Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 3:09 pm
RCSaunders wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:05 pm
Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 9:20 am
Power is what nature v. human will is all about.
Do you think nature and human beings are in some kind of conflict?
As Skepdick rightly said "nature sucks : most of the universe is uninhabitable". Eventually the universe will be entropy. All the living inhabitants of the universe(UNIVERSE=NATURE) have to contend with each other and with other forces which will destroy them.
Unless you believe in divine Providence you must in reason be a pessimist about the sooner or later demise of humanity. Skepdick is cheerful which is okay but is maybe a little too optimistic about the power of human culture to hold its own against death and entropy.
I must admit this is a new kind of dualism, even worse than those that divide reality into the natural and superatural. Since there is no supernatural, if human beings aren't natural, what are they--subnatural? There is something to be said for the man who wrote, "those who believe the world is not good enough for them find themselves shoulder to shoulder with those who are not good enough for the world."
There is only existence, alternately called, reality, nature, or the universe, and human beings are part of that reality. It's too bad you don't like reality, but it's all you have. I know you don't like it, because it's not, "nice." It is, in fact, ruthless and implacable:
- The real world is a very difficult place to live.
- There are no shortcuts to life, success or happiness.
- You must earn everything by your own effort.
- Anything less than your best is failure.
- You cannot do wrong and get away with it.
- Neither your feelings nor your desires matter.
- Reality is all there is, the way it is.
Does that make reality sound harsh? Well, it is. The proper name for that harshness is
justice.
Reality is neither cruel or kind, reality is just what is. It is neither malevolent nor benevolent, but it is the means to all that is worth living for and the source of all that is possible. That possibility includes the fact that every individual is provided with all they need to live successfully and happily and to be all they can be as a human being. It means, your every shortcoming and failure is the result of your own choices and actions. It means, if you are not happy,
it is your own fault. Reality provides you the means to all good things, but you cannot achieve either success or happiness if you defy reality, or refuse to even learn what it is.
The problem is people do not like reality because it is demanding and the real world is a hard place to live and it is very dangerous.
As ruthless and implacable as reality is, however, it is also the source of infinite possibility. No success is possible in defiance of reality, but knowing what reality is and ordering one's life by the principles that describe it makes the achievement of anything possible. Most people are just not willing to do the work necessary to learn how to live in this world, and earn their way in it, because it is too hard.
Well, it is hard, very hard, but nothing worthwhile is easy, and nothing much can be gained without risk. It is easier to complain, "the whole world is against me," and blame everything from nature to others for one's own miserable life.
I have no interest in what happens to the mass of ignorant, superstitious, herds of individuals called, "humanity," or, "mankind," who suffer and die, because they despise reality, because reality requires them to be responsible for their own lives.