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That life is sacred seems to be an unquestionable assumption. But I'll ask it since I'm curious what answers people will provide. Why is it that life is universally considered precious and sacred? Is it a result of our empathy when considering the lives of others; a mirror of our own fear of death? If so, why do we consider our own lives sacred? Fear of death alone isn't enough to account for this.

Interbane wrote:That life is sacred seems to be an unquestionable assumption. But I'll ask it since I'm curious what answers people will provide. Why is it that life is universally considered precious and sacred? Is it a result of our empathy when considering the lives of others; a mirror of our own fear of death? If so, why do we consider our own lives sacred? Fear of death alone isn't enough to account for this.

Well, I disagree with that last statement. Fear of death alone is quite sufficient. Universally? Do we know for sure that animals and aliens feel life is 'sacred'?

Life is rare and short. We as humans are aware of the world probably better than any other life form on this planet. We see how quickly life can end and understand that it means that we have very short life spans. That not only will we die, but we will leave our loved ones behind, they will have grief over our parting and they will now ponder death and the end of it all. This makes US (the individuals) sad, but our death makes others sad. This is really all that gives us our "life is prescious" (I'll not use sacred) mindset. What with the animal cruelty many people commit, I think that should speak to the fact that while the presciousness of life is inherent in our minds, it applie mostly and mainly to humanity because of our speciocentric proclivities.

We can also see other species living far longer than us (trees living 100's of years!! I wanna be a Redwood), the length of time the has obviously passed since the formation of this world and realize how not only is life rare, but how insignificant it really is in the grand scheme.

This is part of why religionists want there to be a god and why they deny evolution IMO. It is too much for them to handle.

So yes, I feel fear of death is quite enough.

I too think it basically comes down to fear of death.

Life is sacred really only applies to your own in-group, as countless wars have ravaged the populations with eager devotees to pull the trigger or drop the bomb. Our own mores and so-called holy commandments are rutinely ignored when it comes to dealing with a perceived enemy.

People tend to think, generally, life is sacred. but that is hardly the case in practice. we consume billions of animals a year, their lives are not considered sacred.

Did you know that pizza hut had a 50 wing bucket not long ago? that is a whole flock of chickens. twenty five birds had to die to get that bucket of chicken! Club sandwiches have three different kinds of animals in them. Think about that. If you wanted to go make a club sandwich as a cave-man, you would have to have killed a bull, a turkey and a pig, stack them together and eat them all at once. I get a kick out of this image.

Where was i, before i so rudely interupted myself...

Johnson1010 wrote:

I too think it basically comes down to fear of death.

This sounds very selfish to me. Yes, our deaths affect the lives of others, but this reflects only a small fraction of our human society. Why should I feel your life is sacred or precious, you are not in my small world of people I love. But, I do feel your life is sacred, why? Because life is sacred. Why?

It saddens me when a great artist dies, his art dies too. It saddens me when an influential person, someone who has provided the world with peace, ( ) or technology, and even those who provide religious comfort dies. Martin Luther King and Margaret Sanger are two examples of people who have contributed to society. The lives of criminals, those who are sentenced to death are sacred as well. Torture is not acceptable for criminals, their lives are considered, quality of life is considered.

Maybe is comes down to empathy. I expect serial killers, and yes bomb droppers, not to have this quality. I think there is a human conection, a bond between humans that are strangers to each other. At least I would hope so.

Chickens and trees have been mentioned. I'm pretty sure I'm neither one of these. No, I do not feel the same for the lives of chickens for example as I do for humans. I plunge live lobsters into pots every year. I cry not a drop for them, except for tears of melted butter. Maybe I have distanced myself from those lives that provide food. Yes, I realize dogs are eaten in China. I do have feelings for the lives of animals, and it saddens me something awlful to see animals abused and neglected, but, again, not as strongly as the lives of humans.

Now I am sounding selfish, stating that the lives of humans are worth more than other living creatures. The universe needs all lives, big and small to survive. I doubt very much if the lion feels much saddness while eating the gazelle, much like me and my lobsters. However, I do feel sad for the gazelle.

Maybe I'm just a human amimal hypocrite.

Now I am sounding selfish, stating that the lives of humans are worth more than other living creatures. The universe needs all lives, big and small to survive. I doubt very much if the lion feels much saddness while eating the gazelle, much like me and my lobsters. However, I do feel sad for the gazelle.

To people, conclusively, human lives are much more valuable than animals. If that were not the case people would rather let their neighbor starve than kill cattle. It may be selfish but i would say you are echoing the real sentiments of humanity.

We would like everything to get it's full measure of life, but when it comes down to it i smack bugs without noticing. Hamburger is delicious, and i am not particularly sympathetic for tuna.

I thinkyour post illustrates how people feel pretty well. Life is sacred, in theory, but in practice, the lives of our in-group are sacred, everything else is negotiable.

as far as the universe needing life... im not sure that is the case. Life happened, but it was not necessarily inevitable.

Suzanne: "I plunge live lobsters into pots every year."


This all touches on something, but I haven't quite formed the thought yet. I remember when I considered my grandma dying, it wasn't that I feared her dying, it was that I was comforted by her presence and didn't want that presence to leave. It's very similar, yet different. I picture the fear of death being what I consider when I ponder the thought of dying nowadays. My mind reels from considering an endless dreamless sleep.

Every life is sacred because every life provides nourishment in a physical, emotional, or nutritional way. We all nourish each other. Even killers provide family and friends a way to come together emotionally. Even bomb droppers provide protesters with a way to come together to nourish their ideas and beliefs. Even book discussion groups offer people the chance to nourish themselves through the meeting of those with like and different minds. Chickens and gazelles and lobsters provide nutritional nourishment. Trees provide shade and physical nourishment, like the grass between your toes or the sound of birds singing. Thus, every life is sacred because of the nourishment that it provides to others.

Krysondra wrote:Every life is sacred because every life provides nourishment in a physical, emotional, or nutritional way. We all nourish each other. Even killers provide family and friends a way to come together emotionally. Even bomb droppers provide protesters with a way to come together to nourish their ideas and beliefs. Even book discussion groups offer people the chance to nourish themselves through the meeting of those with like and different minds. Chickens and gazelles and lobsters provide nutritional nourishment. Trees provide shade and physical nourishment, like the grass between your toes or the sound of birds singing. Thus, every life is sacred because of the nourishment that it provides to others.

What about child molestors?



Ever Sperm is sacred...

Every life is sacred because every life provides nourishment in a physical, emotional, or nutritional way. We all nourish each other. Even killers provide family and friends a way to come together emotionally. Even bomb droppers provide protesters with a way to come together to nourish their ideas and beliefs. Even book discussion groups offer people the chance to nourish themselves through the meeting of those with like and different minds. Chickens and gazelles and lobsters provide nutritional nourishment. Trees provide shade and physical nourishment, like the grass between your toes or the sound of birds singing. Thus, every life is sacred because of the nourishment that it provides to others.

I think you have your cart and horse mixed up here.

quoting Suzanne:

It saddens me when a great artist dies, his art dies too.

This is a very serious thread and it is not my intention to be flippant.....

When one reaches a certain age and there are more and more funerals....it (kind of) concentrates the mind.........

When, ones friends and contemporaries are dropping like flies....then, one must confront the inevitability of ones own death.......

Believe me, this is very, very good for the psyche......

I am quoting here from a book by John Cornwell - called 'Powers of Darkness - Powers of Light' - Travels in search of the miraculous and the demonic......

Many people who have turned away from religion - even with a sense of hatred, rejecting all its idiosyncratic externals - to embrace scepticism, agnosticism,even militant atheism,are perhaps as much in the desert, in the 'dark night of the soul', as any contemplative. What we are fleeing, perhaps, is not God at all, but the false or the inadequate representations of him which hinder any possibility of ever making progress in coming to recognise him or reach out for him. What we are rejecting, even hating, is not God, but the 'trash and tinsel' that passes for him.

And thus it is that,'Hatred of God may bring the soul to God'.

Thus, every life is sacred because of the nourishment that it provides to others.

Do I dare, do I dare to disagree?

Some souls only seem to serve as a bad example. How 'NOT' to do it?

Fortunately, the 'Way' is not the 'End'.