My son Denis has been dealing lately with one of the inescapable unpleasantness of life: the loss of friends or people we somehow care about.
It is the ultimate milestone. One day here… the next day, only a memory.
Death is truly the ultimate question mark thrown at us, for the simple reason that we really do not have a tangible proof of what happen next.
It throw us in the horrible state of mind to rehash the thing we wish we would have done or said when it was still time. That is really the ultimate case of hindsight being 20/20!
Religion, per Lenine: the Opium of the People, tell us of various concepts: from a recycling in the way to Perfection, Heaven or Hell (the black or white approach) or the Catholic twist of the in-between Purgatory before Joy or Roasting! Then there is two more options: becoming pure spirit or just the light goes off! I do not believe we will find the solution until we become the subject of the exercise..
Salvation is kind of cool but so far nothing distinguish it positively from a wishful thinking.
I agree with Voltaire when I look at our universe and cannot understand how this enormously complex clock can ticks without the benefit of a Supreme Clockmaker. That does not mean that I buy into any of the available religious program since I look at all of them as basically flawed experiments or great exercise in hypocrisy. The Big Bang is a cool concept but I keep having this nagging question in my mind: What was going on before, and before before?
I have seen in old Conservative Catholic Europe of the Fifties and Sixties innumerable life ruined by the edict of a religion out of touch with real life. I have seen in Africa and in the Society Island the wrecking of civilizations and social organization by missionaries totally oblivious of the destruction wrought by their effort to transform old balanced and harmonious civilization to “Decent Christian Society” with all its ill and hypocrisy. I wholeheartedly follow Mark Twain who when told that some of his excess would certainly earn him a ticket to Hell declared that he had been acquainted with a few of the preacher and other assorted Holly People evidently destined for the Pearly Gates of Heaven and that he would gladly spend eternity in Hell rather than any prolong time in their company.
I do not know if I have a soul or not. I believe in harmony, kindness and respect of my fellow travelers because it makes for a more pleasant environment. I do not hold a door open, do something nice or help an elder lady cross the street because I expect brownies points toward salvation but instead because I feel damn good doing it.
I do not believe in destiny or karma but I do believe that at birth you got a certain number of heartbeat assigned to you like all living been. And you do not have the right to temper with it. That does not mean that I reject medical care since, after all, they could very well have been calculated in the deal from the beginning. Doctor might not be saving life but merely allow it to follow its predetermined course.
Off course that point to the hypocrisy of playing the Saint Men and leave to other the task to slaughter animal, violating the issue, for my eating pleasure or perceive survival need.
I never claimed that my life philosophy was neither logical nor close to perfection!
A couple of time, when I had painted myself into a really screwy corner I looked for a short time at the option of punching out, but was never able to find it an acceptable solution to clear the table. Somebody else would just be left holding the stick and that was really not a logical solution. Please do not take this statement as an indication that I am a logical or noble person. I just like things in harmony.
When relative or old friends pass away, I mourn and try to keep their memory alive in my heart. I would be nice if I can see them again. That led me to wonder for example about a good friend that was killed in Algeria when we were barely twenty. Will I ever see him again? Will he still be his young age? Will we still have anything in common? After all I will be carrying my baggage of an additional forty and some years on hearth! Will he still be the young effervescent and passionate kid? Will he still bear the horrible wounds that caused his death? Will he relate to my grandfatherly experience? Will he have known how much I missed him?
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