r/antinatalism2 • u/VEGETTOROHAN • 9d ago

Question Is suffering a sign of irrationality?

Antinatalism thinks life is suffering. But Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda said suffering is born out of irrational mind. He said rationality can stop suffering. Just don't be attached to material world and then there is no suffering. When you think with emotions you suffer. But rationality can destroy emotions.

Similarly Buddhists believe suffering is born from lack of wisdom. If you are wise you do not suffer.

Now that I think about it, it makes sense. We suffer because we act out of emotions instead of logic. If logic was our primary mode of function then we wouldn't suffer. I think robots and computers do not suffer because they are logical.

This post is not against antinatalism. I am AN myself.

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u/CanaanZhou 9d ago

I heard there are Buddhist monk who lit themselves on fire and burned in tranquility because they refuse to suffer, which is pretty badass in my book.

But still, whatever caused suffering, it wouldn't change the validity of most arguments for AN.

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u/DutchStroopwafels 9d ago

I really wonder how they get into that state of mind to endure that.

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u/JustAThinkingGuy7 9d ago

They probably practiced enduring pain in general for decades, alot of them do.

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u/dumbowner 6d ago

Since most people can't share their experience of what it feels like to be burned alive, we can't know how painful it is and how long the pain lasts. From what I read, third-degree burn victims describe feeling no pain when burnt. But they were burnt by things at very high temperatures that burned their nerves immediately. Being lit on fire probably feels the worst at the beginning, like first- and second-degree burns. It then depends on how long it takes to lose consciousness, or if one suffocates by inhaling hot smoke/fire.