We are responsible to help those who don’t get the same privileges in life. I am not talking those users and abusers that create their own hell and enjoy living in it. Those who did not ask to be in suffering, we should help them.
I have a problem with the higher power thing. It helps a lot of people, so I am careful not to refute it. Not because I fear people coming down on me in anger over my lack of belief but because I would not like to lead anyone astray. I am responsible for me, I do not need a higher power to keep me good and faithful, I am that already. I am a mixture of many things, but they are not because of a higher power.
Death is the end, that’s it, Zippo baby, you are done now. This is why we cling to life; did anyone notice that most people don’t seek to die? IF the afterlife is so wonderful, let us all go there now? HUH? Not me, I am here to live and enjoy everything to the fullest of my ability.
a. What gives your life meaning?
b. How do you make sense of all the suffering in the world (why do you think people suffer)?
“Construction of meaning through engagement” was one of the most tedious pieces of information I ever tried to wade through, it was broken up by constant references to other work, and I found my mind wandering. I read it to family members out loud so that I would keep focused on the reading, they, including the family dog fell asleep while listening to me. This is no reflection on the quality of my reading voice, I might add.
What I did manage to get basically and forgive me if there was more information I might have missed, is a person has to make their own meaning in their individual life. It is different things for each. I loved the quote by William James, and I plan to research him later, “My experience is what I agree to attend to, only those items which I notice shape my mind.” We get what we get. Prime example is this reading; someone else might find it uplifting and informative, while I found it annoying and my ability to concentrate squashed by the tediousness of the work.
Well? What gives my life meaning? I think it is the little every day things. I was deeply religious and thought that everything, good or bad was from God, whether it was supposed to be a learning experience, or a blessing. In later years especially after taking a philosophy class with Dr. Schrödinger I questioned that thinking. I questioned it a lot; I lay awake sweating about God and the afterlife. I thought perhaps since we don’t have a place before we are born, we don’t have a place to go afterwards either. Like a candle we are snuffed out and that is all there is. In the not so far away past, I placed everything happening in my life as part of “Gods Will” This way of thinking, though maybe taken too far, left me quite helpless. I didn’t have a job, I looked everywhere, I was declined several times for jobs I was qualified for. I knew my personality was bright and cheerful, and I was careful not to be too talkative on interviews. So it seemed, “GOD” didn’t want me to be employed and pay my rent. This thinking made me bitter. After all I was a struggling single mother, I went to church, and I was a basically good person. I followed the religious rules so to speak. I couldn’t pay rent; I couldn’t think out of the box, God was going to provide the money for rent. Why would God provide the money for rent? Because I had followed the rules of prayer, I had asked in his name, and I asked with all reverence in the direction of his (God’s) amazing power. This was not the first time that I asked for something and it was denied. This had been a pattern of proceedings in my life, and even the helpful, more spiritually gifted people would comment, that perhaps I hadn’t asked right, or maybe there was another lesson involved… or the big one!! I was not following God’s selected path and therefore was being punished for this. Ok, you can see why this thinking got on my nerves. It’s like there is a magic combination for having one’s needs met, and I didn’t have the right arrangement. When it became up to me, I was less anxious then waiting on God. I do not believe some people are chosen to have all their needs met, while others suffer from hunger and deprivation, I believe life is a series of random events, and you prepare yourself for what ride you find yourself on. I get true meaning from learning new things, growing my garden, playing with my grand babies, and helping others that need a hand up. If it is in my power at all, I will lend a hand or tell someone what I have learned in order to help. I think the true meaning of life is living as a group, we are all connected to each other, and people can share a new way of thinking that can change the world in a matter of minutes. I believe that our limitations are what we are given to work with. The Changes in Beliefs… reading was wonderful. There is meaning in life, but it is simpler then we think. Strangely my basic happiness levels lifted when I gave myself more credit and left God out of the quotient.
b) Why do people suffer? We cannot think on this in the middle class viewpoint. Children tortured and starving cannot be God’s will in any way, I cannot apply the happy Christian teachings to that type of suffering. They did not deserve it; they did not ask for it, they survive day to day not even daring to hope for reprieve. There is no greater good when people suffer. I would include starvation, torture, earthquakes, floods, disease. There is evil and good in the world, unfortunately the evil collides with the good and makes these things happen. There would be some people who would say it is the sins of the father (past generations) visiting the next generation. I say Horseradish! We do not pick where we will be born, or what color our skin will be. It is random. We do not choose wealth over poverty; we have to learn how to achieve it if we are starting from ground zero. Some come from privilege, others do not. Many things go into the making of one person.
Suffering of others makes me far more then sad. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but I feel the connection and regret to others who have hardships more then my own. As human beings it is up to us to help when we can. Some religious organizations such as the Catholic Church in Boise, gives food to the needy. Some of the elderly people in the church are gifted gardeners, and they bring home grown potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, apples and other things from their garden. They live advantaged lives, their personal needs being met. They share the harvest of their gardens and good will. This true giving on a small scale doesn’t get recognized nationally, there is no write up in the local newspapers, there is no great reward for all they do, but they do it anyway. I knew a woman who re-located to Boise with her children, and she was having a hard time finding a job. She just needed a little help, she went to that church and they loaded her car with fresh veggies and fruit for her children. She was able to give them healthy food to eat. But not only that, she felt that human connection, that feeling that there is more then just me and you, there is an us. When communities get together to help it makes us all connected in a good way.
This is why when there is suffering and wrong in the world, the United States sends help. Some people say, we need to help our people in our own country. I say yes we do, but we need to help other countries with the gifts that we have been given. I am thinking poor countries where there isn’t enough to eat, and children and women are used as sex slaves, we have to help stop it. Wrong is wrong, and it is not imposing our kind of beliefs on other cultures if we help stop what is wrong.
I suppose it would be good, if I just answered the question. Why do people suffer? Because it is not a perfect world, so I believe we must strive to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and try and lesson the suffering in the world.
