A saying goes, “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional,” which is true, but mostly applies in time of peace. Imagine, during wartime, when people are constantly facing the risk of death at any moment; life is simply miserable. Is suffering inevitable, then? But as we are living in peace, most of our suffering comes from our being slaves to our own emotions, something that you can train yourself to overcome.

People are easily blinded by the colours of their own subjectivity. Intellect-related faculties no longer matter, for all it has to do is with how one presets the mind to perceive the world – the faculty of perception. Thus, the presetting of this particular faculty is of utmost importance in order to reset your mental state, relieving yourself of unnecessary stress and tension.

Even though intellect and perception are clearly logically connected, as perception is predetermined by intellect; a high intellect has enabled us to perceive things with sophistication on a scale like no other animals. But considering the subject within ourselves, the human species, then differentiation is unnecessary.

People have always been suffering-stricken – a perennial matter. It is always easy to fall into the victim mentality wherein we hardly see otherwise that we are the most stricken victims without parallel of the world’s evil deeds. How difficult unpleasant things are for us to endure lie in the subjective sensation. In other words, the workings of our biomechanics for neurological experience.

Humans can train their minds to work differently. Suffering is a choice; it is not supposed to be taken for granted. Encountering disheartening experiences in life is inevitable to anyone. Therefore, you must eventually go beyond what the others can’t bear, or life pins you down. This is why mind-presetting is crucial. You preset your mind in order to better take on hardship, so that the little things won’t easily affect you anymore; trivial matters don’t bother you as they once did – same principle as in the problem of overthinking: the more you think about something, the more likely you’d be hesitant to take action.

Suffering is part of life; nobody has ever gone through life without knowing its bitterness. We wouldn’t be searching for deliverance from suffering if we’d never had a taste of it and nobody would be discussing the causes behind it, looking for ways towards a more refined state of being.