Questions for me and for you

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I have of late been thinking a great deal about what it means to live a good life. By this, I mean a life that is both reflective and proactive, a life that nourishes not only intellectual and spiritual concerns and interests of the individual, but also seeks to contribute to (and tries to stop the impeding of) other human beings. My ponderings have ranged from debates with old friends on Facebook over same-sex unions, to calls to donate and help assuage world hunger, a vow to live a more green existence, an attempt to start a “poverty eating week” (more to come), efforts to improve my Latin and Greek and French, etc. I have come up with a series of questions I have been asking myself:

What does it mean to be Ethical?

What does it mean to be moral?

What are the benefits of the interior life?

How does one lead an intellectual life in modern culture?

What role does faith play in ethics?

What can I do to alleviate suffering?

Will it ever be enough?

Why is there so much hatred (on the right and the left)?

What is it to be a good father? Husband? Friend?

How honest should we be in expressing our opinion?

Does the intellectual (whose august group does not, alas, include the likes of me) have a responsibility to the public to be painfully frank in their opinions and arguments?

When I die, what will I have left behind?

From a religious perspective, am I doing god’s work?

If not, what has been in my way?

Am I responsible, through my lifestyle, consumption, etc. for the suffering of others, even those I have never met?

Am I the man my daughter would be proud to call her father? My wife her husband?

What are your thoughts? How would you answer these questions if you had (or have) posed them to yourself?