If our experience on earth is temporary, why do people get attached to it?

Question

my body and your body are temporary "shells"

Answer 1

Maya is such a tremendous force. It makes death oblivious and unbelievable till it comes.

Answer 2

Because we are programmed to do so at a genetic level.


I'll put it this way: On average, those who get overly attached to their life are less likely to give it up and thus on average will live longer.....
Those who live longer generally produce more offspring... and those offspring in turn will be overly attached to life and live longer... etc.
Those who are NOT attached to life won't go to such great lengths to maintain it.... nor necessarily to reproduce it.


The natural result of this over time is that those with a genetic predisposition toward clinging like limpets to their life will heavily outnumber those who don't.... thus forming a greater part of the breeding population and further amplifying the effect until those who do NOT have a strong attachment to life are a marginalised minority.



And to turn this simply from "survival of the fittest" to fully fledged evolution.... you have to account for the natural fact that somewhere along the way, some totally indifferent parents, due to splicing of genes the wrong way during meiosis..... produced kids that for some reason were paranoid and took their life entirely too seriously.


Funny.... isn't it?

Answer 3

All things are temporal and transient. The days of our youth spent in the parental home. Flleingthenestout into the world. Cojoining with another to embark upon a new lifes journey. Life moves continuously yet there is an underlying constancy, those stabilising and foundational forces in our lives. From the time of conception, the incubationary period in th ewomb, and through life, for the earth minded individuals.
The free spirited beings are they who see the whole world as one shell, the air carrying the universal spirit, the ocean toward which as little ravines we flow on the journey of life. Then to evaporate by the suns rays, and then to form clouds, only to burst open and rain forth on another land. All things are temporal, and yet they are ongoing and true, just in varying form, hues as a kaleidoscope...the world moves on, and yet seems trapped in a continual tail chase revolving carousel. Some are freed, others die and are reborn again and agian, until they evolve. Attachment is slavish. Independance and self mastery /sufficiency true freedom.

Answer 4

If someone doesn't believe in an eternal life, then this life is all there is for them and once it's over, it's over and they are wormfood.

Personally, I think that outlook would really suck if I didn't believe in and follow Jesus and I could understand why someone would be so attached to their life here. They would be like a candle that gets blown out never to be re-lit. Who wouldn't want to avoid death if that were the case? There's no hope for them. Just live, die, and then decompose...what a sad way to believe.

But for people like me, who do believe in eternal life with Christ, this body is only a shell and when we die, we move on to bigger and much better things and eventually, new and perfect bodies! We know what we have to look forward to and we rejoice!

Answer 5

Experience helps to build our character in who we are, experience allows us to share and help others. No matter how temporary our time here is on earth..our experience is all part of it.

Answer 6

Fear of the unknown could explain the attachment.

This "temporary" existence is the only one most of us are aware of, so we might as well enjoy the experience.

Namaste,
-Z

Answer 7

"The same quantum elements compose my mind and the universe. This situation is the same for every mind and its universe, in spite of the unfathomable abundance of cross-references between them. The Universe is given to me only once, not as one existing and one perceived but that the subject and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of the recent discoveries of quantum physics but rather the barrier never existed."
To experience a "self" consciousness through physical reality is easy, to transcend it and experience a cosmic consciousness is quite difficult as we must discard some of our most basic assumptions and that many overlook the above stated simple but profound truth or maybe chose to ignore it is the reason they become attached to the fleeting physical being of self instead of embracing and living with the all is as one.
Matter/energy cannot be created or destroyed and it cannot be said to exist as anything but a probable state unless there is a consciousness to observe it, to assume that the self is the only form of consciousness is grandiose to the point of being stubbornly and purposefully absurd.

Answer 8

they may be temporary shells but they feel damned good don't they?

Answer 9

How much are you willing to wager on the existence of an afterlife?

Answer 10

Because it is the only one you get.