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In a world where there's no scientific proof of God's existence and of life after death how will you explain to your children why you brought them into the world and why they will have to die?
None of them have asked me why they were born. I don't think that's a question parents struggle with very much; in five years I have never seen the question on this board. Maybe it's something they discuss over on the Religion board.
Why will they have to die? Everything dies. Children will see pets and older relatives die, sometimes even friends. They will see it on television and perhaps witness accidents or events in real life. It's part of life. If nothing died there would be no room for anything new. Death is scary, sure, but you can reassure children that they are young and healthy and that their time is a long way off. They may worry about you, such as if you're a smoker, and you'll have to address that. Children don't usually walk around worried about their own death; it's a typical defense mechanism to ignore dying. Fear of mortality kicks in harder when you are older.
Now, what happens after death? That's a matter of faith. Teach your children what you believe and why.
So why did you choose to impose death on your children?
What on earth is that supposed to mean? What you just said makes absolutely no sense.
If this is the kind of nonsense response you are going to give to people who have taken the time to answer your question I suggest nobody else bothers.
In a world where there's no scientific proof of God's existence and of life after death how will you explain to your children why you brought them into the world and why they will have to die?
This is a deep philosophical question about the meaning of life. I doubt a child would think to ask such a question.
But, to answer that question: Life is programmed to bring forth new life in order to continue. Parents do what their parents did and children will do what their parents did. And not many people actually think about what they are doing and why. They just do it. Everyone is programmed to do its thing.
Only the deep thinkers stop and try to figure out WHY we do what we do. And the answer is: we were programmed, we just act out our programming.
People are programmed to choose the path of less pain. So, thinking about having children and not having children, for most people the path of not having children is too difficult to bear. So they have children. They want someone to love, someone to connect with. They are not philosophical enough to sit down and to think about the future of their children and whether they should have them or not (for children's sake). Parents' natural biological calling, natural programming says that: "we need the seed to continue". And so they act out their programming.
The people who don't want children are NOT more noble or better. They do not bring children into the world NOT because they are concerned about their future, but because they don't have what it takes to raise a child (like patience for example).
Parents know how much trouble it is to bring a child in and to sustain a child. And yet they choose to do it. And it's because they were programmed to do it, programmed to want to do it.
Could it be that life doesn't make sense only from the perspective that there is no God and no future? Could it be that if you put it in the right perspective (that this life is just the beginning of things), then it all would make lots of sense?
And perhaps the fact that life makes no sense if there is no future and no afterlife should serve as a kind of proof that there must be something else. Otherwise, things just don't make any sense. And when things don't make sense, we have to ask ourselves: why? Is there another way of looking at things which would make more sense?
I know that it's hard to believe for some people, kind of impossible actually. So I am not saying that all will/can/have to believe. But I personally believe that this life is just the beginning of things, kind of like the birth process. When a woman gives birth, it's a painful process. When a child is growing up, it's a painful process (growing pains). But it all becomes worth it when a child has grown up and enjoys life. If you think of life as lasting for millions of years, it would make sense. Life on earth is like being in the birth canal, going through the growing pains. And life after, is where the person gets to actually enjoy the benefits of having to have been born and having to have suffered the growing pains.
But, if each person only lives about 100 years and most of them is about struggling, then I don't see a good reason to be born. Doesn't make sense at all.
you create life knowing that it will end. you impose death on your children. it's your responsibility
I think you're looking too far into things. I don't know about other people, but I think we create life in hopes that our offspring will make a positive difference in our society. Whether it's to better the life of someone else or find a cure for a disease; we're all here for a purpose. Unfortunately, there are several people who harm others and/or put the risk the life of others with their poor decisions.
There was a historic precedent. Father, a raja, attempted to prevent his hair from learning anything about death or even becoming old.
That son was Prince Siddhartha, who later became a buddha.
Personally, I find OP's question quite great, though quite miserable at the same time.
Why miserable? Because it is a question posed by a spirit, boxed into believing that their has to be a scientific proof.
Why great? Because if one learns not to fear death, one lives life of happiness.
There is a historic precedent to that too.
Alexander the Great could not conquer only one country. That time India. Reason being, his troops encountered warriors, that were completely devoid od fera of death. Those were Sikhs.
Those who fear not death and know that it is nothing but a transitional phase in spirit's journey through physical existences, live their lives more spiritually, than those, who cling to physical and bind themselves to the laws of the land and society.
I amy not be able to help you with your question, but maybe the following passages will guide you in the right direction:
Then scroll down to page 53. Please, read through the next several pages.
Parents were in their childhood instructed in the tenets of their religions. They were told that an almighty God who created heaven and earth also created a special “soul” for each human which He puts into every baby that is born to man and woman. Just what that soul is has not been explained so that one can understand. It is affirmed that the soul is a finer part of the physical, or
another finer body, because it is taught that that finer body continues its existence after the death of the fleshly
body. The parent has also been instructed that after death the soul will enjoy reward or suffer punishment for what it did on earth. The parents who believe,simply believe. They do not understand the commonplace occurrences of birth and death. Therefore, after a while they no longer try to understand. They can only believe. They are admonished not to try to understand the mystery
of life and death; that that mystery is in the keeping of Almighty God alone, and not to be known by mankind.
Therefore when thechild has reached the stage whereit asks its mother who it is and what it is and where itcame from, the mother in days gone by has given it theold, old untruths as answers. But in this modern dayand generation, some children will not be evaded; theypersist in questioning. So the modern mother tells hermodern child such new untruths as she thinks her childwill understand. Here is a conversation which took placein modern fashion.“Mother,” said little Mary, “every time I ask you
where I came from or how you got me, you put me off, ortell me some story, or tell me to stop asking such questions. Now, Mother, you must know! You do know! And Iwant you to tell me who I am. Where did I come from,and how did you get me?”And the Mother answered: “Very well, Mary. If you
must know, I will tell you. And I hope it will satisfy you.When you were a very little girl I bought you in a department store. Since then you have been growing up; and, ifyou are not a nice little girl and do not learn to behaveyourself, I will take you back to that store and exchangeyou for another little girl.”
One smiles at the story of how Mary’s mother got Mary. But Mary was stunned, and sorrowful, as are
most children who are told similar stories. Such moments ought not to be forgotten. That mother lost a great opportunity to help the conscious something in her child to be conscious
as itself. Millions of mothers make no use of such opportunities. Instead, they are untruthful to
their children. And from their parents, the children learn to be untruthful; they learn to distrust their parents.
A mother does not wish to be untruthful. She does not wish to teach her child to be untruthful. What she
says is usually what she remembers her own mother or other mothers to have said, who smile as they confide to each other how they elude or baffle their children when they ask questions about their origin.
Never a moment passes when there is not some where in this world an eager, anxious, and sometimes a
disconsolate lonesome conscious something, away from he other parts of itself and in solitude, asking as in a dream through the child body in which it finds itself:
Who am I? Where did I come from? How did I get here?
Asking in this dream world in the forlorn hope of eliciting an answer that will help it to awaken to the reality of itself. Its hopes are invariably blasted by the replies to its questions. Then kind
forgetfulness and time as constantly heal the wounds received in such tragic moments.
And the conscious something accustoms itself to dream on while it lives, and it is not conscious that it dreams.
The education of the men and women of the future should begin with the child when it asks such questions.
Falsehood and deceit are practiced on the conscious something by the guardians of its body in which it finds residence as soon as it begins to ask questions about itself.
From necessity the child is obliged to adapt itself to its changing body, to the customs of living, and to the habits and opinions of others. Gradually it is made to believe that it is the body in which it exists. From the time it was conscious of its existence in the world until the time it identifies itself as the man or woman body, and with the name of that body, the conscious something as that man or as that woman has been going through a training and has been accustoming itself to the belief and the practice of falsehood and deceit, and thus hypocrisy is acquired. Falsehood, deceit and hypocrisy are everywhere condemned and denounced, yet for place and position in the world they are secret arts to be privately practiced
by the knowing ones
There is a time when the baby is not looking out or pointing at things, or repeating words, or playing with rattles. It may be silent, or seeming to be wondering, or appear to be in reverie. This is the end of the baby period, and the beginning of the period of childhood. The change is caused by the nearness of, or coming of, the conscious something into the body. The child may be silent or it may act strangely for a day or many days. During this time the conscious something senses that some strange thing surrounds it and clouds and confuses it, as in a dream, where it cannot remember where it is. It feels lost. After it fails in its struggles with itself to find itself, it asks, probably its mother:
Who am I? What am I? Where did I come from? How did I get here?
Now is the time to begin the education of that child. The answers it receives will in all probability be forgotten. But what is said to the child at this time will affect its character and influence its future. Untruth and deceit are as harmful to the character in the education of the child at this time as are drugs and poisons to an adult. Honesty and truthfulness are inherent. These virtues are to be drawn out and developed, they cannot be acquired. They should not be arrested, diverted or suppressed.
Well, if the mother’s answers are harmful to her child, what then can she say that will help her child?
When John, or Mary, asks the mother the usual questions concerning its origin and identity, and where
it came from, or how she got it, then the mother should draw the child to her and giving it her entire attention, she should speak clearly and lovingly in her own affectionate way, and calling it by some such word as “Dear” or “Darling” she can say: “Now that you ask about yourself the time has come for us to talk about you and about your body. I will tell you what I can, and then you will tell me what you can; and perhaps you can tell me more about yourself than I know about you. You must already know, Dear, that the body you are in is not you, else you would not ask me who you are. Now I will tell you something about your body. “You had to have a body to come into this world to meet Daddy and me, and to learn about the world and the people in the world. You could not grow a body for yourself, so Daddy and I had to get one for you. Daddy gave me a very tiny part of his body, and I took it with a tiny part in my body and these grew into one body. That little body had to be grown so carefully that I kept
it inside my own body, close to my heart. I waited a longtime until it had grown strong enough to come outside. Then one day when it was strong enough, the doctor came and took it out for me and put it into my arms. Oh! it was such a dear, wee little baby. It could not see or hear; it was too small to walk, and too small for you to come into then. It had to be cared for and fed, so that it would grow. I took care of it for you and trained it to see and hear and talk, so that it would be ready for you to see and hear when you were ready to come. I named the baby John (or Mary). I taught the baby how to speak; but it is not you . I have waited a long time for you to come, so that you could ask me about the baby which I
have grown for you, and so that you could tell me about yourself. And now you are in the body, and you are going to live in that body with Daddy and me. While your body is growing we are going to help you learn all about your body and about the world that you want to learn. But first, Dear, tell me: When did you find yourself in the body you are now in?” This is the mother’s first question to the conscious
something in her child. It can be the beginning of the real education of that child. Before the mother has put this question, the conscious something in the child may have asked to be told more about the baby body. If so, she can answer the questions as straight-forwardly and simply as was her account of how she got the baby. But when she puts her question and other questions she will ask, she should clearly understand and keep in mind the following facts: As the mother of her child she is not speaking to
her little child, the product of her body. She is questioning or speaking to the conscious something in that body. The conscious something in her child is older than the ages; it is not conscious of time when not in the body, though it is limited by time and the senses of the body in which it is.The conscious something is not physical; it is not a baby, a child, a human, though it makes the body into which it comes a
human body.
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