Why Is Life So Unfair?

[Person012345]

And what of people who never learn? For example, if they don't believe in Karma they're not likely to ever "learn" from it.

You're not learning from karma, you're learning (one hopes) from the circumstances in which you are placed. You keep getting put in those situations until you get it or you die. You don't have to believe in karma to experience it.

No, but you have to believe in Karma to understand the significance. If I throw stones at cars, then one day a rock falls on my head, I'm not going to connect the two events. So I won't "learn" anything from having a rock fall on my head except to be more careful of what's above my head.

[Keronians]

Example, please.

Van Gogh leaps to mind.

You'd want to kill yourself?

[Person012345]

Van Gogh leaps to mind.

You'd want to kill yourself?

That doesn't even remotely relate to what he said.

[Rupture Farms co]

life is what it is *shrugs*

The only way itd be better is if we all became one big hive mind and even then we'd have headache wars

Man cannot exist alone. There is always a need for "another", someone else to affirm reality. But really, it's needed to affirm yourself. We all mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. Imagine a singular entity, hypothetically a human being floating in space. Is he still a human being without other people? A man is only a man in relation to other people, hence Shinji strangle Asuka. Her response affirms their existence. Alone, they float in space, like some shadowy paradoxical dream.
-random youtube commentator

[Conserative Morality]

Do you even remember where this section of the argument came from? It was very specific to a particular religious belief. I doubt that that religious belief doesn't have it's primary aim as pleasing god. That's like if I said "I've heard of a religion called christianity that worships a zombie", you could doubt that they in fact do worship a zombie, and it would be up to me to provide some evidence that said religion exists, and worships a zombie.

To believe that the primary purpose of religion is to make the God happy would mean that God is trying to get you to believe for selfish purposes, personal happiness. Therefore, any sect of Christianity that does not embrace a selfish God (IE most of them) does not follow your line of thinking.

Any particular reason for doing that?

Yes, because the chemical processes in my brain have caused me to pursue this line of thought.

There's really no answer, any more than there is an answer to "Any particular reason for pursuing happiness?"

[Keronians]

You'd want to kill yourself?

That doesn't even remotely relate to what he said.

Van Gogh died in his 30s from a gunshot wound. A self-inflicted one.

[Imsogone]

You're not learning from karma, you're learning (one hopes) from the circumstances in which you are placed. You keep getting put in those situations until you get it or you die. You don't have to believe in karma to experience it.

No, but you have to believe in Karma to understand the significance. If I throw stones at cars, then one day a rock falls on my head, I'm not going to connect the two events. So I won't "learn" anything from having a rock fall on my head except to be more careful of what's above my head.

Karma doesn't work that way. You learn not to throw stones at cars when someone else throws stones at your car and you learn how the other person feels; if you don't make the connection, it keeps happening until you do or you die. Then you go on to your next lesson. You don't learn, you don't "graduate".

This sort of begs the question, though. If I don't believe in the Judeo-Christian god, does that mean that I don't understand the significance of what it teaches, so therefore it doesn't apply to me? Cool.

[Conserative Morality]

You'd want to kill yourself?

No?

But his depression fueled his work, in large part. Despite constant battles with depression, he was a prolific and excellent artist, despite not being recognized in his own time.

[Kylarnatia]

I'd like to just say, that happiness is not really the aim of life, it's a factor, but not the aim. Making happiness an aim in life is what makes life seem so unfair, in my experience anyway, you get my drift?

The only aim in life is to survive. Literally. Your body functionally does stuff to keep you alive that you don't do anything until your mind tells you, "it's time to eat", "it's time to sleep" ect. The only time you take the control to survive is when, obviously, your life is threatened ect.

The point is trying to make is, life is what you make it. If you want to be happy, that's something you find on your path in life through whatever you do, and that's up to you, but I can promise you it isn't your ultimate goal. Making it so, as I said, is what makes the world look depressing.

[Great Nepal]

The more I see the more BS I realize this whole system of "life" is. Some people have it good (like me) and some people are just totally screwed (the poor). Why are some people born with messed up bodies and minds? Why is there suffering? Why is life SO unfair?

Life is fair. Once upon a time, everyone was in equal footing - some got ahead, whereas some remained behind. Those who got ahead, have easy whereas those who got behind gets it hard.
As for being born with messed up bodies/ minds, that is just tough luck.

There is no peace.People fight wars over the stupidest thing! When we kill a solider, we affect the lives of a hundred people that knew him.People hate one another, more then they love life. We would rather eliminate our "enemy" then try to make peace. We would rather die for a cause then suffer in patience, we will not allow understanding.

Because, peace is bad for human development.

There is no justice. When wrongs are done, there is no retribution. Those who play by the rules get beaten by the ones who cheat.

Perhaps only one thing I agree in this rant, although that is mostly down to stupid justice system.

People steal and lie and step on other people to get ahead.And then the person who was screwed then steps on another person and the cycle continues.

So? Solution is to remain ahead of others, so that others cant step on your back.

Is this how life is susposed to be? We survive yes.... but we do not live! We are not happy, and we cant even talk about it with anyone because 90% of everyone else is going throug the same shit as us. Is life just about mediorcracy? Is that the best we can do?

Ultimate happiness is undesirable. When we dont get happiness, we strive for it - then we develop and evolve.

And i am only talking about people in western countries who have a choice how to life. There are billions of people out there who dont even have FOOD! Millions of people are dying ever day because they dont have the basic nessesities of life. Beautifull amazing people, who could become so much are stopped so quickly, their lives extinguished and they are forgoteen, forever....

See first.

Here is America there are people who eat more food then they should and then in Asia there are people who are starving to death.

And?

Despite the "amazing" experience it is to be human with our great big brain, it almost seems worthless. We can do nothing to avoid our fate. We must struggle and die but we have it worse then the other animals. We can see the suffering around us, we can understand how it feels and we know we can do nothing about it. The animals are so focused on their own survival they can not feel this pain. Ignorance truly is bliss!

We are all going to die, so... live life well, accumulate wealth for your children and their children and leave name for ever.

I know there is no way to perfect the system but there must be....a better way then what we have now. Your thoughts?

No, because current system is most desirable one.

[Keronians]

You'd want to kill yourself?

No?

But his depression fueled his work, in large part. Despite constant battles with depression, he was a prolific and excellent artist, despite not being recognized in his own time.

And he suffered all throughout it. I'm pretty sure he wanted to be happy as well.

[Conserative Morality]

And he suffered all throughout it. I'm pretty sure he wanted to be happy as well.

He may have wanted to be happy, but it disproves your point that depression makes one unproductive.

[Siorafrica]

Life is so unfair because people think like this: "I exist only as myself therefore I am the supreme being and everything I do is smart and right while everything my enemies do is stupid and wrong." So everyone treats life as a zero sum game and act on "What can I get away with?" rather than "What is the best option?". We treat each other like demons while at the same time acting like demons. When things go wrong someone will either (in order of the likelihood of getting away with it):
deny the problem exists,
say that it's a good thing,
deny it's a problem,
blame the enemy
admit to being wrong but sugarcoat it in the hope of not being punished
We squabble over what happened before while the problems of now grind us down. You can feed people information but that won't stop their bellies from rumbling. We think our own countries are the best,we sugarcoat their failings and exaggerate their successes. If the enemy country does something bad we give out,when ours does something bad we try to pass it off as necessary or even a good thing. We agree that political power should be decided on by lines on maps. We never improve ourselves yet we know improvements can be made so we make machines and then get suspicious because a few people write FICTIONAL books about them overthrowing us and God forbid that calm,logical thinking could be a good and safe thing! Once we get to a certain age we think the present to be ultradoubleplusgood and the past ultradoubleplusgood regardless of what actually happened. EVERYTHING seems rosy when you don't know much. Blondes are stereotyped as stupid and redheads as angry,no stereotype for brunettes. Old people are stereotyped as being mentally ill and young people stupid (ignore of course that if a person half your age gets smarter three times as fast they will be smarter than you eventually), no stereotype for those in between. Laws properly passed can be made useless if people oppose them thus putting the fate of countries at the mercy of hedonism,but there's no mercy in a system of thinking that says "never mind any future consequences,let's be happy now" and seeks to destroy morality utterly. We set a river on fire. We put a man on the moon but can't cure AIDS. We shag and waste money so much that if we had shagged and wasted money only half as much we could have cured AIDS by now then again the money's in the treatment,not the cure. Don't want to kill foreigners? You're a communist moonbat homosexual hippie that hates your country. Don't want to kill babies? You're a reactionary,nostalgic,xenophobic idiot. Middle of the road? Can't cross the road. I could make one long book about why we humans "suck".

[Person012345]

Do you even remember where this section of the argument came from? It was very specific to a particular religious belief. I doubt that that religious belief doesn't have it's primary aim as pleasing god. That's like if I said "I've heard of a religion called christianity that worships a zombie", you could doubt that they in fact do worship a zombie, and it would be up to me to provide some evidence that said religion exists, and worships a zombie.

To believe that the primary purpose of religion is to make the God happy would mean that God is trying to get you to believe for selfish purposes, personal happiness. Therefore, any sect of Christianity that does not embrace a selfish God (IE most of them) does not follow your line of thinking.

So what is the purpose of an average christian adhering to the laws of his religion?

Any particular reason for doing that?

Yes, because the chemical processes in my brain have caused me to pursue this line of thought.

Fair enough.

There's really no answer, any more than there is an answer to "Any particular reason for pursuing happiness?"

Whilst there is no logical reason for me to pursue happiness, I know, I do it because being happy feels nice. That is my reason. It's not a supreme logical reason, but you can understand it as a human, right?

I didn't say that there was no other reason, I only asked you for yours, and doubted your other example. I actually believe that some people exist in the world who have, for example, a pathological desire to make as much money as possible. Not for their own happiness or anyone else's, but just because it's a goal. They're not the majority of people (rich or otherwise) by any means, but I believe that such people exist.

[Great Nepal]

-snip the rant about people being selfish-.

And there is anything wrong with any of those how? I dont care about some random guy down the road, I care about myself and my family.

[Risna]

fuck it I get you having so kind of crisis here so enjoy Alan Watts a littleas I figure it will chill you out a bit.

Firs time I listened to him. His voice is quite relaxing yes :/

[Gravonia]

it's so unfair.

I'm OK though.

And that's what counts

[Natty Narwhal]

To quote Squidward on the worthlessness, despair and monotony of life; "I order the food, you cook the food, we do that for 40 years, and then we die."

[Keronians]

And he suffered all throughout it. I'm pretty sure he wanted to be happy as well.

He may have wanted to be happy, but it disproves your point that depression makes one unproductive.

It really does.

Van Gogh was an exception to the rule, not the rule.

If not, then firms would not employ motivation theory.

(Yes, I know that's an odd example, but what else would you expect from a business geek?).

[Conserative Morality]

So what is the purpose of an average christian adhering to the laws of his religion?

What is the purpose? The purpose is because God Says So. When I left my church, I had several (Friendly) arguments with the fundies there, and that's essentially what it boils down to. Sure, you get reasons why you should do what God Says, because He's Perfect, or because He's Omnipotent, or because He's our creator, etc, etc, but God's purpose is not known to us, not able to be known to us, or it isn't our place to question Him.

Whilst there is no logical reason for me to pursue happiness, I know, I do it because being happy feels nice. That is my reason. It's not a supreme logical reason, but you can understand it as a human, right?

Exactly, that's the point. There is no greater reason for being happy, it is a goal unto itself. It has nothing that makes it inherently more or less than any other goal in life, and despite my personal opposition to it as a sole goal, this position grants it no more validity than having being remembered as a goal in life, or living for one's art, regardless of happiness or if anyone remembers you, or for living for a set philosophy or ideology.

I didn't say that there was no other reason, I only asked you for yours, and doubted your other example. I actually believe that some people exist in the world who have, for example, a pathological desire to make as much money as possible. Not for their own happiness or anyone else's, but just because it's a goal. They're not the majority of people (rich or otherwise) by any means, but I believe that such people exist.

Indeed they have, which means happiness is not the only purpose in life.

[The Parkus Empire]

-snip the rant about people being selfish-.

And there is anything wrong with any of those how? I dont care about some random guy down the road, I care about myself and my family.

"selfish, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others."

-

[Person012345]

No, but you have to believe in Karma to understand the significance. If I throw stones at cars, then one day a rock falls on my head, I'm not going to connect the two events. So I won't "learn" anything from having a rock fall on my head except to be more careful of what's above my head.

Karma doesn't work that way. You learn not to throw stones at cars when someone else throws stones at your car and you learn how the other person feels; if you don't make the connection, it keeps happening until you do or you die. Then you go on to your next lesson. You don't learn, you don't "graduate".

Well, it's fairly self evident that things you do on a daily basis don't result in identical things being done to you. So that idea of karma is, to my mind, foolish. but we all have our own opinions.

This sort of begs the question, though. If I don't believe in the Judeo-Christian god, does that mean that I don't understand the significance of what it teaches, so therefore it doesn't apply to me? Cool.

Nope. But if you don't believe in the judeo-christian god, and you have some sort of accident after taking the lord's name in vain, do you then never take the lord's name in vain again, or do you just not even connect the two?

The LESSON of the IDEA of karma is a fine one, and doesn't require faith in karma to understand. But actually learning from karma itself when you don't believe in karma doesn't work.

[Germanic Templars]

Life ain't unfair, your just at the wrong place and the wrong time, or not looking at the class half full.

[Risna]

To quote Squidward on the worthlessness, despair and monotony of life; "I order the food, you cook the food, we do that for 40 years, and then we die."

I admit that made me laugh quite hardily .

[Person012345]

Whilst there is no logical reason for me to pursue happiness, I know, I do it because being happy feels nice. That is my reason. It's not a supreme logical reason, but you can understand it as a human, right?

Exactly, that's the point. There is no greater reason for being happy, it is a goal unto itself. It has nothing that makes it inherently more or less than any other goal in life, and despite my personal opposition to it as a sole goal, this position grants it no more validity than having being remembered as a goal in life, or living for one's art, regardless of happiness or if anyone remembers you, or for living for a set philosophy or ideology.

I didn't say that there was no other reason, I only asked you for yours, and doubted your other example. I actually believe that some people exist in the world who have, for example, a pathological desire to make as much money as possible. Not for their own happiness or anyone else's, but just because it's a goal. They're not the majority of people (rich or otherwise) by any means, but I believe that such people exist.

Indeed they have, which means happiness is not the only purpose in life.

Yes, but I never made either of the claims you're refuting here.

As for the first one (I didn't quote), fair enough.