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Confusing Messaging about Prostate Cancer

Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Nov 3 8:02pm | Replies (76)
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@sicernon3

“If pain is your jam, I hope it brings the enlightenment you seek.” My perspective on this is that pain is everyone’s “jam” and we spend an enormous amount of time and energy in life seeking to avoid it or deny it. As a primer on the subject, I suggest “The Denial of Death” by Ernest Becker.

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Replies to "“If pain is your jam, I hope it brings the enlightenment you seek.” My perspective on..."
heavyphil | @heavyphil | Oct 30 3:02pm

OK, I can wrap my head around that universal truth: to live is to suffer. Whether it be your own or sharing the pain of loved ones, pain WILL touch you at some point.
Where I disagree is this: the avoidance of pain is instinctual - a survival mechanism the organism uses to avoid possible death. You are not denying its existence but rather postponing its inevitability.
If you just throw up your hands and say “Prostate cancer or heart attack - what’s the difference?” You are inviting a scenario in which YOU are CAUSING your own pain and possibly your inevitable death a lot sooner than necessary.
Do we kill ourselves just because we know that one day we will die?
I don’t see treatment of any disease an inordinate use of time and energy.

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