On Suffering and Survival
It is undeniable that suffering is an inextricable part of the human experience. Suffering has always been an inherent feature of the human condition, thus God primarily designed us to survive. We were never designed to be happy or great in the first place, rather, our existence revolves around only three absolute certainties: Suffering, Death, and everything remaining is Uncertainty.
However as unfortunate as it is, human beings also have an innate desire to be happy, great, loved, satisfied, recognized, and this goes on. Hence we are prone to chasing after illusionary and empty satisfaction, chasing after the absence of pain or avoidance of agony, yet at the end? We will always be led to a sense of endless exhaustion and anguish.
That’s why I argue that we are also designed to be paradoxical, irrational beings. Quoting Dale Carnegie,
“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.”
By nature, human beings are ruled by their emotions, not their minds, and that makes us all a bit irrational. The irrationality of humans is no argument against their existence, but rather a condition of it. Deep-rooted irrationality is deeply ingrained in the human animal, implying that rationality is not an innate power humans are born with―unlike feelings― but one humans have to acquire through effort. Hence I am always aware that to have feelings is to be human, yet I also see that to have a feeling is like a curse from God. An aching curse, or a condemned punishment? As I mentioned above, God made us naturally chase happiness/greatness and avoid pain in a world where suffering is forever an integral part of it. We long for connection and approval from others, yet we are fated to face everything alone for our only true reliance is upon ourselves. And what could be more of a tragedy, especially for those who muse and reflect often?
Yet back to our primary design of survival, there’s nothing we can do much. Except like Albert Camus’ assertion,
“The literal meaning of life is whatever you’re doing that prevents you from killing yourself”.
Whenever I contemplate life; be it my own, that of others, or the interplay of both, I eventually arrive at the conclusion that the world is inherently chaotic, absurd, unintelligible, vague, and unpredictable, where fully understanding the way it works is beyond the human mind’s capability to comprehend. I tell myself that perhaps there will never be a single, universally applicable meaning that applies to all individuals except that we remain paradoxically bound by a common thread: the universal experience of suffering and anguish and how the primary goal of life will always end up reaching survival. While the intensity of our suffering may differ from one to another (I will probably talk about the concept of life’s unfairness in my future writing), we all suffer in our ways-in their own forms and we all confront our demons in the pursuit of survival. Therefore when we try to reach happiness or seek to be adequate in this deranged and merciless life, we will be led to a state of conflict and go equally mad as it is. In other words: we will fail to survive and we will no longer be human.
Zara’s Thoughts, 14/09/2023
