Do you think people are ugly as a punishment for doing something bad in a past life?

[danmorisson]

It sort of feels that way because that many people have hated me over the years (and still do) because of my appearance -- and you start feel that you are only here to be punished. You start to feel that other people were only placed here to annoy you. I've often asked myself 'Could this be hell for me?'. Hell for ugly people and heaven for beautiful people. I'm just hoping we get another chance after we die or something. Hopefully I've made up for the bad in a past life and I'm born normal looking in the next one.

[Ross MwcFan]

If you are a different person from what you were in your past life, and a good person, then it seems quite unfair to be punished for what that 'other person' did.

 

No, I dont believe in past lives and being puished for them.

[AHardDaysNight]

I believe in past lives, but I don't believe anyone is "born ugly." God loves all of his children.

[danmorisson]

I believe in past lives, but I don't believe anyone is "born ugly." God loves all of his children.

 

Yes but there is a heaven AND a hell. Maybe his love for all means that you will be forgiven if you make up for the horrible things you've done in the previous life. I could have been a serial killer and this is him punishing me - by sending me to hell (like heaven & hell exists on earth)

[AHardDaysNight]

Yes but there is a heaven AND a hell. Maybe his love for all means that you will be forgiven if you make up for the horrible things you've done in the previous life. I could have been a serial killer and this is him punishing me - by sending me to hell (like heaven & hell exists on earth)

 

I don't believe in that.

[Cracker Jack]

No.

 

That sounds silly, anyway.

[danmorisson]

I don't believe in that.

 

In my mind it makes sense and I am a logical person. I try to look for meaning in life and I think ugly people are being punished. I think life could be never-ending and I think you're born ugly in the next life if you do horrible things.

[silvermane187]

No. It's called genetics.

[betterdeal]

In my mind it makes sense and I am a logical person. I try to look for meaning in life and I think ugly people are being punished. I think life could be never-ending and I think you're born ugly in the next life if you do horrible things.

 

The media certainly suggests ugliness is akin to being evil. It would also suggest being an Englishman is also synonymous with being evil (imagine if black or Jewish characters in, say, CSI, were *always* the bad guy!)

 

But de-construct it a bit. Fairy tales have wicked old witches and wooden-legged pirates. Baddies have more than their fair share of ugliness. And why is that? My guess is that disease (congenital or pathogenic) manifests itself in physical deformity. Acne looks very similar to an outbreak of, say, chicken pox. Indeed, acne scarring is also known as "pockmarks" - marks from the pox. People in pre-modern times when medicine was limited feared contact with pox victims because it was fatal if not debilitating.

 

This meant people with an illness such as measles would be avoided and cut off from society. Their ability to survive by the accepted means of working for a living being blocked, they were left no option but to beg or steal. Making them "baddies" or "evil". And without a social network of family, friends, neighbours, where would they learn their manners or receive and give love? And without love, we shrivel up as personalities.

 

It's a vicious circle. Actually, I should say it was a vicious circle because now we have medicine and sanitation and welfare. All good Christian notions aspired to and largely achieved by Christian-minded scientists, politicians and others.

 

Ugliness is something that happens, not something predetermined for us. It is also something that can be undone. And when it is permanent, when it is genetic, that doesn't necessarily affect the soul, which can still be beautiful (and often is) because thankfully we are less afraid of disease now and families, friends, communities can look after their members without fear of being infected.

[danmorisson]

Something baffles me. It's a titanic struggle for me to make friends right (especially female friends). Yet the older generation are polite. Is this age, or were the old days better, more civilised? I often hear old people say that people were alot more civilised in their day.