why is there so much suffering?

[DreamEnd]

Can someone offer a perspective on why is there so much suffering? Cancer, war deaths, parental grief. Mental illnesses. I am not christian, I dont believe it is that way just so we can get a magical path to heaven. I just cant reconcile this. I think that whatever it is after death(if there is anything) it has to be a net positive. If it is a net positive(such as love, peace, happiness) then why would earth be the complete opposite of that. It just doesnt make sense. Unless it was supposed to be that, and we, as humans, fucked everything up beyond belief and now live in the hell of our own doing. But even then, why even allow that option? Why not just have some sort of self destructive button so that once it goes to shit like this everything blows to bits and thats the end of it. I dont get it.

 

[onemorenight]

Life is suffering. Some are just less sensitive to it. Everyone should want to leave this cruel world, but many turn a blind eye to the disgusting atrocities of humanity.

I studied a serial rapist/killer in university. I'd always been suicidal, but after learning of his crimes.. I wished a plague to take the world.

 

[MatrixPrisoner]

Because humans are no different than maggots. Dirty, disgusting, slimy, selfish, disease-spreading creatures that keep reproducing. All these gigantic rocks floating through space and one big enough to wipe us out hasn't hit this cesspool of a planet in over 65 million years. The universe is cruel.

 

[onemorenight]

Because humans are no different than maggots. Dirty, disgusting, slimy, selfish, disease-spreading creatures that keep reproducing. All these gigantic rocks floating through space and one big enough to wipe us out hasn't hit this cesspool of a planet in over 65 million years. The universe is cruel.

That's an insult to maggots! At least they can clean out dirty wounds. They only eat the dead flesh.

That's more than I can say for humans.

(I wish the dinosaurs still ruled the world )

 

[DreamEnd]

Because humans are no different than maggots. Dirty, disgusting, slimy, selfish, disease-spreading creatures that keep reproducing. All these gigantic rocks floating through space and one big enough to wipe us out hasn't hit this cesspool of a planet in over 65 million years. The universe is cruel.

i wish we were made differently

 

[MyLifeisHell]

Because suffering is an irrelevant concept in the natural world, which is of course the world that humans evolved in and to whose ways of operation we are still subject to.

 

[leavingthesoultrap]

This place was set up to cause suffering. If you look at the food chain organisms have to feed on each other to survive. Nothing last, everything changes.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Suffering could just be a consequence of having an organic body that fails. Without pain- we may not realise that we have a cut that has become infected. So- pain prompts us to try and heal ourselves. In some ways, I suppose pain is there to stop the situation getting worse. If you eat something dangerous, you'll likely get a stomach pain and throw up- otherwise, you'd eat more of it. The problem of course, is that we can't always heal our injuries and illnesses but I suppose the pain signals we get can't be turned off consciously.

As for- why do we inflict suffering on others? I guess to some extent, predators are given a desire to hunt and kill and eat things in order to survive. We'll also exploit our environment in order to survive. I'd say most animals are actually trying to compete for dominance. It's just that they are better kept in check than we are.

The whole concept of pain and suffering as evil though is a criticism we've placed on it. It's just that humans appear to have a greater capacity to be able to look at this world and make judgements about it. We also feel wronged by it and bitter about it. I'm not convinced that other animals do this.

If a wilderbeast narrowly escapes with it's life but has one leg torn off by a pack of lions, I don't think it necessarily resents or hates the lion. It definitely fears it- understandably. Still- you don't get the impression that animals question why they have had so much bad luck. They either just get back on with trying to survive or, they give up and die. We can't know for sure but surely- if they thought like us then- we'd surely see more animal suicides in the wild. Who wouldn't feel depressed and suicidal being a wild animal?!! Not enough food, your home being destroyed or polluted, your family and yourself being hunted and killed.

Really- it comes down to whether you believe there was intention behind this- an original creator or God- in which case- it seems fair to ask what the hell they think they're doing. If it all just happened via unconscious forces like gravity, chemical reactions, evolution though- then- we ended up this way because it enabled us to be the dominant species. I doubt there would be intention behind that. It just happened that a living being with a superior sense of it's surroundings and how it interacted with them was smart enough to stay alive longer in order to reproduce. Pain and a fear of pain would likely enhance that.

Perhaps being so accutely aware of suffering means we do all we can to avoid it. Health and safety protocols would seem to fit that. Ultimately as animals- the goal is survival and reproduction. We've become far too good at that in fact. So- as awful as it may seem to us, pain and suffering are inconsequential to that to an extent.

Of course- many of us here though are breaking nature's rules. Many people here are anti-natilists and we obviously want to end our lives early. That has largely come about via pain and suffering I imagine- so- as a tool to keep us alive- if that's what it started out as, it's starting to backfire I suppose. Not that it will make a difference I suspect. There are already more than enough of us I imagine to cause catastrophic changes to the climate- then- we're all f*cked.

 

[FuneralCry]

I see the existence of life as such a devastating and horrific tragedy, I don't believe there is any deeper meaning or purpose behind this, I see the existence of life as being the most harmful consequence of evolution and the suffering only continues as existing beings continue to impose existence. They are responsible for continuing this endless cycle of torment and cruelty, they are the ones who create all suffering and cause harm.