Let’s leave aside the arguments about the existence of Heaven and Hell, God and Satan for a minute. I’m not religious, but a religious person could as easily make this cultural observation. Virtually every religion with a belief in reward and punishment zones in the afterlife places Heaven far above Earth, and Hell deep within it. That says that the quintessential human idea of suffering is to stay near this world, and the quintessential idea of reward is escape from it. Is this cultures across the globe and across time way of saying that this world sucks and we should want to leave it? Is it universal or nearly universal human nature to resent this world?
It seems so obvious to me that the ultimate hell would be to give freedom of will to choose temptation, …living on Earth as a human is an addiction of sorts… hell; to experience the illusion/addiction of love or the idea of love, but never being able to experience without pain… to live under a vail of fogginess, never being able to find the answer to something that drives you constantly… to always long for something, but never quit understanding what it is… even when you think you understand or have created all the answers for yourself. to not be able to fully wake up… because there is a part of you that doesn’t really want to.
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Not sure if this planet earth is hell, I think mankind in hell – man is hell. Take a snap shot of our race and you get screaming, sex advertised, violence, glutony and war. I am looking forward to not being a human being anymore.
An evil army has conquered human kind, and so therefore, the earth.
Not sure if I think earth is hell but it’s something close to it. I’ve not hated my life at all, I’ve had many times that I’ve loved it. But I’ve not gained anything of any value, and the longer I live the more I start to think that there is nothing that is ‘good’ about it. So with this in mind, i am happy not to grow old, I will end this life before that happens; pretty soon actually. I’m just over it all, seen through it, so to speak.
I get where ur coming from Catch, I really do, but I have…sort of a theory. I dont think earth is hell, at all. Whats inside us, as human beings, that is hell. We make ourselves feel like we’re not worth it and we make ourselves feel pain and suffering and tragedy, our own emotions are what make the world seem like its hell, when really it’s just our inner feelings that our torturing us. Bad things happen in the world, this is true, but it’s nothing that can’t be overcome with help and support and strength. I dont know, maybe im wrong, its just depends on how you view things and I suppose I have a more optimistic view on life then most people on this site.
Man is extraordinarily selfish, cunning, and stubborn, but capable of being socialized if he believes he can profit by it. Anyone that is ‘happy’ in this existence is those things.
I agree with you BillyT in that anyone that is ‘happy’ here must be selfish and cunning or they must be stupid (as in completely unaware of their surroundings). I don’t agree that it is a point of view that you choose, you either choose ignorance or you choose to see what’s going on.
When I first heard this opinion (about anyone being happy must be stupid or selfish) I was not in full agreement until I gave it serious thought. Most people think that this life is all about them even when they try to pretend that they want to do ‘good’ – they say stuff like, ‘I am a talented writer, I should use my creativity to make people happy’ thats the biggest load of rubbish I ever heard! We have poetry books, shit loads of music, films, art galleries, fashion shows, circus, theatres, you name it! Creativity only makes the already happy people more happy – I’m sure a woman being trafficked for sex all her life doesn’t give a rats arse for a poem! Or a pretty picture! She would prefer a living human being to come and rescue her. But we as human, don’t give a shit about others suffering, only our own. We paint pictures and make poetry FOR OURSELVES, FOR OUR EGOS, AND OTHER PEOPLES EGOS.
I agree that creativity and beautiful things are wonderful and essential, but when the world is in such a mess, there are bigger issues to deal with. So yes, all humans are selfish and yes this planet must be hell. When someone says that they don’t see the world as bad, they have to be blind or asleep, or so protected in their own little selfish environment.
Me again: You know what, I have more respect for honesty, even if that honesty is hard on the ears. Like for instance my male friend said to me the other night that he is aware that everything is shit, so he is careful to avoid everthing shitty and make himself so selfish that all he goes for is what makes him happy and what will benefit his life. He said he is ruthless in his determination to to this – avoid all the bad and take take take the good. I’m not saying he is a great guy (lol) but at least he’s honest! These people that go around with their heads in the clouds saying that the world is a beautiful place and that life is wonderful if you could only see it ect, just really make me realise how hopeless the situation is. At least with my selfish mate, if you gave him an better alternative he would consider it, seen as at least he’s aware of the problems and he tells the truth. All these ‘happy’ people don’t see the problems so they wouldn’t consider changing anything. Great!!
When compared to other civilizations, or another species, Humans are a bunch of bastards. They are all greedy, heartless, violent, cruel, selfish, egotistical, thoughtless, and in extreme cases, evil. There is no such thing as a totally good human being or if there was he/she would be dead, killed or terrorized by other humans, or in better cases, ostracized. Those who claim to be good, only do good to benefit themselves, or others in their lives whose happiness would benefit them also. Every human being only acts to ‘gain’. To make us feel better about being awful, we have invented notions such as ‘no-one is perfect’.
It’s not the planet that is ‘hell’ it is the human race that is awful. Of course most others would not agree with this, for they are far too superior to darken their egotistical minds with such thoughts – it’s all part of the package.
In relation to the OP about is earth ‘hell’ – I tend to think that this human thing is an experiment of how rotten a form of life can become if put into difficult situations, to maybe test the strength of pure love. Any pure love in this world these days is killed one way or another. Love does not survive here, and we have become so precious about our lives (human lives) even inventing notions that the death of the human is a travesty and the saddest thing ever to happen, even though we hold no such regard over other life such as animals and nature. So I would have to agree to a certain degree that life here is hell.
Since I was 13 I wanted nothing more than to die. I’m 50 now and the only times I felt totally at peace was when I was knocked out and under the knife. No thoughts, no fear, no anger, no love, no hate, etc. I came to a conclusion for myself nothingness is bliss. If Death is like that I look forward to it.
@DA, for me it’s when I have a deep sleep without dreaming, I don’t even realize I exist until I wake up 8 hrs later. So I know that’s what death will be like and I’m cool with it also.
What worries me is the process of dying, this is why people seek out things like Nem. I believe with the method I chose I might feel some suffering before I pass out but once I’m unconscious and if I’m not revived, then I’ll be free forever.
I have no plans at the moment (to end my life) but as I get closer to old age the more worthless I feel. I’m in a constant struggle just to keep going on with life, it’d be easier to give up.
I don’t bec I have some family member I care about and goals I really want to accomplish….if I succeed then I’ll stick around as long as I can, but if my life takes a turn for the worse, then I will end it at some point.
I’m not attached to this life-there was a time I felt a lot of pain, anguish and anger for missing out on things that others got. That is I loved life and wanted the best of what it offers and was upset I didn’t get it. But after a long time I finally just accepted (with dejected sadness) that the ‘dolce vita’ isn’t for everyone.
However, that doesn’t mean I’ve given up on trying just yet, while I know the odds are against me-I’m hopeful I could still also luck out, but if I don’t then I shall accept my fate with dignity. I think 10 yrs is more than enough time to find out which why my life will go, up or down.
Some people go on living way past their time. That is they’ve lost all their friends, family, have no money, face homelessness, lose their health, etc. yet they just keep hanging on until the bitter end. That’s a terrible way to go. Everyone should have an exit plan so you end your suffering and not let it get much worse.
Robin Williams (a man I respect) was facing degenerative mental illness, he knew what was coming. He was suffering horribly, he made the right choice to end it in a timely way, I’d do the same. He’s a good example for us all.
@OP you said you were putting religion aside but being an ex-Christian, I can see that your views are somewhat religiously based.
Firstly I think our world is amazing and precious and we live in a beautiful but harsh universe. It’s mostly humans ruining the planet but in some ways we are definitely getting better.
My view is that heaven and hell are right here on Earth. They’re simply projections of the life we experience and are not actual places existing in other dimensions.
If there were alternate realities we would’ve found them already. Religion invents a fake disease (sin) and also offers you a fake ‘cure.’ But the price is that you give them money and you’ll be ‘rewarded’ in an afterlife, how convenient.
There’s nothing wrong with temptation and enjoying life so long as you’re not hurting others. It’s time we outgrow infantile religious thinking from the Bronze Age and live in reality. It is also up to us to either make the world better or worse, no imaginary Sky Daddy is going to save us only we can do that.