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Why is life so Painful?

RaptorWizard

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Somewhere out there in the world, there's always problems causing much suffering and affliction. But many religious fools say that simply by our world being here, that it's because of God's good grace. My question is, why in hell, if this is supposed to be God's so-called "Grand Design" would he allow for so much evil to exist in our world? Heck, seeing how bad things can get, a better question might be, what kind of monster would create something like this? I think that this is a good case in favor of humility before the "wonders of creation" as foolishness and weakness.

So fellas, I'm wondering, why is life so painful?
 
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ndovjtjcaqidthi

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Because there is no God and life is suffering?

"A quick test of the assertion that enjoyment outweighs pain in this world, or that they are at any rate balanced, would be to compare the feelings of an animal engaged in eating another with those of the animal being eaten."

Schopenhauer
 

RaptorWizard

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Because there is no God and life is suffering?

"A quick test of the assertion that enjoyment outweighs pain in this world, or that they are at any rate balanced, would be to compare the feelings of an animal engaged in eating another with those of the animal being eaten."

Schopenhauer

Ha, that's actually pretty funny. But it also is a good example of how our world system operates under merciless conditions of eat or be eaten, all the while struggling to deal with the pitiless elements and the massive pains all of this stuff causes us, not to mention emotional and mental traumas to amplify it all.

And when we've withstood this stuff for so many solar revolutions, nature doesn't even repay us for our efforts; it just lets us keep on living our miserable lives as we slowly but surely shrivel up and die. Then we start families so that the same accursed process can repeat itself over and over again.

God truly is dead. And Nietzsche himself is a fool as well for thinking that weak people are disenchanted with the world. If anything, a real Ubermensch would destroy it and build a new grand utopian vision!
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Suffering comes from desire, according to some dude. I think his name was Tony. I think there may be a difference, though, between desiring what you can't have, and desiring what you can. The latter can be a force of motivation.

If you desire perfection, you are going to suffer.
 

RaptorWizard

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Suffering comes from desire, according to some dude. I think his name was Tony. I think there may be a difference, though, between desiring what you can't have, and desiring what you can. The latter can be a force of motivation.

And it's pretty hard when you're chained into a torture chamber of super-heated metal, rabies-infested dogs, swarms of angry insects, and toxic needles to rid yourself of the desire to escape.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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And it's pretty hard when you're chained into a torture chamber of super-heated metal, rabies-infested dogs, swarms of angry insects, and toxic needles to rid yourself of the desire to escape.


Also true. Still... if you liked the super-heated metal, rabies dogs, belligerent bugs, and North Jersey Pine needles, which was within your means, well, the situation would be brief, but not unpleasant for you.

That's an extreme, though. Getting dumped is not so severe as all that. It only seems that way because of the mind.
 

RaptorWizard

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Also true. Still... if you liked the super-heated metal, rabies dogs, belligerent bugs, and North Jersey Pine needles, which was within your means, well, the situation would be brief, but not unpleasant for you.

That's an extreme, though. Getting dumped is not so severe as all that. It only seems that way because of the mind.

Well, whether what our minds our projecting into our awareness is real or not, it sure as hell feels real. And whether or not the witches in our history were for real or not, their agonizing torture sessions and fiery immolation sure as hell had effects that felt as if they came from hell, regardless of whether or not hell is real or is just created mentally.
 
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WALMART

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And it's pretty hard when you're chained into a torture chamber of super-heated metal, rabies-infested dogs, swarms of angry insects, and toxic needles to rid yourself of the desire to escape.

diablo_3___monk_by_deivcalviz-d55fw17.jpg


Does he look like he gives a fuck about bugs and puppies?
 

Qlip

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Pain shapes life. There is no living without it. Living is striving, something that is what we are, before we had self-consciousness. Pain informed us then, of danger, of need. Now we are at odds with our own pain. Our needs aren't always what our bodies think we need, what we need isn't always what THEY tell us we need. This creates profound anxiety.

Anxiety is actually the most painful part of pain. Not the sensation, but the thinking about the sensation. That's why a person can undergo surgery under hypnosis.

I'm not so fast to curse a God who created me, even when I'm in pain. I like existing.
 

Alea_iacta_est

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You know I'm not spiritual, but when I was younger someone told me a story once about a man who asked God why life was suffering and full of despair and sadness, apparently God replied "I could never figure out how to make one without the other, how can one be happy if there is no sadness?" or something along the lines of that.

Personally, I believe that life is brutal because of the way our universe works, its mathematical, efficient, and unsympathetic. The universe is an algorithm trying to solve itself and reach net equilibrium, and it will do anything to achieve such efforts, be it the unfortunate and distasteful demise of one's life in a gruesome manner or the mere quarrel among friends. It's utterly beautiful and tragic.
 

Alea_iacta_est

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[MENTION=15886]superunknown[/MENTION]
HOLY SHIT, I just clicked post and that image took up all of my screen instantly, I don't scare easily, but I just had a heart attack and almost fell out of my chair.
 

RaptorWizard

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Can I time travel and stop witches from being burnt?

And again, you can try to say that their burning now is arbitrary, simply because well, it's over. But what about the good things in life? When you're finished with your epic Christmas celebrations imminently ahead, will it all be meaningless just because it's over? Or will you have pictures to capture the significance of that event and what it means to your life as a whole? Will you also not wish to see a recording of your root canal, just so you won't have to relive the pain? My point here with all of this is that the dynamic and seemingly 1-directional nature of time takes everything away from us, and what appears to be like a "present" for us at 1 moment becomes a curse the next, just to be replaced with yet more in never ending cycles. The temporary nature of it all is evil.
 
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Glycerine

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Well, according to Camus, suffering comes from expectations. Don't live on expectations... just try to engage life for what it is. I think that was the overall message.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Well, according to Camus, suffering comes from expectations. Don't live on expectations... just try to engage life for what it is. I think that was the overall message.

Sounds like something that Tony guy would say.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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And again, you can try to say that their burning now is arbitrary, simply because well, it's over. But what about the good things in life? When you're finished with your epic Christmas celebrations imminently ahead, will it all be meaningless just because it's over? Or will you have pictures to capture the significance of that event and what it means to your life as a whole? Will you also not wish to see a recording of your root canal, just so you won't have to relive the pain? My point here with all of this is that the dynamic and seemingly 1-directional nature of time takes everything away from us, and what appears to be like a "present" for us at 1 moment becomes a curse the next, just to be replaced with yet more in never ending cycles. The temporary nature of it all is evil.

The only thing that is truly real is the present, and the present is always changing. The future and the past are ultimately only abstractions. If the universe ends long after I'm dead (and what if we're wrong about that), it will be outside of my experience anyway.

We are not chasing things anyway, we are chasing emotional reactions. Is what matters that the thing changed, or is what matters to us our reaction to that thing?
 

RaptorWizard

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Well, according to Camus, suffering comes from expectations. Don't live on expectations... just try to engage life for what it is. I think that was the overall message.

Look, I read your blog, and you depicted how you were having your leg hacked at with a chisel, for crying out loud, and then you went on to call it a humbling experience! Trust me, we all know what pain is, but if I had to sit through something like that, my already insatiable drive to bring the refiner's fire to this living simulation of hell would be so powerful, that my drive to achieve what the adversary could never accomplish would completely obliterate any remaining patience for being at peace. Buddha is an idiot, sitting naked under his tree and doing nothing while the world burns.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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So what's your design for a fire extinguisher? I haven't seen one I liked the look of. I feel like I'd be one of the people up against the wall 9 times out of 10.

The Revolution certainly worked well for Robespierre, didn't it?
 
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