Why is life so horrible?

[fschmidt]

To fschmidt: Don't you get it? It's the psychopaths that run big government, big business and established religion! It's the psychopaths that go around telling unsuspecting people where to for an escape when all the psychpaths are doing is directing the sheep to go from one slaughter to another! Psychopaths are very good actors. They're not to be trusted no further than you can throw up on them!!!

There are always some psychopaths in positions of power. What distinguishes a civilized culture from a psychopathic culture is whether people can cooperate to keep those psychopaths in power under control. When it is every man for himself, as you suggest, then the culture is psychopathic and everyone is forced to be a psychopath to survive.

[suprmon]

But that's how psychopaths operate. They promote the idea to the masses to put established institutions, and other organizations agenda ahead of individual's own concerns. It's true that the ultimate goal is for the psychopathic individual that's running these institutions is to look out for themselves, but I'm talking about individuality. It makes no sense. You would be a damn fool to give your last when a majority of the population doesn't feel the same way. I wouldn't sacrifice my life for someone else's and guess what? I wouldnt expect, nor shed a tear if somebody felt the same way towards me! That's called "Self presevervation"; it's the law of the land! How can you help another person when you can't help yourself?

[fschmidt]

But that's how psychopaths operate. They promote the idea to the masses to put established institutions, and other organizations agenda ahead of individual's own concerns. It's true that the ultimate goal is for the psychopathic individual that's running these institutions is to look out for themselves, but I'm talking about individuality. It makes no sense. You would be a damn fool to give your last when a majority of the population doesn't feel the same way. I wouldn't sacrifice my life for someone else's and guess what? I wouldnt expect, nor shed a tear if somebody felt the same way towards me! That's called "Self presevervation"; it's the law of the land! How can you help another person when you can't help yourself?

When individuals don't cooperate, the psychopaths always win. Therefore individuals must put some group ahead of their own interests. The trick is to define the group in such a way that psychopaths can't take advantage of the group. And this is where a good religion comes in. A good religion is designed to do just this, to encourage cooperation and discourage psychopaths from taking advantage of the group.

[HappyGuy]

The older I get, the more life seems like a terrible, cruel joke.

Try to surround yourself with good people before you get old.

[isma26]

I don't think it's horrible, but it is difficult

[Winston]

I felt the same way until I now decided recently to forget the worldly nonsense and start devote my life to Jesus. Now im happy and confident as I grow spiritually and look for his guidance and to make me not care what others think. This saturday ill even be going with the pastor to door knock. Life is good here in america. And I dont even need a woman to do all this.

That's great. But keep in mind that that only works for some people, not everyone. There is no one right religion or path for everyone, regardless of what Christians say. Also, even if you feel fulfilled after your conversion, it can only go so far. Eventually you feel the emptiness of life again, don't you? That deep emptiness is always there and no matter how many pleasures you have, you still come full circle back to it. Don't you? And life still has its ups and downs. But whatever works for you and gets you through the day is fine.

[Winston]

Religion like every other outlet of social expression is not the answer. Religion was set up by the establishment as a way to exercise control of the masses particularly Christianity! They know that if each individual concentrates on the purpose of one self in relation to universe then there no room for the invested interest's agenda and therefore no strength or support in their cause. I've found that allegiances to most causes are usually to the benefit of just a few of the entitled, and not to the cause in general. A song by John Lennon called "Imagine" best sums it up. You need to care for yourself before everyone else because no one else will care about you more than you care for yourself!

Yes religion is a tool for social control and an "opiate of the masses" like Karl Marx said, and a way of pacifying people too. But that doesn't mean it's a total hoax. It doesn't mean a higher power doesn't exist and only the material world exists and that we are all here by accident. Religion is an archetype, not meant to be literal, but organizations and people make it literal. Research the work of Carl Jung or Joseph Campbell, and you will see what I mean. The Christ within is very real and if you get in touch with it, you can be reborn again and transform your consciousness. That's why Christianity is powerful and transformative and has changed many lives. A hoax cannot do that. But a deep archetype that goes within can. So it is very real in a spiritual sense, even if not in a historical sense. The transformation of consciousness is a real thing.

And a higher power definitely seems to exist. All the greatest geniuses of the world believed in a higher power and downloaded their ideas from it. Even if you call it a "core of creativity" like Tesla did. None of them were atheists. There are also many accounts of the paranormal and supernatural that cannot be explained. So other dimensions and higher powers must exist. Furthermore, prayers and miracles happen too. Any devout Christian (including the ones here) can give you examples of prayers answered which were too highly specific to be coincidental. There are countless examples in the Christian and Catholic community, both past and present. So a higher power must exist, regardless of whether you believe in any form of organized religion or not. The wisest men and greatest geniuses have all coincluded the same. Including Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Nikola Tesla, etc. That should tell you something.