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Another way that life might be completely unfair

By November 30, 2003January 5th, 2018Uncategorized

Final grades in most law schools are determined based on one exam given at the very end of the course.  Most law students think this is very unfair.  Many people think that life is unfair too.  I was thinking about all the ways that life might be unfair, and I thought about another way that life might be unfair.

What if everything you did or said or thought determined how prepared you were for a very small sliver of time, the few moments at the end of your life?  People who have had ‘near death’ experiences report that the sensations are intense and other-worldly.  They also report re-experiencing their entire life in a flash.  So what if that tiny sliver of time contains eternity or heaven?  Whatever you want to call it.

What if your ability to gain spiritual power from that brief moment of eternity was shaped by all the moments of your ordinary life?  What if your ability to remain in that moment of eternity was also heavily influenced by your entire life?  That would be really unfair, wouldn’t it?  After all, no one has explained any of this to you, right? And, even if they had, it seems very unfair that your ability to achieve the highest state of being (or, again, ‘whatever you call it’) would depend on every single piddly moment of your life that preceded that one final moment.

Maybe the greatest challenge is built out of something that we see as ‘unfair.’  And maybe that’s the only way to build a great challenge.  If you want a nice ‘fair’ challenge then it’s safer to work on crossword puzzles.  Or even law school exams.


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2 Comments

  • Karen the Librarian says:

    Challenges create change. Fair or not, change is inevitable. How we accept change is how we live.

  • One could also argue that every day in our lives is a function of how we’ve lived before then. Our habits, choices, and attitudes have created our current reality. Is this unfair, or just natural consequences?

    I very much enjoy posts that make me think. Thank you!

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