I have often thought about the Buddha and his thought
that the point of existence is about suffering and how to
escape suffering……
and my first thought is that by making suffering the key value,
you deny other possibilities like searching for the truth or
seeking god or finding happiness or seeking the values worth
living for…….
in denying other values like seeking happiness or searching for
the truth, that single minded value is a negation of other values…
you negate other values when you put only one as being the “only” value
worth understanding… or seeking…
it is like capitalism and its focus on profits/money before all
other values… this focus on profits negates all other values like love
or happiness or hope or justice…
suffering is a part but only a part of life…
and it is no different then a focus on other values
claimed to have value such as pity and compassion…
which some philosophers have claimed to be primary or
the most valuable value to have…
while I agree that pity and compassion are valuable
values to have, they are not the only values we must have…
we can put guilt into this mix…and then after some thought,
I see that religions emphise certain values like guilt or pity or
compassion or even hate…
and make that value the primary value of that religion…so
catholics can suggest that the primary value of religion is guilt…
we are all guilty via the original sin… and to absolve ourselves
of this guilt is the drive to be saved……… which is no different
then the Buddhist drive to claim suffering the value we must
must drive for……
the Jews speak of the “law”… and even Jesus, who was Jewish,
said,
“do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets,
I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them”
this focus on the law and obeying God’s law is fundamental to
Jewish faith… another aspect that is one single view turned into
an entire faith, religion…………just like the Buddha and his focus on suffering…
what is needed is a religion that answers all the questions of existence,
not just the single focus of suffering or of being saved or of obeying the law
or to find an answer to the guilt “all” humans feel…
we don’t yet have an religion that truly answer the call of what makes
a human being, a human being……
religions are just one side of the human experience…and they ignore the other
side of what makes us human… be it suffering or guilt or obedience to the law
or pity or compassion… and we need an religion that answers all those questions
of guilt and sin and obedience and pity and compassion and suffering…
equally………
Kropotkin