Death

[athoughtfulman]

@Mark;

Just so. Imo grief is an utterly selfish emotion based, one's feeling of loss of a person, thing or even idea to which one was attached.

Imo attachment is indeed a major cause of suffering. I can see how MY suffering can be the result of the attachment of others. (EG someone being attached to the belief that I'm an arsehole and deciding to hit me with a blunt instrument). But I don't see how my physical suffering is necessarily caused by my attachment. (I reject karma)

Now we're almost getting into Buddhism. Let go of attachment and you will never fear pain or losing anything. Essentially you will be as happy as you can be; or enlightened as some might say.

Attachment IS the cause of much evil, but also of much good. We will all miss our family, friends and pets when they die. Why? Because we loved them. If we wanted to do away with the pain of death, we would have to say goodbye to enjoyment, love, proper fulfilment, etc. I know it's painful, but I believe it's the good that makes the bad. This is why I don't think heaven is possible to exist. Ambition and the desire which has driven mankind for thousands of years to improve only exists in the face of dissatisfaction. If we were to be completely content (as heaven supposedly will be...), then all progress would halt. We would be completely comfortable with what we were doing, where we were, how we were living, etc. Good music can only be written because we have knowledge of bad music. Good art is the same. Good anything is the same.

But in heaven? Everyone's happy, so everyone's music is good, everyone's art is good, everyone's everything is good. Humans become robots when perfect and lose every ounce of self-expression and the ability or desire to improve themselves. But if heaven wasn't perfect, then it's not really heaven, just another earth. Even if it did exist, and everyone was perfectly happy, I'd rather be in hell, appreciating good and bad.

I wouldn't swap the pain for anything. The pain is nothing good, but I would rather have it present. I want to know where I can improve. I want to be able to love. I want to be able to feel sad. Angry. And every other human emotion.