One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It's not and it won't. What gives us the right to expect to be rewarded for hard work or the good things we do? We must do what's right for our own sake. The nice thing about surrendering to the fact that life isn't fair is that it keeps us from feeling sorry for ourselves. Anyway, it's not life's job to make everything perfect, it's our own challenge.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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Very good explication, thank you.
ReplyDelete"What gives us the right to expect to be rewarded for hard work or the good things we do?"
This sentence is a central question which continues to tease. Your personal answer is very good, and it is in some way similar to Jacob Neusner's answering to Jesus Christ in his book "A Rabbi Talks with Jesus". But just of this book Joseph Ratzinger said, it had been the book which made him understand the greatness of Jesus' words. The question is in some way a divide related to temper.
In the Bible you can always find a dialectic touching between two themes: the old realistic theme and the promotion of childlike, delicate, "younger" figures (Abel, Jacob, David, up to Jesus, where weekness becomes the program of a particular strength).
Furthermore there is Robert L. Trivers, an american evolution-biologist, who explores how reciprocal altruistic behaviour can be an advantage generally. And another german or austrian biologist working in the US - whose name I do not remember unfortunatly - explores how in decision making can be achieved advantage for the altruistic individual.
"Anyway, it's not life's job to make everything perfect, it's our own challenge."
Is this callousness correct even in the contrary case, when life is generous to you? Should we dismiss any thoughts of life´s fairness and benefits, then as well? Isn´t it healthy to be either grateful (if religious) or to share or to return the favour?
ReplyDelete"Not only the strongest survives, the most honest survives either." Ernst Jünger said
ReplyDelete@cs
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head.
I think even that gratefulness is - even without religion - the first virtue, mother of any other virtue.
A surprising phenomenon parallel to the bible theme is this:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neotenic
But be always aware, that life is never fair. "It's not and it won't."