Comment on If suffering is good because it gives life meaning, wouldn't it follow that hurting people is good?

• ArseAssassin@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  The Second Arrow parable does a pretty good job.

  You are walking in the woods and suddenly you get struck by an arrow (someone fires an arrow at you) and it hits your arm and it really, really hurts - it’s very painful and you feel that physical pain in your arm, and it’s bleeding. And then immediately your mind starts to think - "Oh my god, what’s gonna happen? What if I bleed to death? What if this is infected and I can’t walk back properly? Or I lose energy and I can’t get back to my family? What’s gonna happen to my family? What’s gonna be happening to my husband / my wife / my children? What’s gonna happen to me or what’s going to happen to their future, how will they be doing?”

  The Buddha describes the first arrow as the physical pain and the second arrow is what your mind does - it starts thinking about the worst scenario that can happen. And he says “be warned of the second arrow.”

  The first arrow represents the pain - the actual physical pain, and the second arrow represents what you call suffering. So we distinguish between pain and suffering.

  source

  • naught101@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Makes sense, thanks!

    source
  • TheBat@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Does this mean people who harm themselves are trying to move the locus of hurt from internal to external?

    source

    • ArseAssassin@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      That’s a good question. I’ve never studied the topic, but your answer sounds reasonable. I did read over some relevant bits from Wikipedia

      While the motivations for self harm vary, the most commonly endorsed reason for self harm given by adolescents is to get relief from a terrible state of mind.

      Many people who self-harm state that it allows them to “go away” or dissociate, separating the mind from feelings that are causing anguish. This may be achieved by tricking the mind into believing that the present suffering being felt is caused by the self-harm instead of the issues they were facing previously: the physical pain therefore acts as a distraction from the original emotional pain.

      Alternatively, self-harm may be a means of feeling something, even if the sensation is unpleasant and painful. Those who self-harm sometimes describe feelings of emptiness or numbness (anhedonia), and physical pain may be a relief from these feelings.

      Those who engage in self-harm face the contradictory reality of harming themselves while at the same time obtaining relief from this act. It may even be hard for some to actually initiate cutting, but they often do because they know the relief that will follow. For some self-harmers this relief is primarily psychological while for others this feeling of relief comes from the beta endorphins released in the brain.[93][medical citation needed] Endorphins are endogenous opioids that are released in response to physical injury, acting as natural painkillers and inducing pleasant feelings, and in response to self-harm would act to reduce tension and emotional distress.

      source
• nocteb@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  The main difference is that suffering is internal while being hurt is an external factor that can lead to suffering. People suffer from all kind of things: sickness, being bored etc.

  source