How to Reduce the Pain of Life | Arthur Schopenhauer

The nineteenth-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer observed that nature is driven by an all-encompassing force, which he called Will, or more specifically, the Will-To-Live. This force is unconscious, aimless, and blind, and gives rise to an insatiable striving within human beings. We live our lives grasping, craving, and attaching ourselves to external things, and we feed on other living organisms to perpetuate our own existence, all of which is a manifestation of Will.

Thus, the will lies at the root of suffering, as our never-ending hunger (and our inability to satiate it) results in an ongoing pursuit of pleasure that never, ever satisfies in the long run. To cope with the misery of life, Schopenhauer took the effort to construct a philosophy to help us attain a state of happiness, which may seem a bit strange as he’s such a pessimistic thinker. But similar to a philosopher and spiritual teacher that lived about 2,500 years ago named the Buddha, Schopenhauer rigorously examined and endured the illnesses of existence before he came up with a cure.

After his death, Schopenhauer left us with an unfinished manuscript titled “Die Kunst, glücklich zu sein,” which can be translated as “The art of being happy”, and contains fifty rules for life. This video is based on the fifty rules by Arthur Schopenhauer, and explores how we can reduce the pain of life.

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00:00 - Intro
01:44 - Asceticism
05:12 - The illusion of happiness
08:12 - Reducing pain

#schopenhauer #philosophy #pain

[Dacademeca]

"It Is Difficult To Find Happiness Within Oneself, But It's Impossible To Find It Anywhere Else.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

[dlloydy]

Rock bottom teaches more than mountain tops ever will.

[QuestionEverythingButWHY]

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality”
― Seneca

[DiogenesOfCa]

"Don't spend too much time on the internet".
-Marcus Aurelius

[QuestionEverythingButWHY]

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced."
--Soren Kierkegaard

[Einzelgänger]

Everyone, I wish you all the best wishes for 2021! Hopefully, this year will be (as Schopenhauer might have stated it) a bit less painful than 2020. But if that's not the case, we're at least given more opportunities to grow through adversity. In regards to this video, I must admit that there's much more to Schopenhauer's work that I'd like to cover and explore. It was quite difficult to cover his lessons on happiness in one video. If you're interested, I'd like to make more content about his philosophy (and my interpretations of it) in the near future. Just let me know!

[QuestionEverythingButWHY]

“Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.”
― Arthur Schopenhauer,

[monikatripathi]

2020 was the year I discovered Einzelganger and philosophy, and that changed the whole prospective of life for me. I'm grateful

[jorgletchler]

Whether optimist or pessimist, we all have to live in this matrix.

[Endymion]

Schop is my fav philosopher. He doesn't sugar coat anything.

[davidschantz]

Reducing social media is a good first stop...

[MrFerski]

"I am making a quote because everybody else is."
~me

[marshaalison]

“A happy life is a life that is more enjoyable than death”. Setting the bar low there Schopenhauer

[Gothamnameless]

This dead man wasn't pessimistic he was positive misunderstood thinker. I love how simplified but gritty he is.

"The healthy bum is always better than a sick king."

Awesome quote

[michaelchamberlain]

not a single scar on my heart came from my enemy

[jakehixon]

I see where he is coming from
For every pleasure there is an equal and opposite pain
A lovely relationship crushes you when it ends.
The day after an amazing party you feel
deflated and depressed.
From now on I am going to put my focus on reducing pain instead of pursuing fleeting pleasures.

[agomes]

Let me just say that this video came out at the right time in my life...

[FutureMindset]

The way I see it, negative visualization is the best way to attain peace. When you see the things the way they are and how horrible they can be and just shrug it off, you lift a huge burden off your shoulders and attain a sense of calm, regardless of whatever happens.

[abhisheksing]

Man, you are single-handedly teaching life. This is something that schools can't do.

[frankmuller]

Avoid pain at all costs for it will surely come
-Arthur Schopenhauer