Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering

Opening Scene – Narrated by Host

The room was filled with the quiet hum of evening, the soft light casting long shadows along the floor. Jack sat at the desk, his fingers lightly tracing the edge of a book, but his thoughts seemed far away. There was a sense of heaviness in the air, a contemplation about the nature of suffering and how it shaped the human experience. He had come across a quote earlier that had stuck with him, lingering in his mind like an unresolved question.

Jeeny entered the room, a cup of tea in her hand. She placed it on the table beside him, noticing the distant look in his eyes. She sat down across from him, her gaze warm, waiting for him to speak.

Jeeny: “You’ve got that look again. What’s on your mind?”

Jack blinked, his focus returning to the present as he looked up at her. He smiled faintly, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Jack: “I was thinking about something Arthur Schopenhauer said: ‘Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.’ It really struck me. There’s something about the suffering we endure because of other people’s choices that feels more unjust, more unbearable, than anything that happens by chance.”

Jeeny’s expression softened as she considered his words. She gently wrapped her hands around her tea cup, her thoughts aligning with his.

Jeeny: “That’s so true. It’s like the pain of losing someone or facing a hardship because of fate or nature feels almost more tolerable, more understandable, because we don’t feel like there was any malice behind it. But when suffering comes from the will of another person—when it feels deliberate, when it feels like it’s inflicted on us without reason—that’s when the pain cuts deeper.”

Jack: “Exactly. The suffering caused by other people feels more personal, more violating. It’s not just the pain that hurts—it’s the injustice of it, the feeling that someone else had the power to make us suffer, to control our lives in a way that we didn’t choose. It’s like being at the mercy of someone else’s will, and that makes it so much harder to bear.”

Host: The conversation deepened as Jack and Jeeny reflected on the nature of suffering. Schopenhauer’s words resonated because they acknowledged that suffering was an inevitable part of life, but the true weight of suffering came when it was imposed upon us by others. It wasn’t just the physical or emotional pain that made it unbearable—it was the helplessness, the lack of control over our own fate.

Jeeny: “I think it’s because when something happens due to chance or nature, there’s a sense that it’s beyond anyone’s control. We may not like it, but we can accept it because it feels inevitable, like part of the way the world works. But when someone else chooses to cause us pain, when it feels like they are using their will against us, that’s where the real resentment lies. It feels unfair, unjust, and that makes the suffering more intense.”

Jack: “Right. There’s a certain helplessness in it. When suffering comes from another person, it makes us question the world. It makes us question humanity itself. There’s something deeply unsettling about knowing that another human being has the power to hurt us deliberately, to affect our lives in ways that feel unfair.”

Jeeny: “It’s almost as if that suffering is more than just pain. It’s the feeling of being violated, of being stripped of your agency, of your dignity. It’s a different kind of pain—the pain of knowing that someone’s actions are causing it, and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s what makes it feel so much worse.”

Host: Jack nodded, the weight of their conversation settling into something deeper. He realized that suffering, though inevitable, took on a different shape when it was caused by others. It wasn’t just the physical pain—it was the emotional and psychological toll of being at the mercy of someone else’s choices. That sense of violation, of injustice, made the suffering feel more profound, more difficult to heal from.

Jack: “I think what I’m understanding now is that suffering is almost a different experience when it’s caused by others. It’s not just about the pain itself—it’s about the loss of control, the feeling that someone else has decided our fate. That’s what makes it so hard to bear.”

Jeeny: “Exactly. And that’s why we often feel more anger, more frustration, when we suffer because of someone else. We want to blame them, we want to make sense of why they hurt us. It’s that feeling of being powerless that makes the pain harder to bear. We want to understand why it happened, and sometimes, we just can’t.”

Climax and Reconciliation

The room grew quieter now, the weight of their conversation lingering in the air. Jack realized that Schopenhauer’s words weren’t just about suffering—they were about the human experience of being at the mercy of forces beyond our control, whether they were natural or human. The true challenge of suffering came not from the pain itself, but from the helplessness that accompanied it. And when that suffering was inflicted by another person, it left a wound that was much harder to heal.

Jack: “So maybe the key to understanding suffering is to accept that it’s part of life, no matter how it comes. Whether it’s through chance or nature, we can at least feel like we’re not being wronged. But when it comes from another person, it’s harder to reconcile. It’s not just the pain—it’s the injustice that makes it so much harder to handle.”

Jeeny: “Exactly. It’s the feeling of being out of control, of being hurt because of someone else’s will. That’s what makes it so difficult to bear. But I think the more we can understand that suffering, the more we can find a way to heal from it—by accepting it and learning from it, even when it’s inflicted by others.”

Host: The room felt more peaceful now, as Jack and Jeeny reflected on the nature of suffering. Outside, the world continued its rhythm, but inside, they had come to a new understanding. Suffering, whether caused by nature or another person, was an inevitable part of life. But when it was inflicted by others, it became more than just pain—it became a deep, emotional wound. The key to healing wasn’t to avoid suffering, but to understand it, to face it with acceptance, and to find a way to move forward, even when the pain felt unbearable.