Eternal Expectation Creates Current Contentment

I don't mean to talk about different religious views on life after death or how to get there because that is not the purpose of this blog, but I have to notice that people with a certainty of life after death (usually eternal in a new, better, maybe even perfect place) live a more content life now and are willing to sacrifice more now in light of that future belief.  Now, I also do not advocate coming to a conclusion about life after death or deity by this means--no one should come to believe something regarding these for the purpose of treating the earth better, but it remains true that such an attitude will be a response.  Let me start with a story of sorts:

I visited a jail yesterday morning, and I have visited countries such as Laos, Thailand and Mexico where people have far less than my twenty year old friends on Elon's campus.  But some of those prisoners and Laocians are eternally more content with their life because of their belief in God.  It makes me notice how much my friends, even in their abundance, complain.

They pay thousands on thousands of dollars to attend college, get textbooks put together over years of research by multiple people, attend classes taught by instructors who have studied the material years beyond their own, and they complain about grades, homework, and the teacher being a little boring.

They have shoes to cover their feet, different kinds of shoes for different purposes, all kinds of clothing to match and suit their style, different clothes for each season, and they complain that the weather is too cold or raining.

They have access to a wide variety of food, nutritional facts to maintain a healthy body, dining halls that have the food prepared for them, kitchen areas in most dorms, and they complain about the chicken in Colonades (a dining hall) being too bland.

Many of them have cars to drive to any nearby store when they need something and the convenience of gas stations compared to biking, walking, determining their schedule on public transportation, or relying on a friend's free time to drive (or not having the convenience stores with everything under the sun), and they complain about other drivers slowing them down.

They've had doctors to prevent their teeth from rotting and discoloring, showers to clean themselves every morning, hair products, contacts to cover up failing eyesight, surgeries to heal broken bones, access to all kinds of fitness and activities, cell phones to make plans within seconds and keep in contact with long-distance friends, laptops to do just about everything you can imagine, but still I see people walking around sad, upset, discontent, easily angered, and even depressed.

All the stuff I've listed is just stuff and I haven't touched on relationships (of which I don't think I even need to explain the complexness).

Anyway, the point: even in the midst of incredibly good things, people are never content and happy all the time because they expect perfection (just like we expect people to do the "right" thing and don't thank them every time they do not do the wrong thing).

Maybe we expect perfection because we were made for perfection, but we've gotten in the way.  Maybe our bodies and the earth slowly decay because we need a new earth and new bodies that won't fade.  That's when the people content in this life say that this happens after this life.  Like I said at the beginning, I will not discuss any beliefs on how to get to this eternal life or a God/gods role in this, but it makes me wonder--so I figured it might make you wonder.  Coming to a conclusion on these things will affect our relationship to the earth and how we treat it.  Think about it.