Is Everyone Lucky To Be Born? Why?

Say Yay or Nay first, then explain why.

I usually feel lucky, but I am not everyone. Are retarded folk lucky to have been born? Are babies born with fatal diseases lucky? Are the enslaved and abused for their whole lives lucky to have been born?

Is the fully sentient person lucky to have been born? They can suffer fully over what they know they must lose.

Perhaps the only people lucky are those lucky enough to lead pleasant lives and also believe strongly in a paradisal afterlife. I would not consider an atheist with pleasant living conditions lucky. He sees the end coming as he ages and believes in no further chances. It could breed downright dread. Most people turn to denial and weak belief in religion or an afterlife to avoid fear.

When you cannot turn to denial or weak belief you are left where the atheist is who sees his end coming with no way out. I do not consider that lucky.

We are only truly lucky if there is afterlife. We could easily interpret life as cruel if this is our only taste. Not so lucky.

In the event there is nothing after death, one could still be semi-lucky by believing strongly (and falsely) that there was.

But if there is an afterlife, then even babies born to suffer were lucky to have been born. Right? But which is it? What do you believe? Why?

Yah, I was born lucky.

In fact during an air raid on London in the Blitz. I was told that I cried much as a baby. In retrospect I'm not surprised, with Hitler's Luftwaffe trying to kill me.

As to feeling sorry for oneself regarding the vissitudes of life, I remember an orphanage in Nigeria where, when I visited the first time accompanied by an Irish nun, I saw kids that had been left in dustbins, abandoned and discarded. I came out crying, but said nun was cheerful. It gave me a lesson I never forgot; whatever the odds, fight and have the courage to do it cheerfully. As a post note, I adopted one of those orphans, who is now a social worker in the U.K. dealing with problem families. What goes round, comes round?

With regard to the prospect of death for an atheist, don't fret. Faith is a step beyond logic and can creep up on you however much you resist it. Look at Grahame Greene.

I am not an atheist, though I have some concerns about death. And of course I like to have reasons for my faith. Any faith that I do have is not based on sound reasoning but meditative reflection. I would like better reasons for my creeping faith.

This is a question I've given much thought to. I think that, where I live at least, most people are not lucky to have been born. In my case, I have most things I want, and I consider myself to have been blessed with decent personal attributes. On the other hand, most people I know have one or several relatively serious problems: they don't have enough money to live decently, or they are in unhappy marriages/relationships/, or they were born with health problems/deformities, and so on... These sort of things make me WANT to be religious, because sometimes I get the feeling that only faith can answer questions of this kind -- for instance, why some people seem to be destined to be happy and successful, whereas others are going to be miserable no matter what.

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Originally Posted by jcparker96

This is a question I've given much thought to. I think that, where I live at least, most people are not lucky to have been born. In my case, I have most things I want, and I consider myself to have been blessed with decent personal attributes. On the other hand, most people I know have one or several relatively serious problems: they don't have enough money to live decently, or they are in unhappy marriages/relationships/, or they were born with health problems/deformities, and so on... These sort of things make me WANT to be religious, because sometimes I get the feeling that only faith can answer questions of this kind -- for instance, why some people seem to be destined to be happy and successful, whereas others are going to be miserable no matter what.

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Welcome to the site, jcp, it's nice to have you with us. My opinion is that it is useless to speculate on the luck of being born. We all exist despite the overwhelming odds (think of all your fellow sperm cells who didn't get the girl), here at tiny points in seas of time and space almost too vast to imagine. This is our throwness. Here we are. I suspect life is hard for all, although obviously it is much harder for some through no fault of their own. Non-being (if such a phenomenon even exists) would surely be a less difficult state/non-state. But then, it's not like we were given a choice. And Hamlet was more than eloquent about the uncertainties of taking things into our own hands. So it seems to me our search for meaning must presuppose our existence and acknowledge the precariousness of our present predicament.

My search is a faithful one. Yet unlike you, I do not see faith as an object of desire. Belief in God (I believe in God) as wishful thinking is a commonplace of popular atheism--one that never ceases to amuse me. Why would I want a God who remains silent in the face of suffering? Why would I want a God who requires faith at all? Why wouldn't I insist on a God who gives me everything I want right now? Faith is not a consummation devoutly to be wished any more than death is. Like existence, it simply is. But unlike existence it is a choice--as is the rejection of faith. So at least we are able to take a step in the direction of freedom. And unlike suicide, both choices allow for the possibility of error. Even Nietzsche said he might be wrong. And faith in God, as Kierkegaard knew, requires doubt for its very existence--the greater the doubt, the greater the faith (and, Kierkegaard may even have added, the greater the man). It is best to understand these things now, because making the faith choice is not going to make the suffering you mentioned go away any more than the rejection of choice will. And the last thing the faithful need is a bitter apostate poisoning the waters for others. But whatever you choose, please remember that faith is always there for you. Welcome again and God bless you.

Thank you for your answer and your welcoming. I've been visiting this site for a long time, but just recently decided to join. As you probably guessed already, English isn't my first language. That's why I won't seem eloquent. Nonetheless, I'll express my ideas to the best of my ability.

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Originally Posted by jcparker96

As you probably guessed already, English isn't my first language. That's why I won't seem eloquent.

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In all honesty, I would not have known that if your information did not give Chile as your location. So apparently you are underestimating yourself. :)

Yes, because the life is within you and every breath you take is energy you manifest in the universe!

If some of us didn't have bad luck we'd have no luck at all.

"Is Everyone Lucky To Be Born?"

Impossible since you did not exist before you were born therefore you couldn't be lucky to be born.