does pain make us smarter?

[kashmir]

That title can be a book in itself.

How can we even answer that?
pain makes us smarter?
Wiser?

 

[kashmir]

I say no.
If it did, than we would all be genuses.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Smarter? Perhaps not. Definitely more cunning though.

 

[idav]

Yes I think it makes us smarter, more learned, more experienced and knowledgeable. What it doesn't do is make us wiser.

 

[Quagmire]

Sure. Why do you think people say, "That smarts!".

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Obligatory Nietzsche quote:

The discipline of suffering, of great suffering — do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far? That tension of the soul in unhappiness which cultivates its strength, its shudders face to face with great ruin, its inventiveness and courage in enduring, persevering, interpreting, and exploiting suffering, and whatever has been granted to it of profundity, secret, mask, spirit, cunning, greatness — was it not granted to it through suffering, through the discipline of great suffering?

 

[kashmir]

Sure. Why do you think people say, "That smarts!".

ya, so we lie to ourselves, what else is new

 

[kashmir]

Smarter? Perhaps not. Definitely more cunning though.

good one

Yes I think it makes us smarter, more learned, more experienced and knowledgeable. What it doesn't do is make us wiser.

nope, sure does not

 

[Quagmire]

ya, so we lie to ourselves, what else is new

My take on this: people who are looking for a life free of pain are on the wrong planet. All of us are going to go through ****, not everybody is going to react to it the same way.

Some people say, "I've been through ****, therefore life is ****.

Some people say, "I've been through ****, so it's OK for me to give everybody else ****".

And some people say, "I've been through ****, you've been through ****, so lets cut the ****".

I think people in that last category have the right idea.

Pain doesn't cause near as much suffering as self-pity does.

 

[Revoltingest]

I voted <Yes> in the sense that painful lessons learned are remembered well.

 

[dust1n]

Doesn't appear to be any strict relationship between those two things either way. Seems to me that there is more than one form of suffering, and that these forms result in two very different things for the people who experienced the suffering. I couldn't really speak on their behalf.

 

[Sunstone]

Pain, suffering -- they focus your attention on yourself. If intelligence implies being aware of, not only what's going on with you, but also what's going on around you, then I don't see how pain and suffering increase someone's intelligence.

As for teaching us lessons that we remember, for everyone I've known who has drawn an appropriate lesson from his or her suffering, I've known someone who has drawn a stupid lesson from his or her suffering. For instance, I knew a woman who was raped once (by, incidentally, a Black man) and therefore concluded all Black men were rapists. If pain teaches us to be smart, how can anyone draw such stupid conclusions from it?

 

[DreadFish]

Pain definitely doesn't inherently make people smarter or wiser. It's not so much about what you experience or how much you experience it, but what you do with your experience.

I know people who have had a very tough time and they are not necessarily so smart or insightful.

With the right demeanor, all life experiences can provide learning, and in that case, pain can be a particularly great learning experience. But on it's own, pain is not going to make someone more insightful, that's up to the person experiencing it.

Some people become more self-absorbed and effectively put on blinders when they have been through **** and become narrow, stubborn and angry; definitely not more insightful.

 

[Desert Snake]

With the right demeanor, all life experiences can provide learning, and in that case, pain can be a particularly great learning experience. But on it's own, pain is not going to make someone more insightful, that's up to the person experiencing it.

That's subjective.

Some people become more self-absorbed and effectively put on blinders when they have been through **** and become narrow, stubborn and angry; definitely not more insightful.

Interesting, but those terms are subjective as well.

 

[Desert Snake]

That title can be a book in itself.

How can we even answer that?
pain makes us smarter?
Wiser?

It's yes and no, depending on the situation, imo.

Voted no because it isn't always the case.

 

[DreadFish]

That's subjective.



Interesting, but those terms are subjective as well.

Ok, it's subjective.

Im not entirely sure what your point is.

 

[Sunstone]

Pain might sometimes have something to do with making us more empathetic -- once we get through it. Usually, though, that's rather up to the individual. Some people seem to become less empathetic after experiencing a great deal of pain.

 

[ChristineES]

That title can be a book in itself.

How can we even answer that?
pain makes us smarter?
Wiser?

It depends on what brought on the pain. If a child touches a stove and gets burned, he/she knows that the stove will burn him/her if he/she touches it again. We learn by experience.

 

[columbus]

Yes I think it makes us smarter, more learned, more experienced and knowledgeable. What it doesn't do is make us wiser.

I think pain makes us motivated, usually. What we are motivated towards depends on a lot of different factors.
Tom

 

[idav]

I think pain makes us motivated, usually. What we are motivated towards depends on a lot of different factors.
Tom

Granted, what I find odd is when the pain does not motivate us to stop what is causing the pain. So that we could have the pain but just repeat the same stuff as if it will be different the next time. Pain allows us to know better perhaps, but knowing better isn't always enough to stop us, like we are just glutton for punishement. We could even predict, based on experience that something will cause suffering but then we do it anyways, we just sometimes try to handle it then regret when it is too much when comes time to bare it. Wondering why we would do such a thing in the first place, likely from lack of wisdom, not using the knowledge we have to the greater benefit.