On the idea of 'earning' or 'deserving' things.

[RickyBalboa]

I've always struggled to understand where people are coming from when they state that someone 'deserves' something. Whether it be some form of punishment or a reward. An example could be someone who has committed a crime and then at some later date ends up falling prey to some unfortunate circumstance. It baffles me how many people will say things like "Good! It was much deserved after all they did to so and so".

Firstly, I never have understood how wishing harm on a person can be anything other than hypocritical. You lamented at the idea of someone suffering, then you revel in the thought of another person suffering? It's just not consistent. It always brings fourth images of people from long ago being held in stocks while townspeople are encouraged to berate and throw stones at them. Does it not dawn on these people that by engaging in this way, that they have brought themselves closer in form to the very thing they are expressing hate against?

As far as earning goes, it seems to be pretty arbitrary. Why one man deserves to be in a mansion while another on a curbside is just completely lost on me.
I see people so readily able to justify matters of what is and isn't deserved so quickly, and where who does and doesn't belong in the world. They do it without so much as a hiccup if whether what they are saying makes any sense. 

I might just be dumb, but my brain really gets hung up on stuff like that. My brain just can't compute  when people go on a spiel about 'deserving' things. Maybe someone can clear up my confusion on this matter. Am I tapping into something fundamental important by being confused by this trope in human behavior? 

[jdc7733]

I agree. Okay, that’s mundane. I can’t keep a consistent view of how things should be and I’m trying to manifest a… Better life? It’s more like something beyond words.

[gettoefl]

it's here in our midst ... some have a penthouse some lack an outhouse ... some get away with murdering some get life for smoking

just deserts is how we lazily rationalize the status quo, lets us sleep comfortable instead of being continually incensed and on a mad mission

we love to judge others and see that they get what they had coming but we want nobody looking too closely at our affairs

the work is seeing i am entitled to nothing but responsible for everything

[Leo Gura]

You are right that the ego-mind uses the notion "deserve" to justify, moralize, and fantasize.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Leo Gura

[An young being]

12 hours ago, RickyBalboa said:

I've always struggled to understand where people are coming from when they state that someone 'deserves' something. Whether it be some form of punishment or a reward. An example could be someone who has committed a crime and then at some later date ends up falling prey to some unfortunate circumstance. It baffles me how many people will say things like "Good! It was much deserved after all they did to so and so".

Firstly, I never have understood how wishing harm on a person can be anything other than hypocritical. You lamented at the idea of someone suffering, then you revel in the thought of another person suffering? It's just not consistent. It always brings fourth images of people from long ago being held in stocks while townspeople are encouraged to berate and throw stones at them. Does it not dawn on these people that by engaging in this way, that they have brought themselves closer in form to the very thing they are expressing hate against?

As far as earning goes, it seems to be pretty arbitrary. Why one man deserves to be in a mansion while another on a curbside is just completely lost on me.
I see people so readily able to justify matters of what is and isn't deserved so quickly, and where who does and doesn't belong in the world. They do it without so much as a hiccup if whether what they are saying makes any sense. 

I might just be dumb, but my brain really gets hung up on stuff like that. My brain just can't compute  when people go on a spiel about 'deserving' things. Maybe someone can clear up my confusion on this matter. Am I tapping into something fundamental important by being confused by this trope in human behavior? 

It's another way for people to feel that life is fair, which itself is unfair since they all are seeing only the projections.

[Razard86]

On 10/17/2023 at 4:13 PM, RickyBalboa said:

I've always struggled to understand where people are coming from when they state that someone 'deserves' something. Whether it be some form of punishment or a reward. An example could be someone who has committed a crime and then at some later date ends up falling prey to some unfortunate circumstance. It baffles me how many people will say things like "Good! It was much deserved after all they did to so and so".

Firstly, I never have understood how wishing harm on a person can be anything other than hypocritical. You lamented at the idea of someone suffering, then you revel in the thought of another person suffering? It's just not consistent. It always brings fourth images of people from long ago being held in stocks while townspeople are encouraged to berate and throw stones at them. Does it not dawn on these people that by engaging in this way, that they have brought themselves closer in form to the very thing they are expressing hate against?

As far as earning goes, it seems to be pretty arbitrary. Why one man deserves to be in a mansion while another on a curbside is just completely lost on me.
I see people so readily able to justify matters of what is and isn't deserved so quickly, and where who does and doesn't belong in the world. They do it without so much as a hiccup if whether what they are saying makes any sense. 

I might just be dumb, but my brain really gets hung up on stuff like that. My brain just can't compute  when people go on a spiel about 'deserving' things. Maybe someone can clear up my confusion on this matter. Am I tapping into something fundamental important by being confused by this trope in human behavior? 

That's because you are biased and self-righteous.

If someone slaps someone and goes around slapping people it would be good for them to get slapped so they can realize how it feels. Often people have to experience what they do to others to gain an understanding of the pain they are creating. So this is where the desire for retribution or revenge comes from. A desire for the inflictor of pain to experience the very pain they have caused. 

This is also where bad trips come from in the Spiritual Path, for you to experience the pain you have caused and forgive the pain you have received. Pain causes not just a humbling, but the growth of empathy.

[Princess Arabia]

On 10/19/2023 at 11:07 PM, Razard86 said:

That's because you are biased and self-righteous.

If someone slaps someone and goes around slapping people it would be good for them to get slapped so they can realize how it feels. Often people have to experience what they do to others to gain an understanding of the pain they are creating. So this is where the desire for retribution or revenge comes from. A desire for the inflictor of pain to experience the very pain they have caused. 

This is also where bad trips come from in the Spiritual Path, for you to experience the pain you have caused and forgive the pain you have received. Pain causes not just a humbling, but the growth of empathy.

Never looked at it this way but I see your point. How, though, do you justify a situation like a person bombing an abortion clinic with people in it because they oppose abortions. They are killing too.