Suffering Is Merely A Thought

Suffering is the extreme end of negative side on the emotional spectrum. This negative side of the spectrum cannot be reached with mere inputs into our sensory inputs. It is true for the positive side as well but the focus of this essay with be on the negative side because I think that suffering has more "weight" than well-being i.e. when mutually exclusive, avoiding suffering is more important than increasing well-being.

According to Buddhism, anything that is on the negative side of the spectrum lies under 'Dukkha'. This include dissatisfaction, annoyance, anger, anxiety, sadness, disappointment, suffering, etc. Dukkha is prevalent because there is a constant comparison going on between the ideal world the cortex can imagine and the actual reality your senses are facing. It is a common misconception that changing things in the outside world will eradicate all suffering. Human brain can always imagine having more money, better looks, better partner, better friends and better experiences. Just experiencing everything as it it arising in consciousness cannot cause suffering but being lost in thought about the events occurring and perceiving them through a grim colored lens can. A happy lens instead of a grim one isn't required either, no lens is. The raw experience is itself neutral. In fact, it is not neutral either, it just is.

Think of your past experiences for a moment, the good and bad ones. What is that process like? You invoke some mental image, some words, some voice and it brings along feelings with it. This whole process lasts for mere seconds unless you keep invoking the same thought again and again. Subjectively, invoking the past is nothing but a fleeting thought. Think of the moment when you were the most angry, where is that anger now? That anger came and went by. Now it's just a fleeting memory which isn't part of your subjective experience unless you invoke that moment and the emotions come rushing in. Your joy, pain, desire, happiness, sadness, loneliness and every other experience you had till now came and went by. Every single moment has led you to this, reading this. If you stop clinging to those past experiences and pay attention to the present, the past disappears. Past only exists because of thought.

Even if you're in excruciating pain or something has gone terribly wrong, suffering is only entailed if you're lost in thought about those things. It is not possible for you to suffer without being lost in thought about how bad the pain is or how fucked your life is after a certain event occurred. I am not saying that you should never feel bad or you should not mutter 'ouch' after stubbing your toe. You should instead use such events as a cue to be present in the moment. It becomes a habit after doing it for a while. You can even voluntarily do something hard and try to be present in the moment as much as possible, an easy example is a cold shower—when that water hits your body, notice every sensation, feeling, body movement and especially focus on your especially focus on your thoughts.