4 ms·
> If you accept that all people are not equal you are presented with a curious metaphysical problem when considered from a Western "Christian" perspective; why
by ajuc 9y ago
> If you accept that all people are not equal you are presented with a curious metaphysical problem when considered from a Western "Christian" perspective; why did God create both paupers and princes?--i.e., why are some born into ridiculous wealth and others crippling poverty?
When I was still a catholic I "solved" this by assuming God put souls with more capability to survive hardships in bodies that experience more hardships. Basically the world is a level-scaling MMORPG :)
When I stopped being a catholic I just assumed there's nothing fair about universe, it's just random, so there's nothing to explain.
The fact we don't have equal chances is obvious, even people saying otherways usually know this deep down, they just won't admit it because ideology, so they might say "people are equal, but society is keeping some of us down" (clearly not the only factor - see psychological development problems), or "people are equally talented at different things, some of us don't get to realize these talents" - which might be true, for general enough definition of talent, but is quite unlikely (if nobody's supervising the distribution of talents - how do you ensure everybody's got the same amount?). And even if it's true - the definition has to be so general that in practice it doesn't matter.
- nsomaru 9y ago> When I was still a catholic I "solved" this by assuming God put souls with more capability to survive hardships in bodies that experience more hardships. Basically the world is a level-scaling MMORPG :) Interestingly, if you an understand the synthesis of eastern metaphysical concepts such as "maya" (illusion), "karma" (causation) and their logical implications such as reincarnation, you arrive at a similar conclusion -- the world is essentially a game (meant to be enjoyed, a journey, a sport to be reveled in), which scales your instance based on your karma! There's respawning too :) Choose your own adventure! Just thought I'd drop a book recommendation here: "The Monk and the Philosopher" - Jean-François Revel and Matthieu Ricard [0]. A much younger, atheist, science-absolutionist (?-haha) me had his mind blown by this text. It made me seriously question my world view (which would be later be shattered by a friend with considerable philosophical talent). I do not currently identify as a Buddhist, and I'm not sure how it would be received now, but it certainly was useful in breaking a certain science-dogma in me. edit: punctuation, book recommendation [0] https://www.amazon.com/Monk-Philosopher-Father-Discuss-Meaning/dp/0805211039 https://www.amazon.com/Monk-Philosopher-Father-Discuss-Meani...