Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Maybe it's the laziness brought about by the summer air, maybe it's the unity shared after going through a wedding together, or maybe our weed's just gotten a lot better, but for whatever reason there's been a lot of philosophizing going on in our house. I've never really tried to explain my spirituality to anybody before, not even myself. It's always just been something I've known and felt, but I feel like writing it all down will really help me tie it all together. So here goes:

I guess the best place to start would be the beginning of Everything. Some call it The Big Bang, some say that God spoke, but for whatever reason the Universe sprang into existence. Out of all the planets and stars was at least one special planet where Everything aligned just right. Over millions of years of chemical reactions water and oxygen hit just the right level. And then, Everything aligned just right again and Life was born. It wasn't a lot, just the most basic of cells, but millions of years of evolution eventually led to the world and all the species we know today. Yes, I believe in evolution. I also believe in creationism, though I would never actually phrase it that way. It's just my belief that the odds against it all are just too astronomical to not believe there was some kind of divine guidance. But I also don't think the human race or the earth or even the Universe for that matter are nearly as important to this "God" as we like to think. It all feels more like a science experiment to me, an infinitely complex and fascinating experiment that none of us can even begin to comprehend...yet.

I don't worship or depend on a God, despite the fact that I believe He exists. It is my belief that it is up to the Human Race to redeem itself. The first spark made by the first early tools that gave way to Fire have benefited all of the Human Race from that moment forward. Who's to say that "God" didn't put that funny shaped rock in front of that particular human who just last week saw a lightening bolt strike a tree and noticed the heat coming off the resulting fire? We know that Moses, Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha and all the rest of our "prophets" were all genuine, in-the-flesh people. Moses was a man who freed his people from slavery. Did God really talk to him from a burning bush? Did he really part the Red Seas to make his great escape? It doesn't matter, but what does matter is that from that day forward the Jews were their own people. Jesus was a hippie who walked the earth preaching love, forgiveness, and redemption. This pissed some people off and he was killed. Did he really rise from the dead three days later? Was he really the son of God? Again, it doesn't matter. His existence has caused more love and more destruction across the world than anyone else to date. But what about the men of science? Can we not learn just as much about Life from them? Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin. All these men have advanced our species by leaps and bounds just from their thoughts and ideas. Darwin serves as the best example because he was fully aware of what his discovery would mean to so many people. Here's this kid fresh out of college who goes on a cruise and writes his observations and sketches down as they go from island to island. At some point, something clicked and he started putting it all together and interconnecting it all and suddenly Life all made sense. And he was terrified. Who wouldn't be? But he sucked it up and published his book and sure enough, all hell broke loose. But because of that idea we've been able to build more and more ideas on top of those, including the thoughts going through my head and onto this screen right now. His theory of Evolution was another stepping point in our Evolution. Which brings me around to what this whole mess really all boils down to.

Nirvana, Heaven, Enlightenment. There's a lot of different words for it but it all boils down to the same thing, death. What happens to us after we die? Does our spirit live on or do we just rot in the ground? We don't know. It's just that simple. It's my personal belief that we are reincarnated, but not in the traditional sense of trading out your old body for a new one. But instead, I believe our actions and our thoughts and our ideas all continue to live on long after our bodies. It's the reaction that other people have to you that causes reincarnation. People take your ideas and build on top of them until they come up with their own ideas, which are passed on to other people and so on and so forth. It evolves and changes but the root of it all is still there. Eventually with enough time and enough inspiration and enough ideas I believe we will ultimately create Heaven. Life isn't about what happens in the afterlife, it's about Life!

It's because of this ultimate goal that I believe in complete freedom of speech and thought. Who are we to say that anything is worthless? Your Life is part of the Universe and Everything else whether you acknowledge it or not. There is no such thing as a "bad" or "evil" or "sinful" experience when you look at the bigger picture; Hitler was one of the most sadistic people to walk the Earth, but in uniting against him the Earth came together. There's no sense in wondering about why bad things happen, but instead just accept that they have happened and build on top of it. Never deny yourself, because you never know when your contribution to the Human Race will present itself. Open your mind and accept everything that goes in there and don't be afraid of what comes out. It might be ugly at first, but don't try to force your inspiration out. Give it time, patience, and just a pinch of faith. The real irony is, most of us will probably never know what our contribution to society is. That's okay. Just take pride in the fact that your Life does matter, as does Everything in the Universe.