I’m not a fan of the idea that life is intended to teach “lessons”. Of course we do, or at least we ought to, learn from what happens to us. No one can dispute that. What I dispute is the idea that life is some sort of classroom, in which everything that occurs is part of a cosmic curriculum. I don’t like the notion that we are living in God’s Coursera for many reasons.
It suggests life is inauthentic
The idea suggests that our existence is inauthentic, that it is just some rehearsal for some other, more real, existence. If ever anyone were to put a gun to my head and demand that I that produce just one phrase to describe an unillumined state of mind, the phrase would be “inauthentic cognition”. Most people run about, most of the time, interacting, not with the world, but with their ideas about the world. In their minds, nothing is what it is. Everything is what it represents. Whatever it represents is itself merely a representation of something else, and so on. Actual reality lies somewhere at the end of a long tunnel of mere representation, far beyond the thinker’s perception. Life-as-a-lesson is a part of this chain of misthinking.
It is unnecessary
The idea is also an unnecessary bit of complexity. It doesn’t explain anything that can’t as easily be accounted for by assuming that what we experience is authentically what it is, and not part of a grand intentional scheme. Ideas are most clear when they are pared down to their essentials. If you don’t need the notion of the cosmic classroom in order to explain both observable physical phenomenon and to construct a spiritual metaphysics, doesn’t that mean its just cloudy thinking?
It is used to justify injustice
I also object to the idea that life experiences are lessons because the idea is used to obfuscate evil, and to place blame for injustices onto the shoulders of the victims of injustice, instead of its perpetrators. Something bad happen to you? Well, that’s just a lesson you need to learn. Are you suffering because wealthy sociopaths have crashed the economy and stolen everything not nailed down, or because some imperialist nation state has invaded your homeland (or pressured you or your loved ones to serve as cannon fodder for the invasion)? Don’t complain, don’t protest, don’t act outwardly towards causes you find outside of yourself: instead, learn your spiritual lesson. Are you being abused? Have you been robbed, or raped, or physically injured? If you had learned your spiritual lessons, surely this wouldn’t have happened. Don’t blame the perpetrator who chose to harm others. Blame yourself, who chose to live an ordinary and peaceful life that day, but got nothing of the sort.
Any idea that works to obscure and justify evil is itself evil.
But when you throw out the idea of life as a lesson…
On the other hand what happens if you embrace the idea that what happens is authentically what it is, entirely itself, representing nothing and having no hidden function? Then the sand I just rubbed from my eye, gritty as it rolled down my eyelid, is an authentic life experience. The ridges of my fingertip too was real experience as was the twinge of arthritic pain in my wrist. The strand of hair lying out of place on my forehead as I type this — its real, too, and not a representation of anything, or anything which serves any function except to exist as it is. When I see someone harmed by another, the compassion I feel for those harmed is unsullied by thoughts of how they must have deserved it or needed it, as is the anger I feel towards the perpetrators, and I feel alive in my discomfort and powerful in my responses to it. There are no instances in history of injustice remedied through learning life lessons, but there are countless examples of injustice mitigated, transformed, or ended by people who felt the pain of injustice, correctly placed blame, and who acted outwardly to alter the circumstances. What you get when you assume life is what it is, is an understanding of the imminence of That which Is what It Is, of Being itself.
What you get when you assume life is simply what it is, without meaning of purpose, is life, fully and powerfully lived. There is no comparison with the false comforts of thinking that life is a lesson, standing for something else.
http://www.hardcorespirituality.com/hardcorespirituality/2014/05/05/08/life-lesson-real-deal/
IMO
There is NO reason to think that life is not BOTH, and based on that the author's opinions are not necessarily that well thought out. As I see it, there are many ways to explain why life is both a classrom and a direct experience. I have never come across a single idea that justifies an evil, so the idea is equally as repulsive as is the author's opinion on such a case. Both are equally limited and at the very least, bad ideas. Even when holding a perpetrator as guilty for an action, this does not even remotely remove the fact that it IS a lesson for BOTH individuals concerned, and to say otherwise is to promote non-responsibility for both sides, and there is no excuse for such a thing. Only a person that egotistically thinks they are already aware of the totality of being and experience could ever hold such a jaded view of life.
Just my opinions, and no one needs to agree, however what i've said is actually true, regardless of the case or experience being considered. The author assumes that there is sone " false comfort " being given by the o[pposing point of view, but the real truth of it is that ALL comfort is an illusion that does not actually exist. The author calls themself "hardcore spirituality" , I however disagree, that name is not accurate, perhaps it should be "lazy spirituality that has yet to finish". 😀