A student of mine once posed a question tinged with doubt. “Live to eat or eat to live?”
The question was simple in form, yet it held a deep philosophical complexity about the purpose of human existence.
I laughed, and turned the question back to him, and he answered quickly: “Eat to live.”
Before offering my response, I guided his thinking through several important distinctions. While looking into his eyes I said:
“Eating to live is a natural biological condition. We are organisms that require nutrition to maintain bodily function. That is our nature. No one can escape from this need. It is not a choice but a necessity that comes from our status as living beings. Every organism strives to sustain its existence through the fulfillment of basic needs.”
“But after we live, we enter a different process, we will enter the phase of conducting life. There, we are given the freedom to determine and choose what is best for us to pursue. That is what distinguishes between existing and living life.”
His face still showed confusion. I laughed for the second time, then I offered an analogy that was easier to grasp.
I continued, “We humans never asked nor knew the reason why we came to be born. Birth is not the result of our choice. And we cannot choose under what condition we are born, where, to whom, what socioeconomic circumstances, or even what body we possess. Why was I born into suffering, poverty, rather than into wealth? Why was I born in a region of conflict rather than in a place of peace? This biological process is a certainty that cannot be negotiated.”
“But after we are born, after we become aware that we exist, we enter another dimension of human presence. In that process of maturation we are given something precious. We are given choice. Choice about the capacity to determine and how we will conduct our lives as well as possible.
We are given will and freedom in responding to the conditions given to us.
Seeking meaning in life and conducting life through our own choices, that is the process of true living.”
Then I winked and said to him, “Do you now know the answer to your question? Live to eat or eat to live?”
His eyes began to shine and he smiled. He had understood that the question was not about choosing between two alternatives, but about understanding that both operate at different levels of consciousness. One is determination, the other is freedom.
Then he answered: “I understand now.”
And I laughed for the third time. Not because it was funny, but because I saw the light of understanding that had just sparked within him. The same light that once sparked within me when I first understood that living is not just about biological needs, but about the choices and meanings we create ourselves at every step of our journey.