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Viktor Frankl says to make the pain of life bearable; you must find meaning: a purpose by looking into the future.
Yuval Noah Harari says fantasy provides meaning for suffering.
We can conclude that the only way to bear the absurd pains of existence is to have a rich fantasy that you genuinely believe in.
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If suffering can never be eradicated, our purpose must account for suffering.
Our purpose must make the pain worthwhile or meaningful. If not, life, suffering, and pain are all absurd.
In a moment of clarity (seeing the absurd), we can see the religious/humanistic impulse to validate suffering is attractive (giving meaning to pain retroactively).
The leap is to trade up: swap the obvious irrationality of suffering for a portentous, impossible dream. Upgrading absurdities maintains purpose by excluding logic and, in so doing, secures comfort.
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Ideology, politics, philosophy, or religion work to redirect bodily energy (fleshly, libidinal desire) into grand tasks, but one must always return to the body.
In beliefs, you can transgress (or backslide) into primordial alignment: carnality, gluttony, or sloth. But even if you are a paragon of discipline till the end, your flesh takes the vengeance of death: your will versus the body’s ultimate return.
The question remains if the "grand task" is worth the suffering effort. Is the fight perpetual, with an always deferred victory requiring more effort? If so, you haveyou’ren not pleasure, but pain and named its purpose.
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Anger has a bad reputation: "civilized" people control it, and enlightened people are beyond it.
Obviously, we do not want to give free rein to our anger or inflame it, but it is a natural human response that has been relegated to the realm of "unhealthy."
The question is how are you going to vent? I would suggest a community of loving friends, who can allow the outburst and dissipate the toxic energies with love.
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Why should you have that awkward conversation when you may never encounter that person again? Might as well skip it.
Specifically, you should have an uncomfortable conversation because you will never encounter that person.
You must practice voicing who you are in various situations, enabling you to regulate your emotions and engage your intellect while voicing your opinions.
Practice voicing who you are.
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Spoken to me: "A little rain never hurt anyone, but a lot can kill you."
Of course, all excesses kill, but avoidance of discomfort is a smaller, rationalized death.
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In response to yesterday: happiness may be a choice, but it is a political choice.
We are socially compelled to be happy: it is a desire we must urgently pursue and sacrifice to achieve. However, to choose happiness when faced with the pain and suffering of others, or a global catastrophe, requires a convoluted contradictory stance.
Nietzsche says we should instead pursue "joy", which involves sacrifice and may include suffering over the long term to achieve a goal that is great and rewarding. Others, such as Timothy Brennan, say "pleasure" is preferable.
"Happiness" is now politicized and commoditized, enfolded within an individualistic imperative for emancipatory freedom. Our blind pursuit of happiness has become an entitled right.
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Any movement forces you to encounter the world and incur risk, which is to see the world as a trap. However, to remain still is to rot internally.
Knowing one outcome is always negative (standing still) means any movement has a better chance of success, and thus you are propelled from pessimism into optimism.
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There is an impulse to delay making hard decisions, which can be wise, but during the intervening moments, we convince ourselves that making a decision (getting off the fence) will relieve us.
However, because it is a hard decision, there is no good solution and there will be pain on either side.
Relief comes from a narrowing of options, not the "correctness" of your decision.
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The unpleasant thing is to be honestly precise rather than passively ambiguous.
Contrary to the stereotype of kindness, politeness can mask avoidance, producing a pain of confusion far more significant than the sting of a momentary correction.
It is ultimately kinder to be clear than to allow the delusion that you are kind.
