“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease to worry about things which are beyond the power of our will.”—Epictetus

The human condition constantly seeks anxiety relief.  And—no surprise, anxiety is a fact of life. It is embedded in the human condition. The most sage advice I have ever received in dealing with anxiety relief involves a pretty basic philosophical strategy for eliminating unnecessary suffering (more on this in a bit).

As humans, we are pleasure-seeking creatures who dislike discomfort and disappointment of any kind. Not realistic, but certainly a fantasy. We do battle each day, attempting to bend life’s circumstances to our will, only to become anxious, frightened, and even angry when things don’t go our way. This is a never-ending loop of the human condition. We wrongly think we can achieve anxiety relief by controlling that which cannot be controlled.

On any given day, my mission is to support others, experiencing our shared human condition, by helping them to slay their dragons using reason, logic, and accountability. I am a big fan of critical thinking and creative problem-solving because constructive action is more useful than unconstructive worry over the things we cannot control.

Nearly twenty years ago, I completed graduate school and began working in a variety of residential substance use disorder (SUD) recovery centers. One of the biggest challenges for many clients confronted with sudden abstinence after substance misuse is the achievement of anxiety relief. Before treatment, their substances or behaviors of choice were the only method for dealing with the human condition, and when that thing is no longer a viable coping mechanism, there is a lot of anxiety. Therein lies an opportunity for growth and transformation.

Let’s get back to examining a more simplified philosophical strategy towards anxiety relief. Back in the day, I was mentored by a professor who introduced me to Buddhist philosophy. The following Four Noble Truths are at the heart of Buddhist teaching and provide a practical philosophical strategy for understanding the human condition and how, when applied to daily living, can help provide anxiety relief. 

The Four Noble Truths can help us grasp the nature of suffering and how to practice the process towards a path of personal liberation.

The First Noble Truth: Suffering is Part of Life

If we are alive, we will suffer. 

Suffering is a fundamental part of the human condition. Suffering takes many forms, such as emotional, physical, or existential suffering.

Recognizing the presence of suffering is the portal through which we gain understanding and relief from it. The same premise applies to anxiety relief.

The Second Noble Truth: The Cause of Suffering

The root cause of suffering is grasping and clinging to our desire to want things to be different than they are. 

In other words, when we resist what is, we create a cycle of needless suffering that persists. The discomfort and disappointment fuel our anxiety because we feel out of control.

The Third Noble Truth: The End of Suffering

Achieving a state of mind that is free from disturbance, desire, and craving for things to be different than they are will end the destructive cycle of needless suffering.

The ability to accept things as they are without attachment, to change the things within our control (usually only ourselves), and to recognize the impermanence of all things as a guarantee that “this too shall pass” can lead us to anxiety relief, sustainable peace, and happiness.

The Fourth Noble Truth: The Path to End Suffering

A philosophical strategy and practical process that can lead to the cessation of needless suffering and provide anxiety relief is the Noble Eightfold Path. 

This path to managing the human condition provides practical guidelines for ethical and mental development to free oneself from suffering and attain Nirvana.

The Noble Eightfold Path:

1. Right Understanding: Comprehending the Four Noble Truths and the nature of our reality.
2. Right Intention: Cultivating goodwill, doing no harm, and renunciation of behaviors that do not positively serve. 
3. Right Speech: Speaking truthfully, avoiding slander, gossip, and harmful language.
4. Right Action: Acting ethically and morally, avoiding actions that harm others.
5. Right Livelihood: Earning a living in a way that does not cause harm and is ethically positive.
6. Right Effort: Intentionally cultivating good personality traits and abandoning negative ones.
7. Right Mindfulness: Developing personal awareness and mindfulness of the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena.
8. Right Concentration: Practicing states of meditation and mental focus.

The Noble Eightfold Path is a process that leads to ethical conduct, mental discipline, and enhanced wisdom, which together provide tools for anxiety relief of the human condition through a philosophical strategy.

Like what you’re reading? Want more consciously prepared brain food?

Listen to this Harvesting Happiness episode:  Anxiously Awaiting Relief: A Philosophical Approach to the Human Condition with Samir Chopra PhD– sponsored by OUAI or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Take an even deeper dive with More Mental Fitness by Harvesting Happiness on Substack and Medium.

GUEST BIO: Samir Chopra PhD is a philosophical counselor and professor emeritus of philosophy at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author and co-author of many books, including Shyam Benegal: Philosopher and Filmmaker, A Legal Theory for Autonomous Artificial Agents, and Eye on Cricket: Reflections on the Great Game. His latest book is Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide. His essays have appeared in the Nation, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Aeon, Psyche, and other publications.

Website: samirchopra.com

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