Schopenhauer's suffering "On the Sufferings of the World,"

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Arthur Schopenhauer was a very important philosopher, who influenced Friedrich Nietzsche and much of modern thinking. What follows are the first couple of pages of On The Sufferings Of The World,   with corrections to some of his  conclusions I think are no longer valid.   

I suggest turning on closed captions to read along with video. 

Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim.

Suffering is just one aspect of our primary motivation. Evolution is what all life does, and evolution is sexually driven. If you look carefully you will find that all desire is somehow connected to a need to dominate sexually. We then suffer when we do not get what we desire,  and feel satisfaction when we do.

It is absurd to look upon the enormous amount of pain that abounds everywhere in the world, and originates in needs and necessities inseparable from life itself, as serving no purpose at all and the result of mere chance.

Life is absurd,  but there is a purpose.  Although we may think we are in control, we are not. We are subjects that are motivated by desires and conditioned by causality. The purpose of life is to evolve, the purpose of any human being that hopes to escape enslavement, is to become aware of the desire that enslaves it, then limit desire to conditions that are aesthetically pleasant. To do more than stop and smell the roses, but to enjoy a life in control and free.       

Each separate misfortune, as it comes, seems, no doubt, to be something exceptional; but misfortune in general is the rule.

That's true, unless you become aware, you will be condemned to misfortune, but this need not be the rule, life can be very pleasant for those who have become aware of the human absurdity. Surround yourself with what is pleasant, and live a life with less desire.   

I know of no greater absurdity than that propounded by most systems of philosophy in declaring evil to be negative in its character. Evil is just what is positive; it makes its own existence felt. 

Evil is a word for a point of view, and clearly bad things will definitely motivate you to change. Consider jumping into a fire and see how quickly you will be motivated to jump out.   

 It is the good which is negative; in other words, happiness and satisfaction always imply some desire fulfilled, some state of pain brought to an end. 

I think this is a bit dramatic, Good is not negative, in fact it is quite agreeable as it gives us satisfaction. We can not escape our human condition, we will always desire something, what we must do is to gain some aesthetic control over our existence. Surround ourselves with states of causality that are pleasant, and then condition our desires to be simple.      

This explains the fact that we generally find pleasure to be not nearly so pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.

Correct, life is an equation, first we desire something,  then will suffer until we get that something, if we get what we want we are satisfied, only to have some other desire arise. Thats life ! This is what causes evolution, and what we call progress.

The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the other.

I love Schopenhauer, but he can sometimes miss the point.  One animal eating the other at first glance may appear tragic, but only if you are what is for dinner. Do we complain when eating a steak for dinner ? Suffering, pleasure, or good and evil, are simply points of view. Progress has been made from barbaric competition, evolution is not kind, and suffering is the norm, but this is what the intellect is for, this is a problem with a solution.  We can think our way into Utopia, and although we can not eliminate suffering, we can make it very palatable.                

The best consolation in misfortune or affliction of any kind will be the thought of other people who are in a still worse plight than yourself; and this is a form of consolation open to every one. But what an awful fate this means for mankind as a whole!

We are like lambs in a field, disporting themselves under the eye of the butcher, who chooses out first one and then another for his prey. So it is that in our good days we are all unconscious of the evil Fate may have presently in store for us — sickness, poverty, mutilation, loss of sight or reason.

No little part of the torment of existence lies in this, that Time is continually pressing upon us, never letting us take breath, but always coming after us, like a taskmaster with a whip. If at any moment Time stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the misery of boredom.

4:10

For a beast, this is true.   There is no shortage of stupid and brutish people, so be very careful when you go out among them.  Our history of wars, and the enslavement of others, is a testament to these facts. Today we know better, and although it will take generations to wash all the stupid off of humanity, a good and pleasant life is very possible. 

The path to fortune does not lead to satisfaction, fortune is for the minimalist, and those who live a seclusive life. If fact happiness is never found in satisfaction, as it lies in the task itself. A tailor is happy sewing, but not wearing the clothes, nor does a painter sit all day looking at paintings. For the wise happiness is found in the task, and not the object.

Children, must have their youth, desire can not be moderated without wisdom, and wisdom can not be attained without experience. True happiness and fulfillment can not be had without a full experience to relate to. Then we can develop wisdom to understand, and have solitude to enjoy.  

It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little"       Diogenes.

But misfortune has its uses; for, as our bodily frame would burst asunder if the pressure of the atmosphere was removed, so, if the lives of men were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if everything they took in hand were successful, they would be so swollen with arrogance that, though they might not burst, they would present the spectacle of unbridled folly — nay, they would go mad. And I may say, further, that a certain amount of care or pain or trouble is necessary for every man at all times. A ship without ballast is unstable and will not go straight.

Certain it is that work, worry, labor and trouble, form the lot of almost all men their whole life long. But if all wishes were fulfilled as soon as they arose, how would men occupy their lives? what would they do with their time? If the world were a paradise of luxury and ease, a land flowing with milk and honey, where every Jack obtained his Jill at once and without any difficulty, men would either die of boredom or hang themselves; or there would be wars, massacres, and murders; so that in the end mankind would inflict more suffering on itself than it has now to accept at the hands of Nature.

In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like children in a theater before the curtain is raised, sitting there in high spirits and eagerly waiting for the play to begin. It is a blessing that we do not know what is really going to happen. Could we foresee it, there are times when children might seem like innocent prisoners, condemned, not to death, but to life, and as yet all unconscious of what their sentence means. Nevertheless, every man desires to reach old age; in other words, a state of life of which it may be said: “It is bad to-day, and it will be worse to-morrow; and so on till the worst of all.”

If you try to imagine, as nearly as you can, what an amount of misery, pain and suffering of every kind the sun shines upon in its course, you will admit that it would be much better if, on the earth as little as on the moon, the sun were able to call forth the phenomena of life; and if, here as there, the surface were still in a crystalline state.

Again, you may look upon life as an unprofitable episode, disturbing the blessed calm of non-existence. And, in any case, even though things have gone with you tolerably well, the longer you live the more clearly you will feel that, on the whole, life is a disappointment, nay, a cheat.

Here I stop, I can say that  Schopenhauer has been a big influence in my life. It is great advice for navigating a troubled world. Yet, his time is not today and today there is no reason we can not live heavenly lives.  Thomas Robert Malthus wrote between 1800 and 1820, he noted that populations tend to grow faster than agricultural output, and would lead to famines and crises. In 1851 Arthur Schopenhauer, wrote  "On the Sufferings of the World," today the developed word is fat, throws away food, and is loosing population, today we live in different times.   

We remain mostly an absurd prideful people, unaware, who live sad pathetic lives. I suggest the return of the monastery, people living lives of solitude in common, a community of men and women who attain wisdom, search for truth, and live simply.

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