It seems we have many ways to cover up the suffering we can experience every moment of every day - maybe the subconscious anxiety associated with the idea that what we consider to be our individual existence will someday 'die' and disappear - the idea that some core aspect of who we are is impermanent.

In order to 'self-medicate' such suffering, we can turn to all manner of 'intoxicatants' - imagining future, past or fantastical scenarios, drugs, sex, family drama, consumerism, competitive sports, etc., etc. - even if some of these things are stressful, none of them apparently compare with the universal stress of anticipating one's apparent death.

Some suffering-avoiders; like searching for intellectual solutions to problems while one's body is engaged in physically resolving a different kind of problem, can be quite subtle it seems. This is especially the case where there is no obvious or apparent negative force resulting from the enforced ignorance and lack of focus on what one is doing in the here and now.

However, it seems there are always repurcussions emanating from our actions, and even though our activities may be causing the suffering of a person in a far-away developing country governed by a system apparently outside of our immediate sociopolitical sphere, the important factor appears to be that we are in the position to dictate the suffering of another individual. And who is that "other individual", anyway? They can learn our language, empathise with all our human functions - literally 'jump in to our shoes' as much as we can in to theirs - even inter-breed with us as part of our family. For all intents and purposes, that other individual is us.

Facing our suffering head on, with a mind to own it and take responsibility for it, can apparently relieve other less fortunate people who share the world with us who are trapped by our ignorance and greedy appetites. And if those other people are actually us, then the person we are relieving is actually ourself.