Pope Saint John Paul II suggests that “Who am I?” and “Where have I come from and where am I going?” are among “the fundamental questions which pervade human life,” which every great religion and philosophy must try to answer:
These are the questions which we find in the sacred writings of Israel, as also in the Veda and the Avesta; we find them in the writings of Confucius and Lao-Tze, and in the preaching of Tirthankara and Buddha; they appear in the poetry of Homer and in the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles, as they do in the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle. They are questions which have their common source in the quest for mean- ing which has always compelled the human heart. In fact, the answer given to these questions decides the direction which people seek to give to their lives.
These are the questions which we find in the sacred writings of Israel, as also in the Veda and the Avesta; we find them in the writings of Confucius and Lao-Tze, and in the preaching of Tirthankara and Buddha; they appear in the poetry of Homer and in the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles, as they do in the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle. They are questions which have their common source in the quest for mean- ing which has always compelled the human heart. In fact, the answer given to these questions decides the direction which people seek to give to their lives.
