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Date Posted: 14:39:36 02/13/02 Wed
Author: mvd
Subject: Hmmm
In reply to: mt. healthy mountaineer 's message, "Re: Is life suffering?" on 13:47:45 02/13/02 Wed

I disagree that selfishness cannot be irradicated. Why do you say this? It sounds very defeatist. I do agree that much suffering and "sin" as you call it, comes from selfishness, but can a man not be generous and also live meagerly? Men are not created to desire things and more things. All we really need is food and shelter. Therefore, though there are no truly "selfless acts", we might be able to say that through living simpler and desiring less that men can achieve less selfishness.

What I mean about setting goals is not that goals inherently create suffering, but that the goal of eliminating suffering in fact creates it. For instance:

When we have ideas such as good versus evil, we may create two champions of both. One named Sid is the champion of good. It is his self-appointed goal to rid the world of evil and he goes about it with a will, smiting bad people across the land. Now, the bad people learn about Sid and they become more devious, so as to avoid him, they become more ruthless, so as to oppose him, they become more evil, in fact, so that they might survive in the face of one who is so strongly good.

In this cute story we have the idea: Goals are not inherently bad, but when they contain thoughts such as this against that, this becomes stronger in proportion to that.

I think we basically agree, though on certain points, perhaps, we differ. I just don't particularly feel that I have suffered all that much in life. Of course, I have had my moments, but my life has been, in general, very good. Perhaps I am just lucky! :)

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