Life's Big Questions

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Vita believes that humans possess a spirit - the non-physical, animating aspect of a living being - that can live on after the death of the individual. When a person is alive, their spirit is associated with their bodies and the things they do. Upon death, the spirit may live on in the things they left behind. If they planted trees, the trees are the spirit of their life. If they wrote books, the books are an ongoing reflection of their life. Their spirit might also live on in the memories of others. People remember the artist Van Gough for his paintings. However, the hundreds of people who lived in his neighborhood, their spirits are harder to define. 

Vita Religion does not hold a fixed position on the existence of an everlasting soul.

Vita doesn’t profess to know whether or not God or Gods exist. However, concepts such as God, heaven, hell, and eternity are unnecessary to advise how to live a happy, meaningful and sustainable life on Earth.

There will likely be an ‘after-life’ for the minerals that make up your body as these minerals come to be absorbed into other living beings. However, the character, the individual or personality that was you lives but once. This suggests that if you want to make a difference, you have to do it in this, your only life-time. 

It is believed that being dead is like that part of being asleep where there is sensory deprivation and no memories being formed for later recollection and it lasts until the end of time. It’s not something that you can sense. When we die, the physical material of our body returns to the biophysical flux of the environment. If we are buried, our body first returns to the soil. If we are cremated, it first returns to the atmosphere. 

We are free to do as we please, but every lifestyle has outcomes and consequences. If we want to live a life that fosters the well-being of the natural living systems on Earth and human contentment, we ought to act accordingly during our time on Earth. 

Caterpillars are vegans, but lions and sharks aren’t, and yet both are parts of Vitae-planeta. Their eating habits are aligned with the ecological role that they fulfill. A modern Western diet has a lot of meat in it and there are no useful ecological function served by our livestock or this diet. What’s more, there are serious environmental problems associated with animal agriculture including nutrient pollution and greenhouse emissions, for example. There are also serious ethical issues associated with animal abuse. If, however, you live in an area infested with invasive rabbits, maybe eating rabbit pie will help restore the balance. A vegan diet is generally environmentally benign compared to a meat-based diet, as it puts less pressures on the planetary boundaries, so that's good. 

 We are here because of a sequence of events that preceded us. Now that we are here, we ought to do our jobs by acting as guardians of Vitae-planeta and caring for our fellow humans.

Humans evolved from the closest biological relatives, who in-turn evolved from theirs, a chain of evolution that goes all the way back about 3.8 billion years to the first flickers of life on Earth.

It is believed that life arose spontaneously non-living elements when the conditions are right. Abiogenesis may have occurred on Earth. Alternatively, it may have occurred on another planet and the early organisms arrived on a comet.

Our role as humans is to restore and protect the Earth’s natural biological systems and to foster well-being for all people, for the Long Future. 

Animals kill animals. And we humans are animals. So killing animals is not in itself wrong. However, we humans behave like unsustainable super-predators and kill far more of the wrong ones than we ought to. For example, with respect to fisheries, we kill the big, breeding fish and this greatly affects population numbers. The question is not whether we should kill animals, but which animals, how many, and what for. 

Vita uses nature for guidance. In nature there is a great variety of sexual practices. Homosexuality is common in nature, particularly among mammals. The sexual practices of giraffes and dolphins are insightful. Human's closet biological relative, the Bonobo or Pygmy Chimpanzee is notoriously promiscuous and inclusive. Humans are sexual animals, and this is something to be celebrated, not feared. 

As there are billions upon billions of stars, many with planets in the habitable zone, the odds are that there are millions of planets with life. However, given the vast distances of space, it is most likely they will never come to us, and we will never go to them. If they ever came to us, they would obviously be greatly technologically advanced and this ought to be of some concern if the behaviour of humans over history is to guide. 

Just as humans can damage the Earth, so too can we actually help it by adding resilience. A desert, devoid of life, need not be that way. Barren marine pastures can bought to life by diverting deep, nutrient rich water to the surface. A backyard full of weeds can become a small forest. A house can foster habitat for native animals. The biosphere would be abundant without the humans, but could be even more abundant with the right application of wise human intervention. 

Vita believes that upon our death, the material that comprises our bodies ought to return to the flux so that other living organisms might have the benefit of our minerals. This ought to be done in a manner that does not produce environmental pollution, and preferably enhances an ecosystem.

With respect to cremation, non-fossil fuel energy sources ought to be used so as to not create unnecessary carbon emissions. Similarly, the body ought not to be dressed in synthetic fabrics as these will create unnecessary air pollution. Metals that will enter the flux if cremated ought to be removed, for example mercury based fillings. With respect to the disposal of ashes. If these are returned to the environment, this will facilitate the uptake of the minerals into the biosphere.

Alternatively, they might be retained by loved ones as a way of prolonging the spirit of the deceased.
Some new approaches to burial are interesting such as the Infinity Suit of the Capsula Mundi that fosters the uptake of minerals into a growing tree. Organ transplants and other ways that our bodies can ethically benefit society should be encouraged.

With reference to fertility, women ought to make the substantive choices, not men.

For a man, the act of procreation is a simple issue. Women, on the other hand, have to gestate, give birth, lactate and be the main physical carer of the child for 16 plus years. Women take the physical risk of bearing and delivering the child, they suffer the physiological changes to their bodies and they often sacrifice their careers and personal freedoms for the child. Plus, women are better judges of when to reproduce. In short, they do all the work and are better suited to make judgements about it.

For these reasons decisions about fertility should be made by women.

Vita believes that if you are of sound mind and believe that you are no longer able or willing to fulfil your life’s purpose of protecting the natural living systems of Earth and fostering the well-being of others, or if you are unable to maintain happiness, then you have the right to choose the time and manner of your own death. 

 We often hear that the purpose of the firm is to maximize short term profit for shareholders. This is a relatively new idea and it's totally unsustainable.

Vita believes that the purpose of the firm is to support the natural living systems of our home planet and to foster human happiness, and then to make a profit.