This essay is nonsense. There’s an easy trick for analyzing writing like this: As you read, mentally remove all of the emotionally charged words and connotations and see if the argument still makes sense. When we get rid of all the flowery language here, we end up with (admittedly uncharitable) things like, “Humans can think about pain and other experiences and use these thoughts to create art that others find pleasurable” and “By paying close attention, you can gain more understanding of complex things (e.g. wine tasting).” None of this analysis even mentions the actual, causal reasons human beings suffer, or established theories about coping with suffering and creativity. As a result, I don’t see anything particularly insightful or useful.
This may be overly harsh, but:
This essay is nonsense. There’s an easy trick for analyzing writing like this: As you read, mentally remove all of the emotionally charged words and connotations and see if the argument still makes sense. When we get rid of all the flowery language here, we end up with (admittedly uncharitable) things like, “Humans can think about pain and other experiences and use these thoughts to create art that others find pleasurable” and “By paying close attention, you can gain more understanding of complex things (e.g. wine tasting).” None of this analysis even mentions the actual, causal reasons human beings suffer, or established theories about coping with suffering and creativity. As a result, I don’t see anything particularly insightful or useful.
I’m not sure what essay you read. Even my very first paragraph doesn’t fit into this framework.