Isn't a material existance kind of a rip-off?

Question

Our pleasures are brief and our suffering can last until we die. (and perhaps beyond)

Take for example hunger, you can enjoy a meal, but it will end. The feeling of satisfaction fades and you will be hungry again. The need can never truly be satisfied. It will always return.

But if you cannot find food, this need will devour you. (In the case of hunger this is literal as your body will be began to consume itself in cases of extreme starvation) It is one of the worst ways to die.

Or take our need for companionship,, if you were marooned on desert island totally alone, the isolation could drive you insane. After a few months you would welcome your worst enemy just for the sound of a human voice.

If you were marooned with another person,, after a few months, you would find them tiresome.

Why is our existence and very nature made like this?

Who can I file a complaint with and get a refund?

Answer 1

So I guess you're kinda dissapointed with life....there are many people living lives full of starvation where their pleasures are brief and their starvations are long... But on the flip side there are also many people whose desires are satisfied, whose pleasures are long, and whose starvations are brief. Perhaps when you look out at your lives, (other people's lives and your current life), you are justified in feeling numb, and not hateful. Your lives are full of hellish things, but at the same time, they are full of great things. Life has hellishness in it, but life isn't "h**l". If anything, it is "nothing." Or perhaps even "good".  

Answer 2

Sure; but dead ain't no bargain either.

Answer 3

I personally believe - at this moment - material existence to be, the all encompassing prerequisite for eternal _________________.  

Answer 4

***"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”

Don Williams, Jr. (American Novelist and Poet, b.1968)

It can be crippling to only focus on the end goal, and not enjoy the process of getting there, even if you don't end up where you expected.  

Answer 5

I'm afraid you are under a contractual agreement with Life. Check the warranty. There are no refunds.  Life has been exclusively been set aside for the living, and you qualify. You bought the ticket and now you have to take your chances. You can't control the ride, but you can control your attitude.

Since food is just a temporary satiation, you are probably going to get the chance to enjoy numerous culinary experiences. And if you every get marooned, perhaps you would be able to develop a mind-blowing intimate relationship.

If you get lemons, you get to make lemonaid.

Enjoy!

Answer 6

Our existence in itself is not suffering or pleasure, it just is.  But then it becomes something else all based on our perception of it, we have the ability to overcome our desires and be free from all suffering.  But to satisfy desire is to suffer because desires are unquenchable.  If you adopt this point of view, your existence will not be driven by desire, but by enlightenment.

Answer 7

Life's a ***** and then you die.  Yeah, it's kind of a rip off when you think about it, but we can't do a d**n thing to change the nature of our existence.  If you believe in god, perhaps you can direct your questions and complaints there.  

Answer 8

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) compares humans to hedgehogs (or porcupines) scouring for warmth in the merciless winter that is life: when we are too close, we are bothered by each others presence; when too far, we are tormented by the cold.

He goes on to explain that the phenomena of life, impelled by The immutable Will to live, is a mistake--this view in line with the Buddhist or Hindu tradition that life (and the universe) is the result of some great mistake (as when Brahma, in his creation of it, was condemend to it): that life is an interuption to the "blessed calm of nonexistence."



His argument is quite cogent and expressed in the most delightful prose. I recommend you check out the link I have included for you.

Answer 9

What the h**l are you talking about. Our whole life is just a plain need for something. Survival, s*x, happiness, thirst, hunger, power...whatever you wish.

The universe doesn't give a cra*p about your existence. You are here just to survive and to give your genes to the next generation. Consider your existence as a mere stowage of genetic material with the purpose to do anything to survive so the genes can be passed on.

Answer 10

There are many kinds of negativism found in a secular culture as well as a religious one. "By their fruits you shall know them." Personality is basically changeless; that which changes--grows--is the moral character.

P.1125 - §2 Belief may not be able to resist doubt and withstand fear, but faith is always triumphant over doubting, for faith is both positive and living. The positive always has the advantage over the negative, truth over error, experience over theory, spiritual realities over the isolated facts of time and space. The convincing evidence of this spiritual certainty consists in the social fruits of the spirit which such believers, faithers, yield as a result of this genuine spiritual experience.

http://www.urantia.org/papers/paper102.h...