Why Pain is Worth the Price

In class, we discussed whether or not it would be worse to live a life painless but without joy or to have a life of pain and joy.  I understand that it cliché and overused to say things such as “Oh well, the lowest of lowest makes you appreciate the highest of highs”; I do not believe that at all.  When I am in a bad place in my life, I never stop and think “wow, this really makes me appreciate all the good in my life!”  The way I would tackle this issue would be by taking a view that Aristotle may have as well.  If you ask yourself why you do anything at all in your life, you would eventually come to the conclusion that happiness is the ultimate motive of human existence.  Now, keeping that in mind, let’s go back to the Epicureans.  They believe that pleasure is the result of life without pain.  But that is not pleasure at all.  That is just not having pain.  Living a painless life does not mean that you are happy.  That is why I would prefer to have a life with the ups and downs rather than a life without pain but with no joy.  As a human being, I strive every day to make myself happy.  Whether or not that is selfish does not matter.  It is in my very nature to pursue Eudaimonia.  Having said this, for me and most other human beings, we believe that even though pain is terrible and not desired, we are willing to endure it for the sake of reaching our happiness that demands pain to accompany it.  That is why we are so willing to fall in love, make friendships, or do anything that has any level of risk.  We are willing to make these sacrifices to continue our pursuit to our ultimate goal: which is happiness.