This is something a dear friend said in a chat a while back. I thought it was one an awesome summary of the human condition.
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> If ethical behavior clearly led to immediate gratification, we would live in a less brutal world. The majority of functional people would behave like saints. This is just the nature of doing the right thing. It won't necessarily end well for you in the short term.
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> But attempting to protect our self from suffering won't necessarily prevent suffering. If you could live alone in a cave you might just suffer differently. In fact our attachment to the self brings us more pain, not less. We don't just suffer, we dwell on the fact it's happening to our self, the injustice of it all, adding suffering to suffering. We assume that this self will exist in the future and fear more suffering to come adding yet more suffering.
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> So, it's in our best interest to stop thinking in terms of what is best for the self. Doing the right thing can ultimately be in our favor, even when we may suffer for it in the immediate future. We will suffer more in the long term indulging and protecting the self.
