What is suffering/pain?

[StephenK]

I was meditating on my back-pain earlier, and noticed that once I dropped all desire to move away or towards the sensation of pain, it stopped being pain and became something else entirely: a neutral feeling -- just kind of floating there. In fact, I could see how I could learn to desire that neutral feeling of pain and turn it into pleasure. It was a really weird experience and contextualized suffering as merely the desire to move away from something, regardless of what it may be: a sound, sensation, thought, insight, pain etc. The experience has left me feeling a bit perplexed. Please share any of your insights on this topic! Thanks.  

[Chumbimba]

It’s really resistance of the present moment. I had a similar experience when I got my wisdom tooth removed a couple months ago. When I stayed with the pain it just went away 

[eputkonen]

@StephenK  - "suffering as merely the desire to move away from something"

That is a good way of putting it. 

I have said suffering is that additional hurt or imagined hurt we create in the mind.  Kind of like when someone says, "don't look or it will hurt more."  The hurting before you look arises via the nerves of the body, but the hurting more after you look is totally created in the mind and imagined.  Of course, the hurting more is because they want to escape or desire to move away from the physical pain and injury they see.

All suffering is self-created and self-inflicted...often unconsciously.  We suffering due to ignorance and resisting/denying what is.

[Lento]

I like how all of you guys described it.

It takes practice, though, to unwire the old patterns.

[StephenK]

@Chumbimba Yes. I had appendicitis a few years back and remember lying on the floor, reeling in pain. At some point, the pain remained (that is, the sensation of pain was still there) but there was no suffering -- just stillness. This only lasted for a minute or so, and I was back to suffering.

@eputkonen  Yes, the subconscious/unconscious aversions are really hard to catch as they come and go quickly, like shadows formed from a flickering light.

@Lento Yeah, and I find that patterns that you thought you had unwired can rewire themselves when you assume you've 'overcome' them. I find that I often have to come back to the same issue over and over again and every time, the insight gets a little deeper. The ego structure is very much a malleable, adapting structure -- once you think you've got it pinned down, it slips away. This is my experience at least.