2002-09-05 ~ 8:00 p.m.

Eat, Drink, And Be Merry, For Tomorrow, We Die

I've been thinking about life after death a lot lately. I already know that I believe that there is one. I don't believe that it's called a "life" though. I think there's an inside joke going on in the life after death that they just call it "death" since that's what we call dying here. "So, when's your deathday?" "Oh, I was dead March 3rd." "OH!! That's tomorrow!! Happy Deathday!"

I find that humorous.

I think that the secret to life is that life is precisely what you believe at the moment of your death. It can, and probably does, all change when you die, but life, itself, is EXACTLY what you believe it to be when it's all over.

I believe that the simplicity in that is why no one will listen to me. I think that anyone that tries to think beyond that is just trying to make things difficult.

But if you think about it. It's true. If you lie to me, and I never find out that you lied to me, when I die, for all I know, you've told me the truth. (Which, I believe, is the basis of most religions.)

Most importantly, I believe that our basic beliefs change often. I think that it's our lack of understanding in innate change that gives us angst. We understand that change happens, but we only really believe that it happens in things, not people. Well, on the flip side of that, when someone does something really stupid, we believe that they have changed for the worse. We don't account that they may not have changed, they just managed to do something really stupid.

So, I guess we only believe that change happens in people for the worse, but we completely discount our own changes that we have made for the better.

Wow. That got wordy and confusing. I'll move on to my next subject.

I find religious discussions silly. You have two sides that vehemently believe whatever it is that they're peddling, and expect for them to find a common stepping stone? Yeah, that's worked out well with Al Qaeda, eh?

However, I don't find religions silly. I used to, but that was only because I hadn't yet developed my philosophy of belief. What is more grand in life than believing something that makes you happy? People find great joy and comfort in believing that there is a God that loves them unconditionally. God is who they are grateful for during the good times and who they turn to during the sad times. Hell, that's actually a pretty good idea. I might just adapt to a belief in God.

Re-adapt, I should say. I very much so believed in God when I was younger. And it was comforting. I would almost say it's a shame that my belief in Him has wavered over the years, but if it hadn't, I would be a bible thumping Jesus freak because that was my path.

I hate it when I tangent. Back to my belief thing.

Life is all belief. Even the Matrix says so. We COULD be a bunch of bodies in pods, but we BELIEVE that we're not. (OK, some of us believe that we ARE, in fact, in the pods, and the rest of us believe that those people are crazy.)

The point to my belief system is this, being that life IS precisely what you believe it to be at the moment that you die, why wouldn't you want to believe in the joy, the beauty, the happiness of each day since, as we've all half-heartedly joked about one time or another, we could die tomorrow?

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