. . . sustain life itself

091228 04:48
Life’s primary concern is to sustain life itself.  We are limited to vocational education dealing with this  problem or “how to do it.”  We all want safety, security, to be warm in winter and cool in summer for ourselves individually. Obviously we need fuel called food.
We achieve this at a cost since the world is not convenient to our needs between it’s seasons and extreme variations within any one season. It was here long before we appeared. What we are a flash of light compared to an ‘eternity’ of darkness.
Consider yourself as one of the greatest predators in our brief history upon this planet. Balance that between what you want and what you need. There can be a personal balance between these two apposing elements of our lives. Add to that, we tend to be unconscious of the conflict and meaning of either definition: want; need.
Additionally we use words and concepts regarding our perception and experience. The variations of our common life origins define our culture and civilization. There is no common agreement regarding life’s purpose, value and or meaning.
We are born, we live and then we die. The first and the last is the same for all of us. The middle part is where we get into trouble considering “want & need.”
Reductive consciousness teaches me that life is best examined in poverty. Life goes on with/without all the culture/civilization issues and will continue long after I depart.
The more attention I pay to the poor the simpler life becomes.
We are born and die alone. The middle part, short/long, is defined by our relationships and our choices acted out in every moment of our lives. Poverty has taught me that we are just fine and provided for in the basics. Yet we remain essentially very primitive perceptually anticipating threats when there are none, or at the very worst fewer fears than we need pay attention to on a 24/7 365 basis.