Pain and Suffering

Pain is to the body -- suffering, on the other hand, pertains to the mind; but, what is suffering – really?

Pain is like a warning system that tell us when something is wrong with our body and what to avoid presently or in the future; like eating now, if we feel hunger pangs, or not playing with fire after getting burned by the flame of a candle.

So, what does it mean when we suffer? What is the purpose of suffering? Or, does it even have a purpose? With the classic candle example, the little boy gets burned and he instinctively retreat his hand from the flame, record the experience, and file it in his "bad experience" or "not to do again" mental drawer. But with suffering, we seem not to learn from our own or from other people's experience. Is our mental drawer for suffering full to capacity or is it just nowhere to be found?

Someone scratched your brand new Benz; why is it that you suffer? It was not your forehead that was scratched. Why does that fact make you suffer? Why does that fact make you so very angry? Is it because, it means that you have to have your car repainted; and that it will cost you a lot of money? But, even if you do not have it repainted and spend hundreds of dollars on it -- why is it that you still suffer? Does it have anything to do with the feeling of injustice?

On the other hand, if the vandal is caught and put in jail, why is it that your anger is somehow lessened -- your suffering diminished? Does it have anything to do with justice administered? So you got your justice and everything is now fine with the world, right? But, your car still has a big scratch on the driver side door. So, what's wrong with this picture?

When the vandal is punished, does that fact somehow tips the balance in your favor? Like experiencing relief after getting revenge? And why the relief? Are you happy someone is getting punished, and therefore, also made to suffer? An eye for an eye... is this how it works, is this a universal truth?

Since it was the justice system that punished the vandal who scratched your car, it is very clear that it was not you that meted the judgment and rendered the punishment. But still, I am calling this, "vengeance by proxy". If a state hanged a murderer, it is also committing murder -- it is also committing violence. On the other hand, remember that the state is only acting as an implementor/executioner of its citizens' laws. The state is actually, legally acting in its citizens' stead. And we know this.

When I seek vengeance masked as "justice" on the other; is it not my intention to make the other suffer -- physically and/or mentally?

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