La Condition Humaine

Our ignorance is essential. We exercise trial and error, and so we get to learn, grow, and develop. It is our nature to seek knowledge (meaning, understanding), love, and joy. This is what motivates us. We are meant to evolve toward gaining insight into our nature and cultivate our own Divine creative powers.
We are severely limited in our perceptual abilities (every eagle sees better, every dog hears better, etc) as well as our intellectual abilities - we are unable to access other dimensions and the ultimate nature of things. The essence of reality remains forever enigmatic, escaping our understanding, and we’re left guessing, imagining, conceptualizing, or following the thoughts of others. It’s disquieting and unnerving and some people find solace in religious dogma. One could believe that things we do not experience with our senses do not exist (i.e. God, spiritual existence in other dimensions, reincarnation etc). One might choose to believe that these things are possible. Atheists believe they do not exist. This is a belief, too.
When we choose to love and learn, we experience joy. When we chose to hate and resist, we experience suffering. We can accept fate and do the best with the cards we have been dealt or resent the winners, thinking they always have better cards. We can spend our whole lives over-identifying with our wounds and victimizing experiences, using our spirit for resentment and the desire for justice or vengeance - or manifest our dreams instead. This is our freedom.
Evil actions cause unnecessary pain. They are based on ignorance, mental disorders, difficult (childhood) experiences, or chemical imbalances in the brain – and consequently impaired insight, judgment, and impulse control. Although we are not responsible for these predispositions and circumstances we must make a life and face the consequences of our actions. We don’t really ever know things with certainty… and so we are free to choose the path. Exposed to life we are meant to hang in and learn from experiences. Sometimes we do.
My best teachers have been my son Jesse and cat Chico. They have been patiently showing me that life happens right now (as I am present in the moment), and that I find happiness within loving interactions (I get back so much more than I give); also, that the focus on bringing love and joy gives meaning to my life.