Can a person be fully alive if all they try to do is avoid pain?

Answer 1

Or 'happy" right?

That's a problem. Try telling someone who says to you "I'm goddamn happy" that they really aren't.

That's the genius of the cave allegory...
It's really unacceptable. I don't know anyone that would say:
I CHOOSE THIS FALSE REALITY.

But how do we know what it is to "live" or be "happy" without directly feeling it? Maybe coming out of the cave you find instead of brimming, exuberant life "the real world" of the matrix. The deluded, pleasure-based existence would become viable in contrast to hell.

Are dreams reducible to waking life-- yes there seems to be a stronger explanation and consequent encapsulation.. But the dream has it's ancillary qulitatively real feeling, that makes you, convinces you to believe it. The difference appears to be degree-based.

If avoiding pain is our "life" at the fullest, the most humane, the best possible existence.. we are ignoring our drives, passions, beliefs. It is to negate the existence of the person, to annihilate the creative activity, which is endemic to our ability to even cope with the world. But the ecstatic pleasures are also treacherous.. one can easily make themselves miserable chasing it. You have to become Greek to will that existence. That strife is included in every pleasure, a certain masochism in every life-affirming act. And open yourself to that tragic dimension, of chaos and dancing with death.

Indeed a very different life from that of the bureacrat, the Taoist on vacation sitting on a bare floor, uniting with the wind. Irreconcilable really.

Then there's the incontinent man.. who craves pleasures and chastises himself, seeking purity of mind and never arriving. Which seems to be the norm. Man of deferral, man in agony waiting for death. That's no way to live. But try telling someone in that state. It takes a fuckton of persuasion, metaphor, logical harangues and mystical maneuvers to coerce someone to question themselves.

Juggling clowns on unicycles just isn't going to help this scenario.

Answer 2

Pain is a part of our life...

Pain, Grief, Sorrow...

So do: Happiness, Excitement, Thriller...

It's all part of our LIFE!

If you don't experience,

Living life, Being Happy, Be Sad from Someone, Fall and Rise, Get Sick, Win Something, Accomplish Goals. And so on...

Then you're not even ALIVE!

That's the whole point of living...

Forget and Move on, Love and Be Loved, Forget and Get Forgot ton, Hate and Get Hated... It's all Natural!

Answer 3

I don't think so. This reminds me of a classic poker saying: "You either play to win, or you play to not lose." I think this is true for life, as well. If you focus on avoiding pain instead of achieving happiness, you are setting your goal way too low. Sometimes you have to take risks to receive the rewards.

Answer 4

I don't think so. If all you do is try to avoid pain you are focusing all your energy on that and not the living of your life.Pain is a natural part of life and something that we all feel from time to time.Instead of trying to avoid it you should try to embrace it,deal with it and move on to the continued living of your life!!

Answer 5

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning is a painless way to die. This gives me a good idea. My mother-in-law will be over next week for a week. Time to rig the exhaust pipe on the car into her guest bedroom.

Answer 6

Of course not. If you've never had an experience in life where you tried something new, did your best and failed, you haven't really tried anything in life.

you have to realize there is pain and suffering in life. It's that you understand and manage this that is important.

Answer 7

No. because pain its the spices of life its the memory

Answer 8

No,pain is necessary is what sets the frame so we can enjoy good things

Answer 9

No Pain no Gain my friend.

Answer 10

i guess that would be a no... coz what does not kill you makes you stronger.. i.e no pain. makes you weak.. and i guess not very alive...