ARE HUMANS ADDICTED TO MISERY ???

Lady B · Senior Member

ARE HUMANS ADDICTED TO MISERY ???

abre les ojos · Guru

Of course we are. Misery produces art, poetry, music. Look around you. The world is a pretty bleak place. Full of death, pain, hopelessnes. You know what's funny. I work everyday with the dregs of society. You eventually get totally disensitised to it. You'll be surprised how much pain and misery the human mind can withstand.

Lady B · Senior Member

i dont think that's entirely true, supported by the fact that we always find new things to complain about instead of focusing on the few things that are actual problems. what if we're not addicted to misery itself, but we constantly look for imperfections in life so we may appreciate the peace we do have.

Everything we are is a result of what we have thought." -Siddhartha Gautama

*Kiss*

abre les ojos · Guru

You are a little idealistic. Whether problems are actual or made up, misery still is the underlying result of both. There's an old saying "I once complained that I had no shoes, Then I met a man with no feet"

In comparison there is always someone worse off than you. Doesn't mean you ain't miserable. We all are. Walking aound feeling smug about our fragile lives, hiding our heads in the sand, decieving ourselves that there is life after death and probably, just probably, we might have paradise by pretending to be virtuous and denying ourselves true pleasures like sex and debauchery.

Look at the world, full of George Bushs and Dick Cheneys... Killers. We don't really stand a chance (and I'm being positive).

MISS THANG · Senior Member

But what would the world be without misery? Isn't it through misery that people come out stronger on the other side? Isn't it through misery that people want to better themselves? Isn't it coz Dubya thought that the Iraqis were miserable thats why he had to go "reberate" them? Isn't it coz these terrorists are miserable thats why they go around bombing innocent miserable people?

Misery is a part of one's life just depends on what you do about it.

Now ain't i a misery?

Lady B · Senior Member

But then guys

I don't think human beings as an entire race are addicted to misery (that's a projection that's very common and popular: "Human beings are a horrible race... but my acknowledging how pathetic we are puts me a notch above the rest"). However, I do think it might seem so because of this:

Many people have a belief that there's nothing better. This sets up an expectation and the subconscious mind complies by filtering out most of the potentially "good" things in life while focusing on the negative. A lifetime growing up in "misery"... or at least an average level of unhappiness will create a neuro network in the brain optimized for feeling "okay" to "bad". These mental states become comfortable and familiar over time, just like crossing your arms one way but not the other (BeenaJain said something similar to this).

All of these factors will motivate you subconsciously to act in such a way that guarantees misery will keep coming into your life. Ever watch somebody make bad decisions over and over that screw up their life, then they complain about it and somehow don't see that they brought it upon themselves? For example, people that keep going for the same type of bad relationships and complain that "all guys/girls are the same". The biggest kicker is this: While it may be totally obvious to others, beliefs and actions that ruin your life can be very difficult to see in yourself.

Add in Candace Pert's research on neuropeptides (the chemicals responsible for making us feel emotions). Allegedly, they use the same cell receptor sites as drugs, so it's possible the biological process that creates physiological addiction to drugs may apply to emotional states as well. Anger, depression, self-pity, self-hatred, and others negative emotions could be like your personal heroin.

We have misery because we oposed it to happiness. As our experiences pile up, we obviously have experiences that we feel we want to relive (happy ones) and experinces that we don't want to (miserable ones). Thus we create a sort of continuum for our state of mind and place each experience on this continuum. The same - with little adjustations - goes for misery in terms of conditions of living.

This limits are all subjective, so what one might describe as happiness, others might describe as a noraml state or even misery

*Kiss*

abre les ojos · Guru

WELL I'LL BE DAMNED.

MISS THANG I THINK YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG. DUBYA DIDN'T AND DOESN'T THINK THAT ANYHTHING ABOUT MISERABLE IRAQIS AND THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AMERICAN TROOPS KILLING PEOPLE THERE.

SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE NOT MISERABLE. THEY ARE JUST ILL-INFORMED ABOUT BRAVERY AND REWARD.

AND LADY B IT IS TRUE AND NOT ALLEGED THAT MISERY AND SADNESS ARE CHEMICAL AND NEUROLOGICAL.

amdala · Senior Member

humans are not addicted to misery... i would understand the term 'addiction' as meaning 'cant do without' are you saying its misery that keeps us going? the will to live is not based on misery, misery talk of hunger, drought and all negatives! the fact that we are constantly in touch with these does not necesarrily imply that we cant do without them. the misery faced by an average US is heaven to one average malawian... misery does not control us. i will continue...

abre les ojos · Guru

BASIC PSYCHOLOGY.

ALL HUMAN ACTIVITY. IN FACT ALL ACTIVITY OF ANY LIVING THING IS TO MOVE AWAY FROM PAIN (DISCOMFORT, HUNGER) TOWARDS PLEASURE (THE OPPOSITES).

THAT IS THE BASIC DRIVING FORCE FOR PROGRESS. NECCESSITY! THAT'S WHY WE WORK. TO EARN TO KEEP US AWAY FROM MISERY.

STILL POVERTY DOESN'T = MISERY. HENCE, MISERY IS A STATE OF MIND FACILITATED BY COMPARISON TO ANOTHER'S STATE OF AFFAIRS.

AN ESKIMO LIVING IN ALASKA IS HAPPY TO DO SO, COMFORTABLE WITH HIS STATE OF AFFAIRS. HIS NEEDS ARE LESS AND THE FUFILLMENT OF THEM THEREOF.

ON THE OTHER HAND, A MAN LIVING IN AN INNER CITY GHETTO HAS A WHOLE WORLD TO COMPARE HIS STATE WITH. HIS NEEDS ARE MORE AND THEIR FUFILLMENT A LOT HARDER THAN THE ESKIMO. SO IN THEORY AND COMPARISON HE IS MORE MISERABLE.

WITHOUT THIS MISERY. WHERE WOULD WE BE HUH?

malawian · Veteran Member

abre les ojos wrote:

BASIC PSYCHOLOGY. ALL HUMAN ACTIVITY. IN FACT ALL ACTIVITY OF ANY LIVING THING IS TO MOVE AWAY FROM PAIN (DISCOMFORT, HUNGER) TOWARDS PLEASURE (THE OPPOSITES). THAT IS THE BASIC DRIVING FORCE FOR PROGRESS. NECCESSITY! THAT'S WHY WE WORK. TO EARN TO KEEP US AWAY FROM MISERY. STILL POVERTY DOESN'T = MISERY. HENCE, MISERY IS A STATE OF MIND FACILITATED BY COMPARISON TO ANOTHER'S STATE OF AFFAIRS. AN ESKIMO LIVING IN ALASKA IS HAPPY TO DO SO, COMFORTABLE WITH HIS STATE OF AFFAIRS. HIS NEEDS ARE LESS AND THE FUFILLMENT OF THEM THEREOF. ON THE OTHER HAND, A MAN LIVING IN AN INNER CITY GHETTO HAS A WHOLE WORLD TO COMPARE HIS STATE WITH. HIS NEEDS ARE MORE AND THEIR FUFILLMENT A LOT HARDER THAN THE ESKIMO. SO IN THEORY AND COMPARISON HE IS MORE MISERABLE. WITHOUT THIS MISERY. WHERE WOULD WE BE HUH?

Poverty is not misery, that's a fact but Misery caused by comparison? I don't know, somehow it makes sense but your point seems like it's discouraging comparison coz it causes misery.(corect me if am wrong) If that's the case, then is comparison bad? I believe that comparison sometimes leads to development.

On the other hand I believe misery is caused by lack of resources, lack of will, corruption, stubborness, haughtiness and the like. Therefore humans are not addicted to misery because as soon as they get rid of these things mentioned,they will get free from the chains of misery.

abre les ojos · Guru

YES BUT CAN YOU NAME ME ANY INDIVIDUAL; EXCEPT OF COURSE IN FICTION THAT HAS ACHIEVED THAT STATE OF GETTIN RID OF THESE THINGS.

I AM NOT PREACHING, I'M JUST STATING, THROUGH OBSERVATION, THE STATE OF AFFAIRS. NAMELY, MISERY IS JUST A STATE OF MAN.

APART FROM THAT YOU'RE JUST REPEATING WHAT I JUST WROTE.

MISS THANG · Senior Member

Why is it then that people will stay in miserable situations for years even though they have the means and will to get out of it?

An example would be why a person will stay in a miserable relationship when they have the means to get out of it? Isn't that being addicted to misery? Even in the work place people will stay in a job even though they are misarable there and yet they have the means to get a better job which they will most probably love. Is it coz they like it when people feel sorry for them? Is it coz it gives them something to talk/complain about?

Let's face it misery is some peoples way of life, A lot of peoples infact.

Believe you me it doen't matter how ill informed i was, there is no way i would blow maself up unless i was miserable.

If misery is a state of mind then isn't addiction a state of mind as well? If i become a drug addict, is it coz i was miserable?

i get the feeling i've just confused maself even more.

abre les ojos · Guru

WELL THAT'S WHAT DIFFERENTIATES YOU WITH A SUICIDE BOMBER.

I WAS TALKING ABOUT MISERY AS A HUMAN CONDITION IN GENERAL, NOT SPECIFIC INSTANCES LIKE RELATIONASHIPS OR WORKPLACES.

....OH CRUDD, I WON'T BOTHER...

jones_1 · Veteran Member

An example would be why a person will stay in a miserable relationship when they have the means to get out of it? Isn't that being addicted to misery? Even in the work place people will stay in a job even though they are misarable there and yet they have the means to get a better job which they will most probably love. Is it coz they like it when people feel sorry for them? Is it coz it gives them something to talk/complain about?

i think its not necessarily that we are addicted to misery,its just that he/she thinks she cant find a better thing that she/he already has...fear of losing what he/she already has.... fear of letting go,cos you wouldnt know if the next thing would be better than the first one...

unless if you can tell me that one has better options (eg a better job)right in front of them on a silver platter,and then they dont take them,would rather stick with the one which is makin you miserable!.......then that would be crazy,addicted to misery...!