Beyond the Highlight Reel: The Truth of Suffering in Modern Life

In the glamorous world of social media it can be hard to spot the suffering beneath it all: it is as If the word consists of endless summer days, perfect yoga poses, happy gatherings and delicious meals. It is as if we are trying to deny the fact that our joys and pleasures are always short lived and always tainted by the mark of impermanence.

Acknowledging, as the Buddha did, that suffering (dhukha) is our default state, is a controversial thing to do these days, it brushes against the hairs of capitalism, against meritocracy that tells us that happiness depends solely on our own achievement, on our ability to possess and consume. Cause we are taught that we are failures if we don’t, aren’t we? But what if our brains are set to adaptation, what if any new achievement or sense fulfillment by default quickly becomes the new “normal?”

Acknowledging The Truth of Suffering wrings us out of the grip of samsara and rids us of the carrot of sensual fulfillment constantly dangling in front of our nose. And once we realize that suffering is universal not just our own but every other beings suffering, we can relax a bit: cause we don’t have to fret about things that are inevitable and rather than always living in the tension between anticipation of pleasure and the anxiety of losing it, we can try to let go of this neurotic attachment, which is the cause of suffering.

And so, we can also let go of emotions like jealousy competitiveness and craving, knowing that everybody faces their own struggles and losses. Next, we can contemplate whether we want to rid ourselves of suffering (the truth of cessation): is it worth getting off this rollercoaster of ups and downs that we’re at least accustomed to in exchange for exploring completely new territory? (the truth of the path…)