A central fact of human existence is that life is based on murder, a reality more vital to human survival than the happiness we all cherish and yearn for.

Undeniably, happiness and pleasure are the most coveted and priceless part of the human experience. Without such desires and values, the perpetuation of the species would not be possible, since few women would be willing to suffer the agony of pregnancy and childbirth. Happiness and pleasure also define and reward triumph and success in all fields of human endeavor, from the sports field to the battlefields of war and market competition. The philosophy of pragmatism that permeates much of American thought and psyche recognizes the zero-sum game of life: where the thrill of victory is achieved at the cost of someone’s agonizing defeat.

HUMAN CIVILIZATION CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT HIM

But it is quite evident that happiness and pleasure lack the compelling urgency of what we may call utilitarian murder, without which there can be no life, no perpetuation, no pleasure, and no happiness at all. In fact, no human civilization at all.

For the three cycles to work and be self-sufficient, the survival and perpetuation of the human species are ensured through an incessant commitment of life and death: human life can only be sustained at the cost of another life, that of the earth. and marine animals and plants. Eating rocks is not an option on any human menu.

Even with advances in food science, humans can only survive by killing and consuming biological matter that once lived and breathed. So thanks to other life forms, we don’t have to be a cannibalistic species to survive.

Our insatiable need for biological matter (and the cruelty we use to get it) explains the relative ease with which we kill and slaughter our own kind in war and even in peacetime. This vital human requirement for biological matter contributes immensely to our propensity to see nature and its creatures in dualistic and combative terms, as separate from us and therefore rivals, as prey to be hunted, tamed, and consumed.

WIDE CONCENTRATION CAMPS

Being at the top of the food chain, humans dictate who gets sent to death camps (read butcher factories that resemble large concentration camps). Whether it is fish, birds, hooves or vegetables – it does not matter. The end (human survival) justifies the means (mass murder). The killing machines of man, which few people have seen, mask and whitewash the systematic killing of life forms below the food chain.

So next time food is served, let’s pause and thank those life forms at the table before consuming it for fuel and pleasure.