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This is all trite fluff. I disagree with the premise that suffering confers upon anyone special knowledge. The same lessons, the same worldview, the same what
by bena 8y ago
This is all trite fluff.
I disagree with the premise that suffering confers upon anyone special knowledge.
The same lessons, the same worldview, the same whatever, can be reached by people without the suffering. People like to say that everyone is different, let's not pretend that there's only one road to enlightenment then.
The only thing specific situations can teach us is how to cope with specific situations. Having a broken leg can teach you how to handle crutches better, how to balance on one foot, how to a third thing because you are temporarily disabled. But it cannot teach you how to be a better person. Now, a person with a broken leg might require and receive help and notice that people are genuinely nice and helpful and that changes their perspective on the world. But there are plenty of people who feel that way with two perfectly fine legs.
We deify struggle and suffering to such a degree it's kind of sad. There's no nobility in being in a shitty situation.
- triviatise 8y agoI have a completely different world view. Just like you build muscle strength through weight resistance, you build mental strength through overcoming (or just living with) adversity. You may not value that growth or may not feel it is worth the suffering, but that belief is not fact, just opinion.
- bena 8y agoThat's not true though. Given the exact same suffering, two people who have had similar lives will react in different ways. One may break down completely, one may soldier through. Suffering doesn't build character, it reveals it. You're doing the very thing I was saying we do too much of: glorifying suffering. You're also trying to dismiss me by saying what I'm saying is opinion while also trying to say that I'm wrong. If I'm wrong, then it's not technically an opinion I hold. It's just bad information. But you posit that you build mental strength through adversity without actually demonstrating that it's true. Then you claim my position is that I don't value the growth or feel it is worth suffering. That is not what I said. That is a deliberate misrepresentation of what I was saying. I was saying suffering does not teach anything special that cannot be learned elsewhere. I also like how you choose to engage me, rather than the people who shared personal anecdotes of suffering without being granted any special wisdom or knowledge, effectively saying what I said: suffering is not a teacher, suffering is just suffering.