True or false: Someone from every religion/culture/thought group has lived a great and rewarding life.

Absolutely. Why wouldn’t they be able to?

I would think so.

I’m sure L. Ron Hubbard had a whale of a time! There’s bound to be some people in any large enough group that, either by planning, serendipity or deceit , make a decent go of it.

Yes, they have. And blonds don’t necessarily have more fun. I guess you have to be a certain age to appreciate that reference Fat girls do find true love. Nerdy, socially inept guys do get laid, get married and have rich fulfilling lives. Not all women want or need to marry to be joyful. And so on, and so on.

Every single one? Probably not. There are cults with only 3 members in it, and if all 3 of them are miserable, they then make your statement “false”.

Every single world religion, major philosophical system, and world culture, yes. Every single group of people, no. Who among the Branch Dividians led a great and rewarding life? Anyone in the Communist Party of Cuba? But on the larger point, I think it’s right to say that we can look and find examples of the good life, the meaningful life, among individuals within the Arab world as easily as within Western culture, existentialists as easily as among transcendentalists, and political conservatives as easily as political liberals.

Most likely they did, but we’d never know for sure. I guess it depends on what categories you are including in your question. I can’t imagine a WW2 Nazi living what most people would call a great and rewarding life. But then, what defines great and rewarding? What is great and rewarding to you and I might be terrible to someone else.

Heathens are going to hell, and are living empty, useless lives.

@seazen_ – Couldn’t agree more with your words.

We probably use different meanings for some of the words though.

@seazen_ Are not.

How about the Branch Davidians? Didn’t they basically all die horrifically? Or are we not counting small cults?

I typed that and then saw @danielklotz had also.

I am certain that this is true. Those ideas would never have come to be, if someone, somewhere weren’t getting something good (or satisfying) out of it.

Plus, every person’s view of what is good and satisfying is completely different from everyone else’s. Happiness and joy and satisfaction are purely subjective. One man’s austerity is another man’s relief from chaos.

@Kardamom pretty much said what I had come back to add. Just because someone’s idea of “great” and “rewarding” is different from yours doesn’t mean it’s not great and rewarding to someone. A serial killer sees his murders as happy and satisfying even if you don’t.

Believing in a living person (at the time) like Koresh is worse.