“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering”

Nietzsche said this.

When taken to the extreme, one can posit to be happy is to suffer and vice-versa. And when I say posit, I mean what I feel is true, even what I reason to be true but what a large part of myself still rebels against; for I am as scared of suffering as the next person.

Here are two relevant excerpts, one is from the bible…

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

– Galatians 5:16-17

…and the other is from a blog about Daoism:

“古人告訴我們吃虧是福，吃虧的人沒錯，吃虧的人不吃虧，佔便宜的人有災難，他真的沒有佔到便宜，吃虧的人真佔到便宜了，這個道理很深”

– unknown

Paradoxically, like all other Truths of this world, they are one and the same.

Or rather, if that sounds too bullshit for you: the only possibility for the potential of happiness is suffering. How else would we feel bliss unless we have been miserable? Does it not make sense the more insufferable the torment, the more exuberant the joy?

We are not computers; our measuring apparatus tends to be more subjective, that is why we say we ‘feel’ instead of we measure (lol). But for those of you who insist on reasoning with the rational faculties of the mind: is it not true our trajectory in life can be characterized by a positive or negative gradient? Would you say the variable of the gradient (the steepness of the curve) or the final outcome y is the key of the equation as a whole? Furthermore, is it not true our perspective is relative to other people; our past experiences and our imagined futures? A dip in one year may seem like heaven compared to the wretched misfortunes of the next?

Or perhaps even more extraordinary, the setback was really a blessing in disguise! Only looking back does hindsight reveal the majesty of life:

As a great poet asserts:

“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery—isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.”

Only for the two words: “Don’t Try” to later be engraved on his tombstone,

“Somebody asked me: ‘What do you do? How do you write, create?’ You don’t, I told them. You don’t try. That’s very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more.”

– Charles Bukowski

It is the aphorism: ‘We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone.’ Likewise: the closer we look, the more wonder can be found in the smallest details – the ringing laughter of a child; the fragrant smell of a flower; the vast blueness of the sky.

It is also true that my words fall on deaf ears for those whose time has not yet come. As a child I absolutely hated scenery – I thought it the most boring thing in the world; yet now the trees, birds and animals hint at a sense of wonder for me.

“Was blind but now I see”

– John Newton, ‘Amazing Grace’

For what reason do I bring this up? It is because I have stumbled upon answers to questions I pondered over five, ten years ago. Some I had gotten right even as a child, most were wrong and some turned out like what I suspected but was too inexperienced and unwise to understand.

– W.H.