Food and Life

Is the purpose of human life reproductive success,

Survival of the fittest or character development? Or,

Is there no purpose in a chance world? Is my purpose

just part of a larger human group purpose, or is there

A purpose for my individual life?

What should be our guide to right and wrong in

individual behavior and in the collective behavior of

The masses and the nations? Does God reveal commandments

And guides for life? Do we follow our

impulses and drives, which have guaranteed our biological

Survival to this point? Is the whole discussion

of moral truth a meaningless act, since no ultimate,

Moral truth exists?

What is the meaning of the suffering in our individual

Lives? Is there some larger purpose to human life

In the midst of pain? Should pain be avoided at all

Costs? Is suffering just an illusion? Is the reality of suffering

the evidence that there cannot be an all-good,

All-powerful God up there watching over us? Is suffering

the evidence for an historic original sin, or is it

evidence that self is the problem and the end of self

Is the solution?

Is human history just the recounting of the same

human behaviors repeated endlessly age after age

in a cyclical fashion where nothing means anything

And history is going nowhere? Or, is history linear

And human lives connected in causal and moral relationships?

Is there a larger story out there

somewhere within which the histories of individuals

And nations fit?

Is our recognition of and longing for what is true,

Beautiful, and perfect just an accident? Is our longing

for the ideal a hint of a deeper source and purpose

For human life? Are all of our artistic productions just

surface images of the natural desires for food, sex,

And safety?