Pain

 

I was listening to Dennis Prager somewhere and will paraphrase from the notes I took of his monologue and then respond to it. I may have mixed his notes with my comments—I hope not.

 

Prager: Pain is good?  Yes, to some degree, and then it corrupts and degrades the sufferer.

 

My response: I agree.

 

Prager: “Good pleasure is better, and we should be happy and grateful, and not resentful, most of the time.”

 

Prager the Jewish pragmatist is spot on: elsewhere, I hear him state that to be happy is a moral obligation (as happy, or grateful, or thankful, or courting a positive attitude as one can muster, despite the adversity and suffering one experiences), because happy people do not tear up others, and unhappy people do. A cruel sadist is unhappy inside.

 

He is an altruist, not an egoist, but when he knows that if an agent is optimistic and feels good or happy inside, he has no motivation to hurt others, and that is egoist virtue, from my point of view. If we love ourselves, and get as happy as possible inside as we can, we are less likely to attack and scapegoat onto others.

 

Prager: “We cannot eliminate pain and suffering no matter how we try; it would not be moral to eliminate all pain, even if possible. It is better to settle for good pleasure mostly and endure some good pain if we can rationally arrange it.”

 

My response: We cannot eliminate naturally occurring pain and suffering, but we can minimize it if we can. Jordan Peterson sagely warns that evil is inflicting unnecessary suffering on others sadistically because we enjoy their feeling hurt and in pain. That is wicked and we must stop doing it to others or ourselves.

 

Prager sees some suffering as therapeutic and instructive, and he is right. It does help us understand the suffering of others, and that things in life can and do sometimes change on a dime not always for the better.

 

Suffering can also deepen us, and toughens us up, so we can be stronger in the face of periodic diversity. There can be no wisdom unless a good person loves God, others, and herself, and yet has deep involvement with the world, with suffering, hardship, loss and evil encountered or sinning done but recovered from. None of us get out life scot-free for loss, tragedy and wickedness will be known by us, and it is to be hoped that we become more sage, and uplifted but sadder by what we have experienced.

 

What we do not want is to be embittered and angry at God and the world for our suffering, and then carry a victim’s sense of grievance and that divine justice demands that we torture and terrorize others, as is our wont and right to make up for what we have gone through. That outlook converts us into moral monsters.

 

Prager is wise in urging that we enjoy some good pleasure where we can and live, do what we can, and live with our lot to some degree.