The greatest evil is not death, but birth.

[Agroboy]

"We do not run towards death; we flee the catastrophe of birth, we toss and turn like survivors trying to forget it. The fear of death is but the projection into the future of a fear which dates back to our first moment. We are reluctant, of course, to call birth a scourge: have we not been taught that it is the supreme good, that the worst is at the end and not at the beginning of our career? Evil, the real evil, is behind us, not before us. This is what escaped Christ, this is what Buddha understood: 'If three things did not exist in the world, O disciples, the Perfect One would not appear in the world...' And, before old age and death, he places the fact of birth, the source of every infirmity and every disaster." - De l'inconvénient d'être né ,1973


I find this passage by Cioran quite interesting because I notice that almost no one sees the birth of a child as something bad. However, when I see it, I can only think of all the pain that child will endure—they will experience love, hate, passion, loss, dreams, illness, and ultimately, death.
Carpe Diem

 

[FuneralCry]

It truly is, all that imposing this existence ever does is just cause all this torture, cruelty and suffering with no limit as to how much agony one can feel, to suffer in this torturous, dreadful existence will always be an abomination to me. I see it as the most terrible horrific tragedy how humans continue to impose this existence, I'll always see existence itself as the most terrible mistake that is completely unnecessary, more than anything I wish I never suffered at all.

 

[starboy2k]

Considering far too many births are from one night stands, tells me all I need to know about how evil it is to birth a child to a fucked up world like this WHILE also being IMMENSELY UNPREPARED to care for said child.

 

[WhenIBreathe]

And then we are told we should feel gratitude.

 

[RadiantNumber]

Agree if I'll be god I would destroy this whole world

 

[silentnights56]

Birth is the root cause of all suffering

 

[Macedonian1987]

Life starts with the person being born crying. The first breath you draw on this earth is done with crying. That gives you something to think about this life.

It would have been so much better if there was less suffering in this world.

 

[Forever Sleep]

The weirder thing is when I hear about work colleagues, friends etc having given birth. I suppose it's the societal norm to say- 'How lovely, that's great news.' But then, I also sort of feel it to some extent. Especially if I know them and think they'll be a good parent. I suppose there is then the afterthought- I hope they will in fact be ok. I wonder what kind of life they'll have. It is odd though really because at heart- I am an antinatilist.

 

[silentnights56]

The weirder thing is when I hear about work colleagues, friends etc having given birth. I suppose it's the societal norm to say- 'How lovely, that's great news.' But then, I also sort of feel it to some extent. Especially if I know them and think they'll be a good parent. I suppose there is then the afterthought- I hope they will in fact be ok. I wonder what kind of life they'll have. It is odd though really because at heart- I am an antinatilist.

Camus said that the only true philosophical question is suicide; but I'd say it's whether or not to procreate. Suicide comes second.

 

[PanaxMan]

"We do not run towards death; we flee the catastrophe of birth, we toss and turn like survivors trying to forget it. The fear of death is but the projection into the future of a fear which dates back to our first moment. We are reluctant, of course, to call birth a scourge: have we not been taught that it is the supreme good, that the worst is at the end and not at the beginning of our career? Evil, the real evil, is behind us, not before us. This is what escaped Christ, this is what Buddha understood: 'If three things did not exist in the world, O disciples, the Perfect One would not appear in the world...' And, before old age and death, he places the fact of birth, the source of every infirmity and every disaster." - De l'inconvénient d'être né ,1973


I find this passage by Cioran quite interesting because I notice that almost no one sees the birth of a child as something bad. However, when I see it, I can only think of all the pain that child will endure—they will experience love, hate, passion, loss, dreams, illness, and ultimately, death.
Carpe Diem

When getting birth you either learn the evils of humanity or the good of it and well...