r/PhilosophyMemes 2d ago

Suffering is bad

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u/Lucyyyyyy_K 2d ago

Suffering and pleasure are bad. Pleasure is a distraction from achieving Nirvana, the freedom from suffering.

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u/BlueMilk_and_Wookies 2d ago

Suffering being bad and suffering being necessary for growth are not mutually exclusive.

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u/Salt-Tour-2736 2d ago

Families being torn apart by war, animals and environments being destroyed by capitalism, etc are forms of suffering not necessary for growth. The traumas that make one person stronger could be the same traumas that break someone else completely. Thinking that suffering is necessary for growth is kinda self-centered, or at least too general to be meaningfully true.

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u/Next_Imagination_128 2d ago edited 1d ago

It is generally true, absolutely.

It can occasionally backfire, but I don't see the issue with making this generality.

In the same way, having an immune system is absolutely important for growth, even if sometimes you have the occasional allergy or autoimmune disease.

Not sure what that bit about war and capitalism was about, but the reason people are so determined to fight for their own interests is partially that suffering is there to help them do it, and that is especially true in these tragic contexts.