Suffering Is Pain You Didn’t Choose

There are two types of suffering and the only difference between them is choice

Photo by brut carniollus on Unsplash

Lately, I’ve been asking what people think suffering is. Here’s the most interesting answer I’ve gotten so far: Suffering is pain that you didn’t choose.

I like it because it makes a distinction that the textbook definition does not — who or what imposed the suffering in the first place. And I think that’s important but not for the reason you might think.

Here’s the textbook definition of suffering:

(noun) the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship.

(verb) to be affected by or subject to an illness or ailment.

And from wikipedia:

Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of affective phenomena. The opposite of suffering is pleasure or happiness.

The Two Types of Suffering Defined

I don’t think those definitions work. I think there are two (and only two) types of suffering: the kind you choose and the kind you didn’t. Let’s…