What are some of the philosophical explanations for why everybody’s and everything’s life is full of ups and downs?
I claim that reality alternates between what we consider as “good” and “bad” continuously. And our portion of reality is in the cycle of moving towards “good” after a downward trend of "bad’ and hence we have life. I support this with evidence, for example several academics claim that the world is getting better (less violence, less infant deaths, longer life spans), we have large scale efforts to reduce pain in the world. But at the same time we have these ups and downs in every aspect of life. There are instances of “good” things leading to “bad” things like things backfiring, failed efforts inspite of hard work etc. And then we have instances of “bad” things leading to “good” things, for example, how diseases help advance technology, learning from our mistakes etc.
To look at life having ups and downs or good and bad neglects to see more.
Put marbles in a tin can, shake vigorously. What happens? Maybe a few break or chip this is bad for them but, good for others. Random incidents, no purpose other than it just happens. Animals learn from this , objects cannot.
The universe itself has no “ups and downs”. Ups and downs are the misperception of the mind due to its limited ability to precisely perceive hopes and threats. Life seeks harmony, the universe provides noise, the very cause of life. It takes very serious precision in perception in order to flow with the actual hopes and threats and form the harmony that life seeks. In the mean time, exaggerated responses to mispercieved hopes and threats creates the perception of great hills wherein fact, there was nothing but the sway of changing noise.