"Immortality": Is suffering the university of egocentrism ?
I am reading " Immortality" by M. Kundera, and this words have particularly attracted my attention:
"I think, therefore I am is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothache. I fell, therefore I am is a truth much more universally valid, and it applies to everything that is alive. My self does not different substantially from yours in term of its thought. Many people, few ideals: we all think more or less the same, and we exchange, borrow, steal thoughts from one another. However when someone steps on my foot, only I feel pain. The basis of the self is not thought but suffering, which is the most fundamental of all feelings. While it suffers, not even a cat can doubt its unique and uninterchangeable self. In intense suffering the world dissapear and each of us is alone with his self. Suffering is the university of egocentrism".
In a sense is a theory fascinating: our throught is the same of the throught of everyone, but the pain is all and only our.
I feel, therefore I am: what do you think about this statement?Interesting concept with somewhat undisputable validity on a physical plane. The higher consciousness - the total detachment from painful thought streams - when practiced brings one back to I think, therefore I am. The physical, though universal throughout humanity, is at the bottom while the higher plane of consciousness discriminates against anything negative, including pain. This is why some people are able to walk on a bed of nails without feeling pain.
My interest was born from the fact that many times I reflect on philosophical arguments when maybe we must just listen our body for have the answers. But perhaps this can be a first step, toward a higher consciousness where we can not feel pain, and we return again to reflect on philosophical arguments!
Thanks for the replyExactly. Listening to the body may indeed be a first step. By listening to the indweller, the inner self, we can surrender or go through pain. Pain, despair, nervousness co-exist with obstacles to clear thinking. The obstacles are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and a desire to cling to life.
