Reply to Life is unfair. Why do I struggle so much to accept this?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]“You have to see the world as a prelude to something else and that we each face our own tests and trials and as brutal as they may be, they will be nothing compared to heaven.”

One of the religious platitudes to which I was referring. I don’t tell you how you feel about your religion, please don’t tell me that my atheism is anything other than what it is. Hard to be angry at a God that doesn’t exist. I’m not angry at religious people. Why would I be? My atheism actually makes me feel more responsible to live the best life I can while here and do as much good as I can, because there is no heaven for anyone or afterlife, which makes this one life all the more precious and goodness all the more valuable. [/quote]

That's great if that works for you.  I'm pointing out that it doesn't work for many, because carried out to its logical conclusion, if life after death doesn't exist, it's more logical to conclude that nothing in the life matters vs your conclusion that everything in this life is more precious.  [b]If not afterlife, everyone should just do whatever to maximize happiness in the moment, even if that means hurting others.[/b]  If there is no purpose to the suffering and unfairness of this world, then it's all just one pointless suffering and a big joke.  Whatever meaning you think you have amassed in this life/world could be wiped out tomorrow if an asteroid hits.  This is the existential crisis people go on and why entire religious and countless books have been written on this topic throughout the ages across cultures.  [/quote]

Another thing that has happened to me regarding the bolded, is that the older I get, the more I observe people doing precisely that -- maximizing their own happiness at the expense of other, with little to no regard for the consequences. It can be hard to reconcile if you were raised to deny yourself things for the benefit of others. I've definitely been taken advantage of because I have naively assumed others will "do the right thing" instead of doing the selfish thing.

This aspect of life is hard to reconcile because you will never change the behavior of other people. So you have to find a way to hold your own values without being exploited by people who are just out for themselves. It's very hard. I still haven't figured it out. It wears me down sometimes.[/quote]

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