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I don't know, the biggest flaw I've always seen in the quasi-buddhist approach is that some types of suffering - such as intense physical pain, or grief - simpl
by slfnflctd 5y ago
I don't know, the biggest flaw I've always seen in the quasi-buddhist approach is that some types of suffering - such as intense physical pain, or grief - simply aren't possible to be ignored or meditated or 'enlightened' out of. As long as you're feeling that pain, you're going to be uncomfortable. There is no way out of it.
The way I see it, life vacillates between peaks, plateaus and valleys. I assure you I and most other people can very much feel 'fulfilled' by reaching an oasis of a good meal, a relationship breakthrough, a milestone accomplishment or finding the right medication for an ailment, and be fully present & immersed in that moment-by-moment experience of fulfillment, meaning and satisfaction, while it lasts. But for reasons that I think boil down to biology and possibly even physics, you cannot continue experience that depth of meaning or fulfillment when having extreme back pain while driving in heavy traffic to an unpleasant job that must be done when your dog just died. It's a pipe dream.
- throwaway013921 5y ago> some types of suffering - such as intense physical pain, or grief - simply aren't possible to be ignored or meditated or 'enlightened' out of. As long as you're feeling that pain, you're going to be uncomfortable. On the contrary, one of the points of Buddhism is exactly that pain and suffering are not the same thing (and this agrees very much with modern neurology and psychology).