A Perfect Life Isn't Worth Living?

by Sorry 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Sorry

  My friends brought up an interesting point today: a perfect existence isn't perfect at all.

  Think of your favorite TV shows. What do they all have in common? The answer is they revolve around some type of problem or conflict. Whether serious or comedic, conflict and seeing how characters handle it interests viewers. It would get boring very quickly if there were no problems, if everyone was smart and nice, if everyone had that same perfect personality.

  My best friend went on to say this applies in real life. If everything in the world was eternally perfect, what would there really be to live for? If you think life is purposeless now, just wait until the new system. Your only purpose is eating fruit, petting tigers and singing Kumbaya all day. No motivation to change or grow. Nothing would be interesting since we'd all be the same perfect people. Once the novelty wears off, it'd be boring to be perfect.

  People devote their lives to something, whether it's fighting for equal rights, educating others or employing the scientific method to answer the unanswerable. Many have died for it. If everything is perfect, what's the point? You're just taking up space.

  It struck a chord with me. Being a JW, perfection in eternity is the end goal. But when you really think about it (thinking isn't really the average JWs forte), it's just as unfulfilling as they try to make the 'world' out to be. Any lurker with doubts, please take this info consideration (unless I sound crazy, then just ignore me).
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  sir82

  Once the novelty wears off, it'd be boring to be perfect.

  Exactly. You'd be bored after a few decades.

  .....and have more than 999,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 centuries more to live.
  
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  OnTheWayOut

  I am torn on this. I get that man has evolved due to the need to overcome. I get that we are shaped mentally, philosophically by our challenges.

  I know that I would be happy in retirement on the beach but we are talking about 2 decades, a far cry from "forever."

  But it seems we could challenge ourselves in small ways even in perfection- learning an instrument or how to build certain things, then a different instrument and building different things. We could learn how to win auto races or horse races or foot races, then rowboat races. We could sew our own clothing and become skilled at that. To rid the world of large facilities, we could get our own water and food the hard way and dispose of our own sewage and garbage the hard way, so our daily drudgeries become a workout. Sure, tiny goals would become important goals and it may be a bit weird to focus on cutting a half-second off your rowboat mile, but it could be done.

  I think I could find a way to "switch it up" over time.
  
  It matters not, though. It's all just a fantasy.
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  David_Jay

  There's a Jewish parable about a woman who is blessed with entry into Olam HaBa, the World to Come.

  It is paradisaic in that trees everywhere are alive with blossoms and fruits, animals are at peace with humanity, family and friends are enjoying each other's company in warm gatherings, etc.

  Then she comes upon a building that looks like an old synagogue. She walks inside to discover it is filled with rabbis sitting at desks, arguing, debating, and throwing books.

  "Why are these men not in paradise?" she asks God. "Are they being punished?"

  "No," God replies. "The men are not in paradise. Paradise is in these men."

  True paradise is not achieved by living in a perfect world, only by living in one that makes you perfectly happy.
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  schnell

  There will always be conflict. A concept of perfection without conflict is wishful thinking, and it's also poisonous to art.
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  undercover

  Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this: the peak of your civilization.

  
  

  
  
  
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  Spoletta

  You need a little adversity to enhance the good things in your life. Too much sweetness eventually becomes cloying.
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  tepidpoultry

  I remember making this argument over 40 years ago! :)
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  smiddy

  You need curiosity to forge ahead into the unknown which leads to new discoveries breaking boundarys.

  The GB has always been against using your brain thats why the religion has dumbed down so much these past decades.

  OTWO remember competition is frowned on and a big no-no , dress codes are strictly controlled , imagine a sister or brother designing their own clothes in the new system it would be as bad as the Muslim nations of today you would have the religious police patrolling everywhere ."You cant wear that ?"

  Paradise ? I think it would be Hell on earth.
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  Slidin Fast

  ..and have more than 999,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 centuries more to live.

  +1
  

  Infinity means eventually you know everything, you've been every where you've experienced everything. There is nothing left but eternity. Wash, repeat spin again and again and again and...