Wisdom and Suffering

 After reading an old post about "Signs of Inner Growth", a friend asked:

I noticed that you did not mention "less suffering" as an outcome of increased wisdom. I am curious if it is because:

a. This is obvious to the extent of being tautological. 

b. Not a worthy goal to pursue

c. Wisdom is independent of reducing suffering

d. None of the above

It is a good question, and worthy of a nuanced response.

I have written earlier about suffering (and I recommend the reader go through that essay first), but let me address this pointed question here.

Suffering is essentially the recognition and response to a disagreeable state of affairs.  One's response to a disagreeable state can be a mix of physiological, intellectual or emotional/affective distress.  As long as one is alive, there will always be such states of affairs.

The state of affairs may pertain to a narrow realm: to one's health, financial security, or one's family.  Or it may be about a wider realm: about the poor, about the exploited orphans, and in general about the state of the world.

One's response is also not set in stone, and one can train oneself to be stronger (physically, intellectually and emotionally).  A physically stronger person will be able to endure a long walk while the same walk will cause distress in another.  An intellectual quandary or uncertainty (how to save taxes, how to prepare for retirement, how to shield one's children from unwholesome influences) can be distressing to someone without the inner or outer tools to resolve it.  And of course, there are degrees of emotional health.  One can be a reactive, short-tempered, angry individual, or one can be patient and empathetic.

Many forms of trainings are available to become stronger physically, intellectually or emotionally.

As one expands one's intellectual and emotional horizons, it is quite possible, nay, almost certain, that one realizes that one suffers more than before.  One may become more aware of others' suffering, one may realize alarming facts which are unknown to many, one may become more acutely conscious of the need to do something, one may form new goals which hold no charm for others.  "Ignorance is bliss" is indeed true in many ways.

A fit individual may decide to climb the north face of K2 and die doing so.

An intellectually advanced man may spend years and decades and die looking for a solution to whether P=NP.

An emotionally advanced individual may leave a well-paying job and spend years creating a new kind of painting or sculpture (as was depicted in Maugham's "Of Moon and Sixpence").

You may say that the artist suffered in a 9-5 job, and so his leaving his job is not really a sacrifice, that it is a reduction of his suffering.  That will be a simplistic reading of such a situation.  The artist is not looking to reduce his suffering, he is willing to suffer for something that is meaningful to him.  

Consider Buddha's leaving of his family.  Did that cause new kinds of suffering?  Was the Buddha assured of his goal when he left his palace?  Did he carefully weigh which path was less prone to future suffering, for himself or for his family, or for humanity?  

Or did he follow his instinct, and his prodigious passion, to do something that he felt was impossible in his palace.

There are many such Buddhas around us.  They sacrifice the popular and easy pleasures for the rare and long-winded ones.

To want to suffer less is natural, but it is not the goal of human life, as we observe humanity.  The quickest and most effective way to end suffering is to commit suicide, but we know that people live, and want to live.  They endure pain and suffering for achieving something that is meaningful to them.  A mother faces immense risk and pain to give birth to a child and to care for it, but the love for one's child (the bringer of suffering) is almost universal.  An inventor or an entrepreneur plunges himself into uncertainty and possible ridicule because of his ambition.

To avoid extreme suffering is essential to human growth, and a distinction has already been made between "distress" (harmful stress), and "eustress" (beneficial stress).

If you find yourself handicapped by your distress, by all means reduce it.  And use wholesome tools to do so (rather than tools which harm you in other ways).  And then move forward.  The goal is not to be free of distress.  That is just the beginning.

And similarly, it is noble and worthwhile to want to reduce others' distress so that they may also pursue their meaningful goals.

The goal is not merely to have a shiny, smoothly-running car.  That is just a prerequisite for your journey.  

The car is washed and serviced.  Where should you go?  There is no one answer.  The world is wide-open for you.

Similarly, once your mind is free from debilitating distress, that's when you can truly begin to evolve and achieve.

So what is the relationship between wisdom and suffering?  Wisdom is to understand things more deeply, and therefore, a wise man understands his suffering because he understands himself.  He may accept a disease, or being alone, or being poor, or the corruption in politics, in ways which seem inexplicable to others.

He could be immune to certain kinds of suffering, but he may choose other, new kinds of suffering in furtherance of goals that his wisdom has now revealed to him.