The world is degrading?

Question

Why is the world becoming a worse place? I think it used to be just love & joys that every individual look for in everyday life. Now, it's power, money, fame, luxury, sex. etc. The whole world is becoming selfish. Everyone is stepping on others just to be on top. & I guess I'm guilty of it, too. But besides, I'm looking for a change, which I know there's very little of possibility. & What's really disappointing is that I've always racism doesn't exist anymore, up until now I still see & hear racist comments at places I go to. The world is really going downhill & I'm just a teenager but I find others at my age are NOT going to be the future of our society. All there is to it is appearance. I don't want to say it but I have got to ask is everyone becoming a hypocrite? Is there anything that we can do to change it?

Correction: "I've always THOUGHT racism..."

Please be serious, the last thing I need is unnecessary answers

No, I'm not talking about ancient times. I'm referring to a few decades to a century ago, when technology was starting to develop.

Answer 1

Let's just try and make the world a better place for us all to live in by Loving other people, rather than being attached to them. Please take a few minutes to patiently read this. THX.
What in the world is the difference between loving a person and being attached to them ?
Love is the sincere wish for others to be happy, and to be free from suffering.
Having realistically recognized others' kindness as well as their faults, love is always focused on the other persons welfare. We have No ulterior motives to fulfill our self-interest, or to fulfill our desires; to love others simply because they exist.
Attachment, on the other hand, exaggerates others' good qualities and makes us crave to be with them. When we're with them, we're happy, but when we're separated from them, we are often miserable. Attachment is linked with expectations of what others should be or do.
Is love as it is usually understood in our society
really love ? or attachment ?
Let us examine this a bit more. Generally we are attracted to people either because they have qualities we value or because they help us in some way. If we observe our own thought processes mindfully, and carefully - we'll notice that we look for specific qualities in others.
Some of these qualities we find attractive, others are those our parents, or society value.
We examine someone's looks, body, education,
financial situation, social status. This is how most of us decide on whether or not the person holds any true value to us.
In addition, we judge people as worthwhile according to how they relate to us. If they help us, praise us, make us feel secure, listen to what we have to say, care for us when we are sick or depressed, we consider them good people, and it is this type of people we are most likely to be more attracted to.

But this is very biased, for we judge them only in terms of how they relate to "us", as if we are the most important person in the world.
After we've judged certain people to be good for us, whenever we see them it appears to us as if goodness is coming from them, but if we are more aware, we recognize that we have projected this goodness onto them.

Desiring to be with the people a lot who make us feel good, we become emotional yo-yo's -
when we're with these people, we're Up, when we're not with these people, we're Down.

Furthermore, we form fixed concepts of what our relationships with those people will be and thus have expectations of them. When they do not live up to our expectations of them, we're very disappointed, or may become angry !
We want them to change so that they will they will match what we think they are. But our projections and expectations come from our own minds, not from the other people.
Our problems arise not because others aren't
who we thought they we're, but because we mistakenly thought they were something they
aren't.
Checklist: "I Love You if __________ "
What we call love is most often attachment.
It is actually a disturbing attitude that overestimates the qualities of another person.
We then cling to tightly to that person, thinking our happiness depends on that person.
"Love, on the other hand, is an open and very calm, relaxed attitude. We want someone to be happy, and free from suffering simply because they exist. While attachment is uncontrolled and much too sentimental, Love is direct and powerful. Attachment obscures our judgment and we become impatient, angry, and impartial, helping only our dear one's and harming those who we don't like. Love builds up others, and clarifies our minds, and we
access a situation by thinking of the greatest good for everyone. Attachment is based on
selfishness, while Love is founded upon cherishing others, even those who do not look very appealing to the eyes. Love looks beyond
all the superficial appearances, and dwells on the fact that they are just like us: they want inner peace, happiness, and want to avoid suffering. If we see unattractive, dirty, ignorant people, we feel repulsed because our selfish minds want to know attractive, intellectual, clean, and talented people. Love, on the other hand, never evaluates others by these superficial standards and looks much deeper into the person. Love recognizes that regardless of the others' appearances, their experience is the same as ours: they seek inner peace, to be happy, to be free from sufferings, and to do their best to avoid problems.
When we're attached, we're not mentally and emotionally free. We overly depend on and cling to another person to fulfill our mental and especially our emotional needs. We fear losing the person, feeling we'd be incomplete without him.
This does not mean that we should suppress our emotional needs or become aloof, alone and totally independent, for that too does not solve the problem. We must simply realize our unrealistic needs, and slowly seek to eliminate them. Some emotional needs may be so strong that they can't be dissolved immediately.
If we try to suppress them or pretend they do not exist, we become anxious, insecure, falling into a depression. In this case, we can do our best to fulfill our needs while simultaneously working gradually to subdue them.
"The core problem is we seek to be loved, rather than to love. We yearn to be understood by others rather than to understand them. In all honesty, our sense of emotional insecurities comes from the selfishness obscuring our own
minds. 'We can develop self-confidence by recognizing our inner potential to become a selfless human being with many, many magnificent qualities, then we'll develop a true and accurate feeling of self-confidence. And
then we'll seek to increase true love, without attachments, to increase compassion, to cultivate patience and understanding, as well as generosity, concentration and wisdom.'

'Under the influence of attachment we're bound by our emotional reactions to others. When they are nice to us, we're happy. When they ignore us, or speak sharply to us, we take it personally and are unhappy. But pacifying attachment doesn't mean we become hard-hearted. Rather, without attachment there will be space in our hearts and minds for genuine Affection and Impartial Love for them.
We'll be actively involved with them.
If we learn to subdue our attachments, we can most definitely have successful friendships and personal relationships with others !! These relationships will be richer because of the freedom and respect - the relationships will be based on. We'll care about the happiness and the misery of all human beings equally, simply because everyone is the same in wanting and needing inner peace, happiness, and not wanting to suffer. However, our lifestyles and interests may be more compatible with those of some people more so than with others, and that is alright. In any case, our relationships will be based on mutual Love, mutual interests, and the wish to help each other in life.

Answer 2

The world is not becoming a worse place. You're suffering from a very common delusion called "The grass is greener" syndrome. Everyone always forgets the problems of yesteryear that make today look like a cakewalk.

Oh yes, the world is so much worse than it was in the 50s. Except for the whole segregation thing. Or things were so much simpler in the 1800s. Except for people dying from dysentery and women being treated like property.

Every time period has problems, but we struggle ahead. And that's just how it is.

Listen, everyone thought that while Generation X was in high school they were going to be the generation that never amounted to anything... they slacked off, fooled around, etc. It's called being in high school. People grow up.

The world is way better than it was in the 80s... The stock market crash, the AIDS epidemic, fighting Iran with Iraqi support. The world is most certainly no worse off than it was back then.

Answer 3

Ignorance and sin have always been a part of human nature, but you're right.

In the West, we are free thought, free sex, good education, sex drugs rock 'n' roll, cash. We have it lucky and it spoils us.

It seems to be building up, especially in America who exports its culture around the world. The media is ignoring fundemental values because they're so "old" and "inhibiting". 15 years ago, computer games like MANHUNT would have been unimaginable (and I'm not talking technologically).

The fact is, we've lost our way. It's a slipping of standards (not that it's unusual. All this freedom and self-righteousness has got to our heads, and having all these indulgences around us doesn't help. Everyone wants it their way, and don't apologise for it. most of us don't want to acknowledge where we go wrong.

In the poor countries like the Philipines, without an overabundance of materialism, they turn to religion to give their lives meaning.

My friend, all you can do is exercise a bit of self control. Don't get wrapped up in materialism, don't watch so much TV, sort the wisdom from the garbage when dealing with people, don't get addicted to pleasure and hopefully make an example to everyone else.

That's all I can think of for now, but I think I know how you feel.

Answer 4

life is a happy place in childhood. it is always happy for everyone in childhood. i think youre lucky to be feeling this way as a teenager, because some people sad about life a lot earlier. its just reality a lot of which is depressing. there is a phase that youll go thru as a teenager and maybe a young adult where you will feel really depressed if you give in to it. then after that you will come to accept things. and then instead of seeking out depressing things, youll try to find happy things and youll find pleasure in the pursuit of happiness. and when youre an adult youll learn to be a child again. there is happiness as an adult if you can just get thru the adolescent years. dont be too disheartened about the racism and shallow lookism. after awhile, youll find that it is bs. and what really matters is what you think. also, not everyone is really totally bad. we all have faults. but not everyone is racist and lookist and whatever else. okay, hope you feel better. try not to waste too much time feeling bad about bad things you cant change. of course, i heard that one before myself in my youth. but i only say it because youll be a lot happier if this phase passes quick enough. stay cool.

Answer 5

Take a good look at history, people liked watching others getting eaten by lions or getting burned at the stake. Those nicer times everyone keeps talking about are not real, people have done and will do horrendous things as long as we exist.

Answer 6

The world has always been like that. People always think that the world is falling apart around them or that the culture is corrupt or that society is going to collapse into depravity or whatever. It doesn't happen. Human nature is constant. We're not going to change any time soon.

Answer 7

biblically speaking.. we are on the 7th and last grace period year of heaven since 2001....

the next 7 years are said to be called "7 years of hell" well its just a name anyway,, but surely it means more world crisis,,,,

faith to God will change your view to the world,, who knows what will come after another 7 years.

this is not a fact,, its a bibilical view,, its up to you to do or not to do something.

Answer 8

Its getting pretty ugly. Lots of hate.

Answer 9

yes well said i would like to live in ancient times where there seems to be this stupid

Answer 10

hola soy mexicano my msn es [e-mail] agregenme