No, not really. At least not as it relates to the trajectory I wished to explore on this thread. The one that grapples more with the moral parameters of consuming food on this side of the grave as it relates to the fate of “I” on the other side.
You eat food because you have to. Nature made it taste good to prompt you to eat the stuff all the more. Nature also created hunger pains and death by starvation in order to compel you.
On the other hand…
“Every day, more than 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes–one child every five seconds. 852 million people across the world are hungry, up from 842 million a year ago.”
mercycorps.org/articles/qui … bal-hunger
Now, this thread would focus more on how one might react to these facts, given how one might choose to behave “here and now” in order to sustain what they would like their fate to be “there and then”.
How are “I” and “Thou” and human values intertwined existentially here in the life you live.
Assuming, of course, that human autonomy is a factor.
I can only base my own speculations here on the many experiences I have had with those for whom God and religion were an important foundation upon which to engender behaviors that then came to revolve around the “real me” in touch with “the right thing to do”.
Even after all these years, I have no idea what the practical consequences are of this. The “real me” is the one that exists in the present moment and everyone thinks that he/she is doing “the right thing” when doing it.
The “real me” is certainly embodied existentially in the “facts of life”: How old you are, where you reside, the state of your health, your financial situation, your interactions with others, the actual experiences you have had etc. etc. etc…
No one can dispute any number of “things” about you. Unless they are not of sound mind. Why? Because these things can often be clearly demonstrated.
But what of the “real me” in regard to the behaviors that you choose or the God that you believe in; or the way you connect the dots between them here and now in your head?
To what extent is “I” here more an existential contraption rather than an actual “thing” that exist deep down inside any particular individual. The “core” you. The “soul” that you are.
How is that demonstrated to be true for others? In particular as it relates to the points I raised in the OP?