I don't know whether to be happy or not when seeing others suffer

[Yziar]

Whenever I see people getting hurt, killed or struggling in life and doing worse than I am, it makes me feel better about myself but at the same time I feel so pathetic and worthless that I resort to this sort of thinking and my life isn't any better.

 

[Darkmoon Queen]

Whenever I see people getting hurt, killed or struggling in life and doing worse than I am, it makes me feel better about myself but at the same time I feel so pathetic and worthless that I resort to this sort of thinking and my life isn't any better.

Might sound cliché but I think schadenfreude is bad karma. It also doesn't improve your own position any if someone else is in the wars.

Not to say I'm a saint. I occasionally feel mildly annoyed if someone has something I feel I worked harder to earn. Maybe my lack of shits to give in this regard is simply me not caring enough. Maybe your schadenfreude is a sign that you want to live really.

 

[motel rooms]

Whenever I see people getting hurt, killed or struggling in life and doing worse than I am, it makes me feel better about myself but at the same time I feel so pathetic and worthless that I resort to this sort of thinking and my life isn't any better.

I'm not ashamed to admit that seeing certified assholes suffer makes me smile.

 

[Snake of Eden]

Whenever I see people getting hurt, killed or struggling in life and doing worse than I am, it makes me feel better about myself but at the same time I feel so pathetic and worthless that I resort to this sort of thinking and my life isn't any better.

I dont feel better about other people misfortunes. That does not make me better than you because I am really jealous and envious of people who know how to live and got their shit together. It really makes me miserable seeing people are doing better than I do. I cant help it

 

[FuneralCry]

Personally, when I hear of people who are in a worse situation than me, I feel awful. In many cases, what they are going through could happen to me. This life holds unlimited potential for suffering and that is a scary thought. It reminds me of how cruel and unfair life is. It does not make me feel better about my own suffering.

 

[motel rooms]

I dont feel better about other people misfortunes.

You don't get at least a little kick out of hearing that something bad has happened to an unquestionably bad person?

 

[Jumping_realms]

If they have really, really hurt me or anyone I hold close, yes. It doesn't make me feel better about myself, though.

Otherwise, that's not me at all.

 

[motel rooms]

Might sound cliché but I think schadenfreude is bad karma.

Don't drag bad karma into this. OP already "feels pathetic and worthless that they resort to this sort of thinking". I'm sure they don't go around mocking other people who are struggling in life

 

[Darkmoon Queen]

Don't drag bad karma into this. OP already "feels pathetic and worthless that they resort to this sort of thinking". I'm sure they don't go around mocking other people who are struggling in life

It's my opinion, I didn't say you had to believe it. You don't want me to 'drag bad karma into this' but we're alright openly admitting that we like seeing others suffer? Weird double standard.

I don't know if you're referring to me when you say 'mocking other people who are struggling' but I wasn't doing any such thing and I don't know how my post could have been interpreted as such.

 

[motel rooms]

Whenever I see people getting hurt, killed or struggling in life and doing worse than I am, it makes me feel better about myself but at the same time I feel so pathetic and worthless that I resort to this sort of thinking and my life isn't any better.

I bet it makes you feel better about yourself because you feel less alone in your suffering, not because you're a bad person

 

[Snake of Eden]

You don't get at least a little kick out of hearing that something bad has happened to an unquestionably bad person?

Oh yah I love hearing that shit

 

[motel rooms]

It's my opinion, I didn't say you had to believe it. You don't want me to 'drag bad karma into this' but we're alright openly admitting that we like seeing others suffer? Weird double standard.

I don't know if you're referring to me when you say 'mocking other people who are struggling' but I wasn't doing any such thing and I don't know how my post could have been interpreted as such.

Of course I'm not referring to you. I'm not sure OP actually engages in schadenfreude. Seeing others suffer probably just makes them feel less alone in their suffering + they "feel pathetic and worthless that they resort to this sort of thinking"

 

[Darkmoon Queen]

I'm not sure OP actually engages in schadenfreude. Seeing others suffer probably just makes them feel less alone in their suffering + they "feel pathetic and worthless that they resort to this sort of thinking"

I'd interpret the 'feeling pathetic and worthless' to be bad karma (insofar as karma actually exists or can be interpreted). It's something that has a negative effect.

"It makes me feel better about myself" could be interpreted as schadenfreude and, as you say, could be interpreted as a sort of camaraderie. I guess we'll have to wait for clarification.

 

[Snake of Eden]

Can we really help the way we reactively feel about things though? For example I faint if I see blood in real life.

 

[ContinuousJump]

but at the same time I feel so pathetic and worthless that I resort to this sort of thinking and my life isn't any better.

The striking thing about it is you actually recognize the unwholesome pattern. I'd guess the vast majority don't even recognize the "glitch" that you feel "pathetic and worthless" about...

so pathetic and worthless

Those feelings are actually virtuous (albeit in disguise) and tell me that you are a good person = Paradoxically, you may feel "pathetic and worthless" (as well as the fact you admitted it) but those feelings precisely demonstrate that you're not.

WHY? The real "pathetic and worthless" people are those who have the first step (schadenfreude)... but not the second (feeling bad about it)... and certainly not the third step (admitting it to themselves... and in your case publicly).

Yeah, you're a good person... just fucked-up like the rest of us.

 

[motel rooms]

Can we really help the way we reactively feel about things though? For example I faint if I see blood in real life.

Karma don't give a shit bout dat. It immediately punishes tortured, suicidal folks who commit supposed thought crimes, but takes its sweet time reacting when psychos like Mao & Stalin kill millions of their lowly subjects. That's just how it rolls.

Let us also remind ourselves that the vast majority of people who believe in it claim that suicide brings extremely bad karma.

 

[ratpudding]

Seeing bad things happen to bad people, yes. Schadenfreude, I can't help, but as long as there's no real harm it's fine. But generally I don't enjoy seeing people suffering, more or less than me. I tend to feel better when I see good people getting good things. Like, even if I can't be happy, knowing other people can makes me feel a bit better.
Kind of like watching cute animal videos even though I can't have a pet, or cake decorating videos when I don't have the means to make pretty cakes. Kinda get to insert myself into the happy feels

 

[Yziar]

You don't get at least a little kick out of hearing that something bad has happened to an unquestionably bad person?

For me it is the opposite. This might seem incredibly sinister but I get excited about mass shootings and seeing your average person fail in something.

 

[ContinuousJump]

This might seem incredibly sinister but I get excited about mass shootings and seeing your average person fail in something.

Do you "have absolute control" your feelings? Does anyone?

And "feelings are just feelings": In the absence of subsequent actions, in-and-of themselves, they have no physical effect.

Now, if one was doing stuff to deliberately cause people to fail (or gog forbid shootings)... that is a serious matter that requires serious help.

 

[motel rooms]

Do you "have absolute control" your feelings? Does anyone?

And "feelings are just feelings": In the absence of subsequent actions, in-and-of themselves, they have no physical effect.

I agree. Prolonged suffering messes with our brains & makes us have all kinds of disturbing thoughts & feelings, both destructive & self-destructive.

 

[Darkmoon Queen]

Karma don't give a shit bout dat. It immediately punishes tortured, suicidal folks who commit supposed thought crimes, but takes its sweet time reacting when psychos like Mao & Stalin kill millions of their lowly subjects. That's just how it rolls.

Let us also remind ourselves that the vast majority of people who believe in it claim that suicide brings extremely bad karma.

Your skewed interpretation of a throwaway comment on bad karma from the internet really boiled your piss, huh.

I notice no one else has even referred to it yet you keep bringing it up.

 

[motel rooms]

Your skewed interpretation of a throwaway comment on bad karma from the internet really boiled your piss, huh.

Oh no, this piece of unspiritual scum is about to burden himself with some more bad karma by having yet another pointless argument with someone "spiritual"!

There are Buddhist monks running orphanages in Asia who claim that the disabled toddlers they're in charge of deserve their fate because they accumulated an incredible amount of bad karma over their past lives. I was sexually abused as a child, so the concept of karma really boils my piss because I did not deserve to be raped, & everyone who explicitly states or even implies that anyone innocent is responsible for their suffering is a cruel asshole.

I assume you'll say that you believe in some other, warmer-&-fuzzier kind of karma, one of those that Westerners have been inventing since the '60s in an attempt to sanitize Hinduism & Buddhism. Cool, whatever, whatever floats your boat, let's agree to disagree, sending magical positive vibes to your moon kingdom...

 

[TheSomebody]

I believe in karma, but I also believe that it doesn't work fairly. I mean, there are so many horrible people out there that everything works out for them, even when they do wrong they always get away with it.
But we also have so many people out there who are "good" and are suffering horribly , or people who are suffering much more than they deserved and no matter what they do, only bad things happen to them, like there is a negative energy surrounding them always attracting tragedies in their lives.

 

[Whale_bones]

For me it's clear that the concept of karma is utterly false. We all live on the same planet, Earth, and this planet is completely random. No one is provided with even the basics of food, shelter and warmth by the planet; natural disasters come and kill the most innocent and non-deserving people, including children, who also starve and freeze to death. "Karma" says that some of these individuals are the least deserving of this kind of devastation, and that Mother Nature should provide for them, but Mother Nature doesn't exist; it's literally a planet with no feelings where the "natural" phenomenona is things like tornados, earthquakes, droughts and sub-zero temperatures.

Animals understand this, they never arrange their lives around karma and expect that purity of heart will somehow will the planet into giving them the materials needed to survive. No, we're not exactly the same as animals, but when it comes to basic survival needs, we're in the same situation; there is absolutely no magical force, karma or otherwise, that will change reality. An earthquake is not terrible in the planet's opinion, because the planet has no opinion or feelings at all, and it's going to take its course and kill the most kind-hearted and innocent of people. There is no karma-shield there.

It's the same when it comes to human actions. The planet doesn't suddenly muster up a magical force to stop those hideous actions either, nor to mysteriously get revenge on them. I understand why karma is a very attractive idea, because it *should* be true; people who hurt others should pay for their actions and face justice, and people who work hard to treat others well shouldn't be put through terrible suffering. But to me it is very clear, if we're just looking at the facts as they are, that this is something we wish was true, not the reality that we live in.

There are Buddhist monks running orphanages in Asia who claim that the disabled toddlers they're in charge of deserve their fate because they accumulated an incredible amount of bad karma over their past lives. I was sexually abused as a child, so the concept of karma really boils my piss because I did not deserve to be raped, & everyone who explicitly states or even implies that anyone innocent is responsible for their suffering is a cruel asshole.

This is one of the biggest things that makes the concept of karma so clearly false to me as well; I have heard all the platitudes of "what goes around comes around" as justification for my childhood abuse, as if any world that involved karma would allow that to happen in the first place, and now I was supposed to believe in a magical force that would vaguely get some unknown kind of justice. No, there is absolutely no way that a child deserves to go through anything remotely like that, point blank. I am really sorry you had to live through that too as it should never, never happen. This is where the belief in karma gets extremely damaging when so many people are leaning on false ideals and claiming that the force of karma will take care of us all, instead of taking real-life action to protect children.

 

[Makko]

I used to enjoy it, back in the day when I enjoyed things. Good times.