Facing the Problems

What, then, are the problems of existence? First, there are the fourfold miseries birth, death, disease and old age. There are miseries caused by other living entities, such as biting bugs and human enemies; there are miseries caused by the very nature of our bodies, such as mental anxiety, indigestion and broken limbs, and there are miseries inflicted on us by natural calamities beyond human control, such as earthquakes, droughts and floods. For our education to be fruitful, it should help us find a solution to these problems.

One might object to our assumption that human life should yield freedom from miseries. Some people think misery the natural human condition. They say we are meant to suffer. Nevertheless, living entities of all species want to be happy and avoid suffering; no one takes suffering naturally. Misery may seem inevitable, yet philosophers, humanitarians and politicians ever seek its remedies. Not only does a human being try to avoid suffering; even an ant resists being killed. Ask anyone if he is eager to deteriorate with old age. To answer honestly, one would have to say no. What about disease or death? Would anyone like to die right now? "No thanks." Sometimes people try to block out suffering with sensual pleasure. For example, one might temporarily forget one's anxieties through drugs or liquor. But after the high wears off, the anxieties return.

One's claim to be happy and content is a deception if one has not conquered the miseries of birth, death, old age and disease. For example, say we were to visit a friend in the hospital and find that his leg was in traction, he was unable to pass urine unless a nurse brought a bedpan, he had to receive shots regularly, and he could not eat solid food. If we asked our friend how he was feeling and he replied, "I'm all right," we might ask, "What is that 'I'm all right'?" With so many miseries, how could he consider himself all right?

Such illusions of well-being and satisfaction are common among lower animals. Cattle and chickens, for instance, eat their grass and grains in contentment, although their master feeds them simply to kill them. A human being, however, won't stand for being miserable. He protests, or he seeks a solution.

Hedonists, of course, say that the only solution is to go on enjoying the pleasures of the senses and not dwell on miseries, but unfortunately life's miseries curb their pleasure at every step. One might have palatable food to eat, but if someone were to mix sand into it, no one would be able to enjoy it, for although its taste would still be there, the sand would grit against one's teeth and nullify the enjoyment. The pains of material life similarly nullify all the enjoyments of the material world. But if despite all sufferings, one is determined to enjoy material life-to eat sweet food mixed with sand-still one cannot. No one is allowed to stay here. We may want to make our home here and enjoy, but death kicks us out. There are no exceptions. Everyone is forced to leave.

Therefore, with the facilities of human life, one should seek an ultimate solution to misery. Still one might object that to stop suffering is impossible. The painter Van Gogh once wrote in a letter, "Misery is eternal," But the solution is at hand, as we shall describe herein, if only one approaches the problem seriously and receives the proper education.