r/SocietyAndCulture

If we all want happiness, why do we create so much suffering?

Most human beings want essentially the same things: happiness and wellbeing for themselves and those they care about.

And yet, both individually and collectively, we create enormous suffering.

Conflict, exploitation, loneliness, violence, environmental destruction, and countless everyday acts of hurt continue despite our good intentions.

Why?

Many traditions suggest that the roots of suffering lie in self-concern. We may recognize this intellectually, but recognition alone does not seem to end it.

Krishnamurti often spoke of the tremendous energy needed to bring about a psychological change.  Where does that leave us?

>
Love is not to be cultivated. Love cannot be divided into divine and physical; it is only love

>“Do you love all?” Love is not a thing of the mind or the intellect. But it comes into being naturally as compassion, when this whole problem of existence—as fear, greed, envy, despair, hope—has been understood and resolved. 

>An ambitious man cannot love. Nor has jealousy anything to do with love. When you say, “I love my wife,” you really do not mean it, if the next moment you are jealous of her. 

>Love implies great freedom—not to do what you like. But love comes only when the mind is very quiet, disinterested, not self-centered. These are not ideals. If you have no love, do what you will—go after all the gods on earth, do all the social activities, try to reform the poor, the politics, write books, write poems—you are a dead human being. And without love your problems will increase, multiply endlessly. 

>And with love, do what you will, there is no risk; there is no conflict. Then love is the essence of virtue. And a mind that is not in a state of love, is not a religious mind at all. And it is only the religious mind that is freed from problems, and that knows the beauty of love and truth. 

(Krishnamurti, the book of life)

nb. we're meeting this Saturday 6th of June on Zoom at 5:30pm CEST (thats 9pm in India and 11:30am EDT) - comment below, or message me if you'd like an invite/link

Hi I recently graduated high school and I have decided that I don’t want to pursue higher education at the moment, my main reason for not going to uni is mainly the cost and not really knowing what I would want to study at uni.

My friends are about to finish their first semester of uni which great for them but every time we all hangout someone has to bring up the fact I’m not in uni and always asks if I’ll go in the future. I’ve started to resent hanging out with my friends because of this as no can understand that I dont want to waste my money or time on a degree that I dont want to do. I’m starting to wonder if they keep making comments because my parents didn’t pressure me into attending uni and I think a couple of my friends may be a bit jealous of that as their parents made them go to uni.

During my last year of high school I felt a lot of pressure from these friends and other people like teachers into going to uni as that’s what’s expected from me and now I’m struggling with the judgement from people around me. My friend recently said to me “so how’s your gap year going”, I’ve never stated I was taking a gap year I’m just not going and it’s been really hard to deal with this judgement from them. If anyone has any advice on how to navigate through this point if my life it would be appreciated