[Immerymopay]

But has not the capability of such a feeling, when used rationally, led to all the discoveries man has made improve his life - i,e, there are benefits to such feelings as well?

This is a topic I think about a lot. Many discoveries to "improve" human life have been made; but is the human race as a whole happier as a result? My impression is, we are not, not in the slightest. Over the course of my own life, many such discoveries have been made, but the human race as a whole seems no happier than they seemed at earlier points in my life. Nor do people from earlier times in history seem to have been more or less happy, as a whole, than those who are now alive. We seem to find endless cause for discontent, to the point of extreme hatred and violence.

I think this is because it is human nature to be discontent with the status quo, to find fault (fault-finding mind is a basic human characteristic - the kind of stories the media give us are testament to that: "bad" news far outweighs "good" news in popularity). If we measure "improvement" by overall increase in happiness, then nothing the human race has ever done, discovered, or achieved is an improvement ... apart from the Dhamma, which alone correctly addresses the causes of human happiness.

To consider the "improvement"-oriented activities of the human race irrelevant to happiness is a radical departure from normal thinking - and just the kind I had always been looking for, even from when I was a young child. Why was I looking for it? Because of a general, powerful, inchoate, underlying feeling that grew and grew in me, that the entire human race was completely and utterly on the wrong track, thinking that their activities led to "improvements".

Am I arrogant much (rhetorical question)?





Edited by D to create paragraphs