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Sometimes I wonder if we were put on this earth only to be in pain, misery, loneliness, and suffering. Everywhere I look I see these negative qualities in the lives of millions of people-from the hundred of thousands of poverty refugees crowding other countries' borders to the millions starving to the millions suffering from the after effects of COVID to the sex slave trade to the poverty, disease and hunger in every nation on earth and on and on. Unhappiness is relentless and getting worse each day with extreme climate change coming upon us in 20-30 years. happiness and contentment seem like elusive dreams reserved only for the privileged 1%.
For most people starting from the bottom there seems to be no way anymore to climb the ladder out of poverty into success. The cost of living makes most struggle just to get a meal into their stomach let alone get a college education. Life shouldn't be like this and yet it is.
It depends on your resources. It’s just that simple.
Interesting phraseology, OP. "we were put on this earth" & "meant to be." I thought you were an atheist.
Quite frankly, I don't have a secular take, as it were, on this question. I'm just going to tell you how it is. The cause of pain and misery is the curse, because our first parents chose "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" versus obeying the voice of God. I look at this this way: God created man to enjoy a fruitful relationship with Him in which He is God and we are not. Nothing is impossible or too hard for God, so there is no need for pain, misery, struggle, or suffering. But man, in pride, chooses instead the path of, "I got this" & "I don't need God." Well, look at the results of that.
I've never believed in positive thinking but I have always believed in realistic thinking. I believe that life is what YOU make it. If you are suffering it is up to YOU to find a way out of your misery if you want to.
Of course some people are happy to groan and moan and complain. Logically that does no good at all. Shakespeare once wrote, nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so. I believe that. That's why you see a homeless man with a cheap bottle of wine as happy as a millionaire buying a yacht.
I learned long ago that the worst thing I could do to myself was to feel sorry for myself. Self pity is a crippling corrosive poison. It blinds you to happiness, to doing something to improve your situation and claim happiness. The truth is you can feel good or bad about the exact same thing or situation. It's up to you.
Happiness isn't a state of mind. It's a series of moments where you can feel pride in your accomplishment, even if it's just fixing a leaky faucet, or grateful for a good meal or a possession you own and enjoy, or being loved by a relative or a lover or a pet.
Thinking about the problems in the world is just mental garbage since you can't do anything about it anyway. Why not just think of all the good things available in the world instead? Why waste the most miraculous gift of life?
the OP said 99% of humanity is miserable
and only 1% of people find happiness and contentment.
that is wildly off the mark.
and regarding the post above, no, 99% of the people in the world are not sold into bondage or starving or living in squalor.
I never used 99% in my OP. You're inferring that. Obviously a certain percentage of people near the top find something to live for. But they still struggle to certain degrees.
I see red when I see these cockeyed optimists say "Anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make something out of their lives." Most people in 3rd world countries can't afford bootstraps to pull themselves up by. Have you taken a look at Syria, Tzaphkiel? Try to tell me those people seem to be happy and content with their lives despite the bombs flying over their heads into their neighborhoods. Try to tell me they have a choice to make something of their lives, other than picking up and making the hazardous 1000 mile trek to Greece by foot hauling 3 kids in tow.
Interesting phraseology, OP. "we were put on this earth" & "meant to be." I thought you were an atheist.
Quite frankly, I don't have a secular take, as it were, on this question. I'm just going to tell you how it is. The cause of pain and misery is the curse, because our first parents chose "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" versus obeying the voice of God. I look at this this way: God created man to enjoy a fruitful relationship with Him in which He is God and we are not. Nothing is impossible or too hard for God, so there is no need for pain, misery, struggle, or suffering. But man, in pride, chooses instead the path of, "I got this" & "I don't need God." Well, look at the results of that.
the OP said 99% of humanity is miserable
and only 1% of people find happiness and contentment.
that is wildly off the mark.
and regarding the post above, no, 99% of the people in the world are not sold into bondage or starving or living in squalor.
Thanks. I saw the same when I travelled through Mexico by train and bus in 1970. When I got back I was talking to my barber who was from Guadalajara where I had visited. He said in the US, people live to work. But in Mexico, they work to live.
It was true. When I was in Guadalajara I hooked up with some locals and they really knew how to enjoy their time off of work. They went to work in the morning. Had a two hour siesta in mid day, and worked until 7PM. Then they partied during the evenings and on their days off.
I stayed at a local hotel where Mexicans on vacation stayed. All of the rooms on two levels faced an open courtyard. One guy would get up in the morning and sing songs in front of the door to his room, entertaining all of the hotel guests. Along with the locals I met three school teachers from Chihuahua and spent a day sight seeing with them. When I met them in the morning they linked arms and sang as we walked down the street. It was like a scene from a 1950's technicolor musical. It was the most magical vacation I ever had in my life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tzaphkiel
excellent post. yes. all of it.
one of the most eye-opening experiences for me that caused a shift in my perspective in a major way, was the first time i travelled outside the company, in my early 20s, as a tourist. of course there was a huge disparity obvious between the living conditions of tourists from America, and every town we visited. what struck me though was not oh wow rich Americans and poor people in Central America. What struck me was even though everywhere we saw people who by USA standards were poor and in poverty, what struck me and has stayed with me ever since, is that i saw really happy people in those conditions.
there are people all over the world who are happy and don't have a lot.
it was clear as a bell. having a bunch of stuff is not necessary for people to be really, really happy.
I believe we are created to fellowship with our creator. Works for me!
I also believe it's a bad idea to focus on the lives of other people when we have plenty improvements needed in ours.
I never used 99% in my OP. You're inferring that. Obviously a certain percentage of people near the top find something to live for. But they still struggle to certain degrees.
I see red when I see these cockeyed optimists say "Anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make something out of their lives." Most people in 3rd world countries can't afford bootstraps to pull themselves up by. Have you taken a look at Syria, Tzaphkiel? Try to tell me those people seem to be happy and content with their lives despite the bombs flying over their heads into their neighborhoods. Try to tell me they have a choice to make something of their lives, other than picking up and making the hazardous 1000 mile trek to Greece by foot hauling 3 kids in tow.
No one said it would be easy or that change would happen instantly. If you go back just a couple hundred years, there wasn't a huge difference in the lifestyle/quality of life. Yet some nations picked themselves up by those non existent bootstraps and began climbing. And they passed that on to their children who continued the climb. And so forth. You don't get to the top of the mountain by sitting at the bottom and complaining about those who climb. You get there by climbing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobspez
Thanks. I saw the same when I travelled through Mexico by train and bus in 1970. When I got back I was talking to my barber who was from Guadalajara where I had visited. He said in the US, people live to work. But in Mexico, they work to live.
.
And yet so many seem to want to come to the US, where "people live to work" and not too many flee the US for where people supposedly "work to live."
Maybe the philosophy of pulling yourself up isn't so bad.
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