Discussion Anyone Ever Feel Like We're Being Punished For Past Transgressions?

[locked*n*loaded]

I suppose this is really a Discussion with a little bit of Venting mixed in. Does anyone ever feel like this? I do. At least sometimes. I have no idea whatsoever what it might be that I could have done to warrant how my life is, how shitty and low I feel all the time, how lonely, how I get no joy at all out of anything, why I feel so tired every day, why any hope for better days has gone? I didn't always feel the way I do now. I don't think any chemical imbalance is to blame for any of what I feel. Well, maybe depression is caused by a chemical imbalance, but if that is so, the imbalance itself was brought on by shitty things happening in my life, most completely out of my control I might add. I think the way I am now is purely from life's shittiness itself. How life has beaten me down over the years. Years and years of it. How I've had to deal with things internally for most of my life without any help. And I'm pretty ambivalent whether there is something after life, or even if there is some higher power in charge over us and everything else on our lousy planet. I mean if there really is a higher power in charge, it completely befuddles me as to how a higher power could/would create a place like this where innocent children coming into this world arrive with insidious diseases, abnormalities, and debilitating conditions. I just can't wrap my head around this perversion if it is so. It just doesn't make sense to me. But, I guess, for my initial hypothesis to be true, if I (we) am/are being punished for past transgressions or wrongs, then , I guess, that something with power greater than us would have had to have doled out the punishment. If it isn't that, is it karma? I don't think I believe in that, either, at least not anymore. There hasn't been any good coming around in my life as far back as I can remember and I know I haven't done a darn thing to anyone to warrant all of the bad karma in my life and have done quite a few good things for others over the years. So, really no credence given to that theory, either. Or, is it just bad luck? Maybe the good in the world has to balanced out by the bad and we just happen to be the recipients of the bad? Maybe the environment brought us to the point where we are? Anyone have any other theories? Or, is there just no explanation? I just feel sometimes like I'm being punished for something that I have no idea I even did.

 

[Hurt]

I think every life is unique. I dont think someone who is suffering now did something bad in their past life if they ever had.

 

[Lullaby]

I feel this a lot. It sounds crazy, but I don't know. For the past three months, I've been having a string of bad luck. Just one thing after another. It's one thing when you're just struggling with yourself, but then add on the world just crapping all over you and it feels like a nightmare. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense.

Some nights I really sit here asking if I did something to deserve this. I try to be the best person I can be, especially to others, and it doesn't really seems like it matters. Certain days, it feels like I'm in my own personal hell.

I guess there's really no way to know, and it's about your personal beliefs. I definitely struggle with this.

 

[Cathy Ames]

Yes. I very often DO feel this way.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

I feel this a lot. It sounds crazy, but I don't know. For the past three months, I've been having a string of bad luck. Just one thing after another. It's one thing when you're just struggling with yourself, but then add on the world just crapping all over you and it feels like a nightmare. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense.

Some nights I really sit here asking if I did something to deserve this. I try to be the best person I can be, especially to others, and it doesn't really seems like it matters. Certain days, it feels like I'm in my own personal hell.

I guess there's really no way to know, and it's about your personal beliefs. I definitely struggle with this.

I've had this going on for 25 years, the being crapped on, and the bad luck, one thing after another. And I've asked myself if I deserved this, too, and for the life of me I can't understand how I do. I liken the past 25 years of my life to that of being in prison, and then I think to myself that many murderers don't even get 25 years and wonder what the hell I could have done so bad to deserve all of this shit that is my life. It must have been pretty bad. Wish I at least knew what it was.

 

[hankbank3928]

That's the worst part, the not knowing why. I think if I knew the reason why my life is so shitty it would make it a lot better.

 

[Al Cappella]

I used to think that, like I must have been an ax murderer or something in a former life. It's bullshit of course, and in its own way a perverse sort of "I am special" thing—as if, in the unimaginable vastness that is the universe, anything is paying attention enough to want to fuck with my life. Like so much else, it just is.

 

[FuneralCry]

In this life everything is determined by luck and chance, there is no reason as to why we suffer so much, life is completely meaningless, it is just a pointless experience that we go through for the sake of it. The truth is that life is very unfair and that is just the way things are. We have not done anything to deserve our suffering, we are just unlucky. Many people are disadvantaged through no fault of their own and it is sad how much some people suffer.

 

[Fadeawaaaay]

All of my transgressions were in this life itself and I'm being punished for misunderstanding way the world works…

 

[deleted]

I think about it every single day I was a normal person who never hurt anyone and over time I've been fucked through life hard, I wonder if I'm cursed or if I did something really bad in my past life and then I think on all bloodthirsty dictators and leaders who lived a rich and happy life until their dying day... I just don't understand

 

[Pain In The Ass]

It's generally just how human life within a society or civilization works - people figured this shit out thousands of years ago, but still no one listens, and most young people scoff at the idea of following a 'religious guide'. It doesn't mean you have to believe in a magical man in the sky, or the afterlife. It just means you believe that there are rules that govern outcomes that result from particular human behaviours. I don't even mean it's your 'fault', that something has happened to you. But it's likely a result of your behaviour, or someone else's behaviour, likely a parent or other strong influence. And if you, or your parents, were never told the rules of the guide, they aren't going to know either, so it's no one's 'fault'. But it is likely the result of someone's behaviour, somewhere along the line. Maybe before you were even born, some great-great-grandad introduced domestic violence into the family, and by the time you came along, it was well entrenched, and it fucked you up good! And maybe he only did that in the first place because he suffered some war-injury involving nerve-gas, and came back with a drug and alcohol problem - but it was definitely a 'transgression', and you're definitely being punished for it!

 

[locked*n*loaded]

The truth is that life is very unfair and that is just the way things are. We have not done anything to deserve our suffering, we are just unlucky. Many people are disadvantaged through no fault of their own and it is sad how much some people suffer.

So, how do you feel about the scores of people, mostly successful, that always say that a person makes their own luck? Contrary to that, are "we" doing something to make our own "un-luck"?

 

[Hawthorne]

I do struggle with this. Though I can't think of what on earth I've done to deserve the terrible things that have been thrown at me. I was always raised to be a polite, empathetic, good and thoughtful person. I've tried my best though I can never say I've been perfect. These past two-three years have been hell for me and I don't know why. My life was just starting to turn around and life threw me another curveball yesterday plunging me into so much sadness and grief that I can't function and I can't live with my thoughts. I'm heartbroken and devastated. I don't want to deal with it anymore. I don't know what it is, I don't believe in karma. I guess life for some is just destined to be problematic.

 

[Lost Magic]

In my opinion, Karma is a terrible Hinduism and Buddhism philosophy. So, some poor kid, dying of cancer in a children's hospital is suffering from some bad Karma? So, does that mean Vladimir Putin has good Karma? Because that cunt has billions, lives like a king but gets to blow up the innocent in his genocidal invasion. Do you see where I am going with this?

 

[Journeytoletgo]

It's generally just how human life within a society or civilization works - people figured this shit out thousands of years ago, but still no one listens, and most young people scoff at the idea of following a 'religious guide'. It doesn't mean you have to believe in a magical man in the sky, or the afterlife. It just means you believe that there are rules that govern outcomes that result from particular human behaviours. I don't even mean it's your 'fault', that something has happened to you. But it's likely a result of your behaviour, or someone else's behaviour, likely a parent or other strong influence. And if you, or your parents, were never told the rules of the guide, they aren't going to know either, so it's no one's 'fault'. But it is likely the result of someone's behaviour, somewhere along the line. Maybe before you were even born, some great-great-grandad introduced domestic violence into the family, and by the time you came along, it was well entrenched, and it fucked you up good! And maybe he only did that in the first place because he suffered some war-injury involving nerve-gas, and came back with a drug and alcohol problem - but it was definitely a 'transgression', and you're definitely being punished for it!

Wow I agree some of us are paying the price for some act our ancestor committed

 

[bing]

yes you are punished.

 

[onlyanimalsaregood]

Maybe before you were even born, some great-great-grandad introduced domestic violence into the family, and by the time you came along, it was well entrenched, and it fucked you up good! And maybe he only did that in the first place because he suffered some war-injury involving nerve-gas, and came back with a drug and alcohol problem - but it was definitely a 'transgression', and you're definitely being punished for it

This makes perfect sense for some things but there are other things that completely transcend our family problems and traumas.

The truth is that life is very unfair and that is just the way things are. We have not done anything to deserve our suffering, we are just unlucky.

I agree that some things are just random and determined by luck and chance. Some at birth, others throughout our lives. And unfortunately life is really unfair so I don't believe in Karma either (I wish he existed).

 

[FirePower]

I made the mistake twice listing a past depression on a med form for a job. Now I am unhireable for a transportation job, pilot and railroad. Though it has been 10+ years since I used medication its lifetime punishment.

 

[meetapple]

I think if we are being punished for past transgressions by a higher power it would be imperative for the higher power to let us now why we are being punished. This is in the same vein as the Supreme Court not executing mentally retarded people because they can't comprehend totally their punishment. A person should know that they are being punished so they understand that they are not being randomly picked by chance or God to suffer.

 

[Pain In The Ass]

This makes perfect sense for some things but there are other things that completely transcend our family problems and traumas.

I agree. Sometimes people are just dealt a bad hand, and that's it. I just suspect that the parts that were caused by us, or the people around us, are never fully recognized and acknowledged a lot of the time. If I look back over my life, I can categorize all of what I did that screwed things up for me, into the 7 seven deadly sins. And whenever I did these things, my conscience always told me not to do it, but I just did it anyway. Why did I just do it anyway? Because I hadn't been taught that rule by anyone, that your conscience is your friend, and should always be followed. Don't ignore it. I only learned recently that this is the main message of the bible! Jesus symbolizes the conscience. Is it my fault I didn't know this? No. But I still broke the rules, so I get punished! You don't get to break the rules - rules that our ancestors figured out 2000 years ago at least, that we just ignore and scoff at, like prideful, arrogant, slobs!

 

[FuneralCry]

So, how do you feel about the scores of people, mostly successful, that always say that a person makes their own luck? Contrary to that, are "we" doing something to make our own "un-luck"?

'A person makes their own luck', makes no sense to me. It sounds like a platitude. Everything is all out of our control, many people are disadvantaged through no fault of their own. If someone gets a horrible health condition then they did nothing to cause that, they were just unlucky.

 

[Judy Garland]

You've all lived many lives on this earth. And having done so, you have shaped the earth to what it is in the present day ~like it or not. You all were the Senators, Presidents, KIings, and Queens. You all made law...and now in the present day you are reaping what you've sewed. I told you all how difficult life was going to be with the controlled substances act, and when you outlawed medicinal plants long ago. I told you, how painful this life was going to be. None of you cared. This world is the best you could do? And you still needed help making a world. Nothing has changed in 2000 years. The only difference is that you hold cell phones in the palms of your hands. But all the ways you do things on this earth, you have done the same for the past 2000 years. And I'm done. I am truly done. And I'm not coming back. Ever.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

'A person makes their own luck', makes no sense to me. It sounds like a platitude. Everything is all out of our control, many people are disadvantaged through no fault of their own. If someone gets a horrible health condition then they did nothing to cause that, they were just unlucky.

As much as I respect everyone's opinion on any matter, really, and I do, I just can't agree with some of these statements. First, I agree that how we come out when we are born is completely out of our control. Whether we have a disease, whether we're ugly, what are race is, etc. But to the contrary, I think that getting some horrible health conditions, such as lung cancer from smoking, is completely in our control. Sure, there are outliers, wherein some people who have never smoked may get lung cancer, and whether they do or don't get the disease, is really not in their control. But, these are outliers on the Bell Curve. There will always be those in anything that is studied and whose data is graphed. As far as disadvantaged through no fault of their own, in some cases I can agree that is the case, but in many others, and not an insignificant amount, there are plenty of examples of people who were born into very desolate and impoverished environments who became extremely successful, in ALL aspects of life, through THEIR OWN hard work, despite the disadvantages they faced. If everything is out of our control, then I think it safe to infer that this "everything" must be, consequentially, in "something" else's control. Some grand "puppet master" if you will. I guess that would mean that all of our destinies are predetermined. And in consequence to that, it would mean that it makes no sense for any of us to be doing anything then. I guess even the writing of our thoughts and feelings in this thread is not really coming from us, since we have no control over what it is we write. Free will be damned.

 

[Ligottian]

In one of Thomas Ligotti's short stories, the protagonist wonders what sin he commited to be born.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

In one of Thomas Ligotti's short stories, the protagonist wonders what sin he commited to be born.

I guess that's really where it all starts. If not for that I wouldn't be here experiencing all of the shit, depression, guilt, that I am.

 

[Shu]

Wow I agree some of us are paying the price for some act our ancestor committed

Yeah. I believe in generational trauma and generational curses. It's up to us to break those patterns.

But wait for Lord Red Scare to come in here. They have all the answers you need.

 

[downndone2]

Yes, everyday

 

[Superdeterminist]

I really think it's just blind bad luck, to put it as concisely as possible. Imo, it's superstition to think an unpleasant life is a punishment for prior 'bad deeds'. I don't think the universe cares about us enough to mete out mysterious punishments for our earthly affairs, especially since punishment is merely a human, or at best animal behaviour.

'A person makes their own luck', makes no sense to me. It sounds like a platitude. Everything is all out of our control, many people are disadvantaged through no fault of their own. If someone gets a horrible health condition then they did nothing to cause that, they were just unlucky.

Yep. Sam Harris said it well: All we have is our luck, and what we make of it. Well, what one makes of their luck is actually yet more luck.

 

[Klo]

I've always believed that this is the so called hell and we just don't realize it. If you believe in continual conciousness, independent of your physical body then there is no reason not to think that we ended up in this reality from somewhere else and somewhere better than here because why would we notice how horrible this world was and suffer if this was all we knew. If there is another dimension worse than here then god or the universe is truly sadistic and I would hope for nothingness rather than to continue.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

If there is another dimension worse than here then god or the universe is truly sadistic and I would hope for nothingness rather than to continue.

Yeah, but if he actually exists, he's supposed to be benevolent. That's about as opposite of sadistic as you can get. I don't think this is hell, either. Just some kind of happenstance in this realm we call the universe.