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I have been living with similar thoughts for most of my life and it's been keeping me somewhat unhappy. My mere existence results in plenty direct and collatera

I have been living with similar thoughts for most of my life and it's been keeping me somewhat unhappy. My mere existence results in plenty direct and collateral damage. Big animals, small ones, microscopic. Growing plants kills other plants, etc. Eating cheese and even bread is not exactly vegetarian. I might be mellowing down to a wimp.

mandmandam 4y ago
> ‘All life,’ said the Buddha, ‘is sorrowful’; and so, indeed, it is. Life consuming life: that is the essence of its being, which is forever a becoming. ‘The world,’ said the Buddha, ‘is an ever-burning fire.’ And so it is. And that is what one has to affirm, with a yea! a dance! a knowing, solemn, stately dance of the mystic bliss beyond pain that is at the heart of every mythic rite. -- Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By
tomcam 4y ago
What /u/mandmandam says below. But life is brutal and unfair. If you try to do too much to "give back" you sometimes end up doing more damage than if you did nothing. Brother, it's just hard to be a good citizen these days. Try to stay employed, try to keep your kids out of trouble, try not to suckle too much at the public teat if you can avoid it. If you do those things most of the time, as far as I'm concerned, you're golden. Also, does it help to judge yourself with no more harshness than you do others? Do you feel the people around you who don't have the same self-doubt as you are being unreasonably destructive? If so... maybe give yourself a break.