop a philosophy aimed at assisting us in achieving happiness as a means of coping with life's hardships.

But like the Buddha, a philosopher and spiritual guide who lived almost 2,500 years ago, Schopenhauer patiently studied and suffered from life's ailments before developing a remedy.

The incomplete book "Die Kunst, glücklich zu sein," which translates to "The art of being happy," was left to us by Schopenhauer after his death. It contains fifty guidelines for living.

This video is based on the fifty rules by Arthur Schopenhauer, and explores how we can

reduce the pain of life.

Spiritual Minimalism

Many people view Arthur Schopenhauer as an unhappy philosopher who saw the world from a dismal and entrancing perspective.

Reading his works makes it evident that he tried to portray a universe that was true to reality, regardless of how unpleasant, harsh, or terrible that reality may be. He did not sugarcoat existence.

However, his emphasis on life's suffering actually held the secret to realizing how to get out of it.

I quote:

I have reminded the reader that every state of welfare, every feeling of satisfaction,

is negative in its character; that is to say, it consists in freedom from pain, which is

the positive element of existence.

It follows, therefore, that the happiness of any given life is to be measured, not by

its joys and pleasures, but by the extent to which it has been free from suffering – from

positive evil.

End quote.

The essence of life is the misery of discontent, as happiness or even pleasure are merely fleeting moments of relief from suffering.

Happiness is therefore negative since it is only the absence of pain, whereas pain is positive since it can be added to and taken from.

If this concept sounds familiar to you, you've definitely heard of the Buddha's teachings, which share some similarities.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that Schopenhauer studied Hindu scriptures such as the Upanishads and Buddhist doctrines.

Schopenhauer's metaphysics holds that our perceptions of the world are products of our own brains rather than an objective reality.

This implies that an item cannot exist without a subject and that all that we perceive is merely our perspective of reality rather than the actual objects.

Schopenhauer's (inspired by Immanuel Kant's writings) picture of this philosophical reality can be both perplexing and liberating.

Confusion arises from the fact that there doesn't seem to be an objective experience because our perception of reality is created by our minds, which implies that what we see is never truly what it is.

However, it also feels freeing since we have the power to change the way we perceive the world.

If we examine closely enough, we'll discover that our perceptions of external factors actually shape who we are.

Understanding this enables us to free ourselves from the world's and the will's shackles and alter how we relate to things outside of ourselves.

However, how?

Asceticism is the best solution that Schopenhauer offers us.

We can weaken our desire for outside objects and therefore control the will by practicing sense-restraint.

Denying what the will naturally instills in us is the act of denial of the will.

Thus, we forsake the outside world and move away from pleasure.

But not everyone is cut out for asceticism.

A limited number of people practice asceticism and are able to completely remove themselves from pain; in Buddhism, this is known as enlightenment.

Therefore, while total painlessness is a possibility, it's probably more practical to concentrate on methods of pain management that will lessen suffering and improve quality of life.

The Mirage of Joy

Given how awful life is, how are we supposed to be happy?

In contrast to the ascetic, Schopenhauer wrote his fifty guidelines for the (quote on quote) "normal person."

He says that neither Machiavellianism nor a stoic "ascetic" mindset should guide our pursuit of happiness.

Regarding the first approach, he thought that the average person's will to live is too strong for them to obtain happiness through austerity and detachment.

Regarding the second approach, he said that pursuing happiness should not come at the expense of other people.

He refers to the happy medium ground between these two extremes as eudaimonia, a condition of thriving, virtue, and living in harmony with nature that is described in Stoic philosophy.

Eudaimonia.

Eudaimonia has a different connotation for Schopenhauer.

After careful consideration, he believes that the eudaimonic life is unquestionably superior than non-existence.

In other words, a happy life is one that is more pleasurable than dying.

He says that the average non-ascetic individual should strive for a less painful state because they would never be able to achieve perfect happiness.

How can we do this now?

The first lesson in Schopenhauer's book is the key to his philosophy of happiness. He argues that instead of focusing on reducing pain, we should give up our rights to happiness and pleasure in all its forms.

Although this kind of thinking isn't really romantic, it's a practical and manageable approach to this great tragedy we call life.

Young people in particular, according to Schopenhauer, have the misconception that life is meant to be enjoyed, which is hardly the case.

Younger generations continue to have this mistaken assumption, which was fostered by books and poems during Schopenhauer's time and is today perpetuated by television shows and motion pictures.

It's the widespread narrative's persistent myth of a fulfilling, happy life.

Pursuing a delusion, however, will only bring about positive unhappiness, which is the only thing that exists in reality.

According to this reasoning, the first step toward lessening life's suffering is to give up seeking the illusion and begin pursuing what is actually possible.

As Schopenhauer stated and I quote: "The safest way of not being very miserable is

not to expect to be very happy."

End quote.

And that's what's so wonderful about growing older: we've learned enough wisdom to abandon the pursuit of happiness that brought us pain when we was younger.

We're now preoccupied with reducing pain because we fear the misery we have already experienced.

Pain Alleviation

According to Schopenhauer, having less suffering in life is preferable to having the greatest delights.

It's no secret that a large number of celebrities who enjoy the greatest joys (that the general public does not) are deeply tormented and sad people.

Therefore, even though they live in a massive villa with a swimming pool, eat the most expensive food, and are loved by a large number of people, they nevertheless endure agony that is so great that it can lead to substance addiction, depression, and even suicide.

Regretfully, our society does not only promote these lifestyles as ideal; in fact, lacking access to these wonderful pleasures and joys is frequently viewed as a failure, and the thought of having failed can also make us unhappy.

People are therefore unhappy since they were unable to experience misery.

That is ironic, isn't it?

Schopenhauer believed that the intelligent wouldn't even bother to pursue such a life.

Rather, they stay away from life's hardships.

Furthermore, since pleasure is an illusion in any case, they won't lose anything if they happen to miss out on it.

So, how can we organize our life to minimize suffering as much as possible?

Well, there are numerous causes of discomfort.

Schopenhauer believed that these things either matched our perceptions of the world or of ourselves.

For instance, we are likely to suffer when we have exaggerated beliefs about our own abilities.

Schopenhauer said that in order to identify our strengths and shortcomings, we should be intimately familiar with ourselves.

When we make use of and hone the skills we are born with, we seldom feel the hurt that comes from being reminded of our shortcomings.

Another instance is when Schopenhauer contends that what matters is who we are, not what we own.

He makes it clear that what counts is "the way we feel."

Happiness and good health are more significant than fame and fortune.

"The healthy bum is happier than a sick king", he concluded.

Thus, it's prudent to put your health first and to always accept happiness because it determines how you feel right now.

Schopenhauer does not advocate asceticism, but he does offer a model of constructive indifference to material possessions, people, and social standing.

He often refers to Epicurus, the Greek philosopher, and his theory of pleasure, which seems like a good place to start if we want to reduce suffering.

To put it succinctly, we should prioritize meeting our basic needs—such as eating and drinking—which are inherently satisfying. We should also avoid pursuing extreme wealth and celebrity, which are difficult to achieve, impossible to satisfy, and easy to lose, all of which lead to pain.

We could say that Schopenhauer points us in the direction of the "golden middle path," which avoids both self-denial and the pursuit of "illusory happiness" by encouraging us to choose pleasures that cause us little to no pain in the moment of acquisition and pain when we lose them.

We should also prioritize our bodily and mental well-being at all times.

Because no matter how bad the outside seems, it is much easier to tolerate when we are feeling well on the inside.