Dear JP,

«It never ceases to amaze me that, from my experience, most people don’t seem to want to make the effort to seriously consider the most important questions in life: how have we come to be in existence?»

How we come to be in existence? Well ARE WE in existence?
No doubt we experience that we are, but is that the truth?
Thus your question ought to be: "How do we come to experience ourselves to be in existence?"

«is there any meaning or purpose to my existence?»

There are many meanings and purposes, but they are all relative - relative to your experience of being in existence.

«are we morally accountable beings?»

Human beings are morally accountable, thus again, relatively:
to the extent that we experience ourselves as human beings, to that extent we are accountable.

«do we have free will? etc.»

God's will alone is being done, no if's or but's, so the answer to this question depends on what you think you are:

If you consider yourself a human, then the answer is NO, you have no free will.
Yet so long as you have any doubts and believe that you as a human still have some free will, then to that extent you must use that will the best way you can.

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Dear Josephus,

«The English word dominion you take it as meaning abuse. No such connotation is associated with the meaning of the word.»

Unfortunately, the original Hebrew word in Genesis 1:26, then 1:28 means "tyrannize". The English translation has been softened.

In verse 26, the word is "Veyirdu" and in verse 28, "Wurdu".
The root of this verb 'Y-R-D' means do descend, or literally to "come down on", so in verse 26, "and they will come down on the fish and the fowl..." and in verse 28, "do come down on the fish and the fowl...".

The Hebrew word for 'Tyrant' is 'Rodan'.

Hi David,

I have the video about "Depression Slaves" (the last people living who were slaves in the US South), very interesting and enlightening. I was trying to make the point if one, knows no other life, then its impossible to crave a different unknown existence. I'll agree at the end of the American Civil War there were thousands of ex-slaves who celebrated their freedom, but on some plantations there was bewilderment amongst ex-slaves, as they knew no other life than slavery. I don't want to appear as an apologist for American slavers, I am not, despite their best efforts to maintain total ignorance amongst slaves about the outside world they failed.

Let me give a "hypothetical"; There is a village where everyone has only one arm from birth, no one with two arms has ever been born or encountered. All the village tasks, like in any other village are performed, but only with one arm. In another village unknown to the one armed villages are people all with two arms, they are performing the same tasks as the first village, but far easier, because they all have two arms. Are the two arm people happier than the one arm people, do the one arm people pine away everyday, wishing they had two arms? We realise the two armed people are better off, but how does that impact the one arm people?

Thanks for your attempts to explain your position Yuyutsu. However, to be completely honest, I don't feel like I have any clearer understanding of what you are saying. Sorry.

Dear NathanJ,

One of things I try to live by is to have a minimal impact on the environment. I have little choice in the matter. I live in an old people’s home euphemistically called a retirement village. I think the lawns are mowed and the shrubbery is clipped too often with an excess use of fossil fuel. Our wastes are disposed somewhat wastefully.

Next month I will be 97. I believe that is due to the genes I have inherited, and a fairly abstemious life style.

I will put a cockroach to death if I find one inside the house. I will swat mosquitoes if I can’t let them out. I avoid killing anything outside the house.

However, I have an interest in non-violence, and that is connected with a vegetarian life style. The people most concerned with ahimsa or non-violence seems to be the Jains.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism

“The practice of non-violence towards all living beings has led to Jain culture being vegetarian. Devout Jains practice lacto-vegetarianism, meaning that they eat no eggs, but accept dairy products if there is no violence against animals during their production. Veganism is encouraged if there are concerns about animal welfare. Jain monks, nuns and some followers avoid root vegetables such as potatoes, onions, and garlic because tiny organisms are injured when the plant is pulled up, and because a bulb or tuber's ability to sprout is seen as characteristic of a higher living being. Jain monks and advanced laypeople avoid eating after sunset, observing a vow of ratri-bhojana-tyaga-vrata. Monks observe a stricter vow by eating only once a day.”

I avoid milk because the production of milk means a cow has been bred, and a calf has been slaughtered. I eat other dairy products, and so am inconsistent. I will also indiscriminately eat vegetables. I rarely eat meat.

My younger son is a strict vegetarian who avoids dairy products. My daughter is a vegetarian except for eggs and honey. My older son eats anything edible. He is an anthropologist who has lived with tribal people who eat anything except their totem animal.

Dear Paul1405,

In regard to your hypothetical I would assume that one is not happier than the other.

When I went to high school, Freddy Haines, at least I think that was his name, was apparently born with one hand. I don’t think he lost it in an accident. He was a cheerful fellow and a good trombone player. He used to press the stump against the instrument and finger the keys with his good hand.

Nantucket Island before the influx of outsiders used to have about 1 fifth of population deaf-mutes. People knew who was a mute and who wasn’t. When a group of people with normal hearing and speaking were gathered and a deaf mute joined them they switched to sign language which everyone knew.

I am old and hear poorly. My wife has a very soft voice. She forgets I can’t hear and talks to me. I get exasperated that she doesn’t write. She gets exasperated that I don’t respond. We get angry and then apologize to each other for getting angry. So it goes. If I heard well I would probably spend less time on olo.

Hi David,

The point I was trying to make is ignorance makes people accepting of their situation. If you do not know freedom, or you do not know liberty then you can't hanker for such things. In a religious context, those millions of women in the third world oppressed in our view by Islam and male domination through the religion, they are like the one arm people in my hypothetical, through ignorance, not in a derogatory senses, but in a natural sense, are accepting and comfortable, and possibly happy with their lot in life. Agree? I must say education would be the key that changes everything. My dear friend a Muslim woman, well educated, is as militant and demanding as an other when it comes to women's right and social justice.