David Benatar Quote: "We infrequently contemplate the harms that await ..."

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We infrequently contemplate the harms that await any new-born child—pain, disappointment, anxiety, grief, and death. For any given child we cannot predict what form these harms will take or how severe they will be, but we can be sure that at least some of them will occur. None of this befalls the nonexistent. Only existers suffer harm.
David Benatar / Professor
Children
Disappointment
Pain
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We infrequently contemplate the harms that await any new-born child—pain, disappointment, anxiety, grief, and death. For any given child we cannot predict what form these harms will take or how severe they will be, but we can be sure that at least some of them will occur. None of this befalls the nonexistent. Only existers suffer harm.
⇛ David Benatar (Professor)

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I am under no illusions. My position, no matter how clearly stated, is likely to be misunderstood.

David Benatar Professor

On my view there is no net benefit to coming into existence and thus coming into existence is never worth its costs.

David Benatar Professor

As we have seen, nobody is lucky enough not to be born, everybody is unlucky enough to have been born – and particularly bad luck it is.

David Benatar Professor

Notice, by extension, that in a democracy those committed to non-procreation could never, in the long run, prevail politically against those committed to procreation.

David Benatar Professor

If all we know of mind is the aspect of mind that dissolves when we die, we will be left with no idea of what continues, no knowledge of the new dimension of the deeper reality of the nature of mind. So it is vital for us all to familiarize ourselves with the nature of mind while we are still alive. Only then will we be prepared for the time when it reveals itself spontaneously and powerfully at the moment of death; be able to recognize it "as naturally," the teachings say, "as a child running into its mother's lap"; and by remaining in that state, finally be liberated.

Sogyal Rinpoche Lama

The most important thing of all is my parents were able to leave all four of their children better off than themselves. That story has a name, it's called the American dream.