<p>why is it that only civilization can reduce the suffering on earth? without civilization, which you didn't help to create, you created a world with extremely high infant and child mortality, a world where most people had very limited lifespans. where "average" means pain and suffering. </p>
<p>not to mention that the animals you created are even worse off than the humans.</p>
<p>why is your world so unforgiving? why must people depend on civilization in order to survive? why did you create a world where the momentary pleasures are far more limited in duration than the extended periods of hunger and pain?</p>
<p>why did you create the cold virus? why did you create the influenza virus? argh why must i suffer? why am i so irritable right now?</p>
<p>Because the fables of yore cannot change what we know in our deepest heart of hearts to be true: that life is nothing more than suffering, misery, and an inevitable death. There is so much pain on this planet that if our brains weren't equipped with a host of psychological mechanisms that kept us from comprehending it, we would surely commit suicide. </p>
<p>There is no God. And if there was one, he would care as much about us as we care about the beggar we pass on the street, refusing his pitiful solicitations not because we don't have spare change, but simply to avoid the inconvenience of opening our jackets.</p>
<p>I think it's because we have free will (I do believe in God, by the way). At least, to answer why we suffer as a result of other people. </p>
<p>I don't understand your whole question, though. Why do civilizations reduce suffering on earth? I thought that, looking back on history, civilizations that had war with each other were the cause of suffering (even today).</p>
<p>Like thelittlemermaid said, we suffer because we have free will. As long as people act selfish and egotistical there will be pain.</p>
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There is no God. And if there was one, he would care as much about us as we care about the beggar we pass on the street, refusing his pitiful solicitations not because we don't have spare change, but simply to avoid the inconvenience of opening our jackets.
[/quote]
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<p>I have empathy for the beggar I pass on the street, and I give whatever I have available. Don't plaster your generalizations of human apathy unto people you don't know, or God for that matter. Change those "we's" to "I's", and you'll realize how sadistic you sound.</p>
<p>Each person has a different level of caring. We have free will to care or not (regardless of whether there is a God), and so when it comes down to it, people can be the cause of other people's suffering. We have the ability to care enough to help ease (or stop) someone's suffering, but a lot of times people choose not to, which causes more suffering. </p>
<p>As for the world and nature being so unforgiving, there is good that can come out of bad. Not always, but it depends on a person's disposition towards their situation and life in general.</p>
<p>Yeah, only most people don't die several seconds after they are born at no fault of their own.</p>
<p>Unless infants somehow have the rational capacity to exercise their God-given right of free will and decide to die a painful death shortly after birth.</p>
<p>Also, if God condones that sort of stuff, what's so bad about abortion?</p>
<p>Abortion is free will. Babies die at birth of natural causes. I don't know why they don't live, but there could've been a number of reasons. It's true, though, that we all die. However, we all don't die at the will of other people (i.e. murder). </p>
<p>I don't know why we have "natural suffering", but a lot of our suffering comes from what other humans do. Look at the Holocaust, and any war. Things like that involved a lot of suffering caused by humans, inflicted on other humans.</p>