Jesus was born under simple conditions, lived under simple conditions, he washed the feet of his disciples, rode on a donkey, etc. He came to serve, not to be served.
1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. -Matthew 18:1-4
Jesus lived his life to set an example for us to follow. From it, we can clearly see the importance of humility.
As for the other questions, see my reply to Max209 above.
I believe that love is the highest virtue and should be our aspiration. Loving does often involve suffering, but in the end is most gratifying. The alternatives pale in comparison. I think it takes a lifetime, or more, to learn how to love.
In its simplest form, I believe God is love and all that stands for love. I choose to unify myself with love.
I would agree with Binnyboy fully. It is foolish to think that man in his natural state is greedy, or short sighted, or destructive. It is the way we live which causes us to be like we are.
This is the why of religion. We only need salvationistic religion of course, if humans are instictively destructive, which they are not. We only need it if humans are instinctively greedy, which they are not.
We only need salvationistic religions if we are the culmination of everything, which of course we are not. Of course the world, the universe, was not made for humans, just like it wasnt made for gorillas, and it was not made for Jelly Fish, and it was not made for trilobytes.
In tribal cultures (as written and examined by Daniel Quinn in his books) which are untouched by our "taker" culture, there is not crime, there is not greed, there is not destructiveness, and it is sustainable.
Only by living in culture where we believe that we were made to rule the world, to conquer it, and bring it order (which is ironic because we are the ones who are unorderly) can we be greedy, or short-sighted or destructive.
DvK
