Even if the subject of this thread is clearly off-topic, I find it to be
quite relevant, as well. Food is the infrastructure, who will deny it? But
shall we, on this ground, overlook the superstructure?
I want to say two or three things with relation to what the group has been
talking about lately:
1. I am not a religious person, but I do appreciate a religious
person, unless she or he has become too much of a proselyte. ;) We are
living in a world – especially the Western side of it – where being
religious is more and more frowned upon. It is just the opposite situation
of the Inquisition Age. At that time, you could lose your head if you did
not believe in God. Now, you can lose your reputation if you believe in
God. So, it takes a lot of courage to be religious in our environment.
That is why I appreciate such people. Or should I say I envy them?
2. Maybe I envy them, to be more exact. This is my personal feeling:
when there is no God in your life, there is in most cases a void in it.
You can try to fill it, but to what degree of satisfaction or success?
Deny it as we may, at the bottom we all yearn for God. Never mind what it
was like in the very remote paleo past. Maybe man did not talk about God
then, but man by his own nature is a creature who wants to transcend. If
God is transcendence, why isn't God natural, either? If you are not
comfortable with the existence of a God, because, being a rational person,
you cannot in the first place locate him somewhere, think maybe in these
terms: God is Human Perfection. It is a very real metaphor or ideal; it is
something we all are always going after, even if we are following any
crooked way.
3. I know all animals are necessary, but as a human being I think man
is the most important. I am not saying man is the best or the superior
one. What I saying is that, in my opinion, nothing surpasses the human
voice, the human touch, the human camaraderie. I could live among animals
and pets and even communicate with them, but if I were forbidden having
encounters with humans from time to time, I would feel terribly alone. It
would be like death, maybe. It is only natural for us to want to be around
similar beings. That is why if a soul has to be granted to someone, I
would grant it in the first place to human beings, because only with
another human being am I fully able, even amidst failures and falls, to
realize my humanity.
José Carlos
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