The answer provided by Robert Frost (not the poet):
“So, atheists can certainly get a thrill from supernatural movies, but they do miss out on the scariness being prolonged after the theater lights come back on. That’s a thrill reserved to those that can believe in the possibility of ghosts and demons.”
I was talking my dog late this evening .. there was a beautiful deep orange and red sunset dimming in the West.. I looked to the East while Mutley the dog was using his radar love to find ‘the spot’ to do his deed.. I saw Mars high in the sky—brighter than a typical planet and redder than anything else in the night twilight..It was a beautiful scene.
Immediately I thought about the photograph I saw this morning of the ‘light on Mars’—though it may turn out to be a simple camera anomaly, it’s deeply wondrous to conjecture up a civilization living on Mars, dodging out of camera sight when the Rovers snap away.. maybe they live underground? Maybe they are in those rocky red mountains.. Maybe it’s all just the mindless ramblings of an imagination while a dog owner patiently waits for his animal to use the gravitational force to find a spot to let loose.
And just then…
I saw the brightest, whitest, and most beautiful light slowly glaze across the night sky. It was huge… it was quiet.. and it was streaming through the air just below the sight of Mars in my vision.
Though anything with space is deceptive, the fireball streaking through my sky this evening was as bright and big as what a full moon would look like to the naked eye.. I do believe a tail was following it.. Most likely some sort of meteor or ….well, maybe even a space craft??
Nah… those little green men don’t exist.
But the brilliant light was shocking—so much so that the last thing I wanted to do was take my eyes off of it.. I didn’t even care to take out my phone and snap a photo—and really, it would not have been good enough to brag about anyway with an iPhone’s nighttime inabilities..
After I sat down for the evening with a warm cup of tea and cold slice of pizza, I remembered that tonight was the night when the Earth, Mars and the Sun will align tonight.. And this alignment is coming exactly a week prior to the Earth seeing the first in a series of ‘blood moons’—a type of astrological event that some paranoid folk would say portends some good ole’ end times. Just an simple internet search will showcase the oodles upon noodles of people from around the planet who fret the end of the world with the heavenly signs in the sky—John Hagee is one of those folks who said that tonight’s alignment begins a ‘hugely significant event’ for the world.
So he says..
And so lots of people say.
I just know this..
During a quiet moment of pondering my own insignificance and possibly the meaningless or meaningful nature of life—it really can go either way—I saw a big fireball streak across my eyes and vanish overtop of trees near my house.. I don’t equate my vision with anything except this: We are small here on earth.. it’s a dangerous universe out there and we don’t ever really know what will happen or where it will ..
We do know though that lots of prophets and parasites have come and gone, and they have done their damnedest to damn us.
As for John Hagee?
He always reminded me of someone..
Remember that scene from Stephen King’s STORM OF THE CENTURY where the entire town of people have the same dream of a minister preaching a fiery end times gospel and all of the townsfolk committing mass suicide by jumping into icy Atlantic ocean waters? That’s who John Hagee reminds me of..
Maybe the blood moons will be something big. Or maybe they won’t.
But remember this: Every day is the end of the world for about 150,000 or so people. Every day. And it’s the first day for thousands, too.
Born into a world of sin.
They come on in.
If the G-d wants your little ass in check … He’ll send a whale to fetch you. or a problem to remind you, or some devil to chase you home.
I love this quote .. it’s from the blob http://soredemonao.tumblr.com
The site re-blogged my “I don’t know” post this morning.. I think him/her .. the response I got was great..
"Or some devil to chase you home."
Love it..
I had a wonderful free flowing discussion with friends yesterday .. we were invited to a very early spring barbecue.. great food. And even better conversation.. We spoke about the missing flight 370, we talked about conspiracy theories, 9/11, God or the lack of one, and the meaning of life and whether mediums have the ability to talk to the dead. It was all of my interests spiraled into one great chat with good people—add to that chicken and homemade macaroni and cheese.
I did come to a realization, though.. During the conversation, others gave adamant opinions about their personal beliefs—their thoughts on what God is and if there is one, along with any other theory of mythological or paranormal subject matter. As for me? I just don’t know.
I don’t really know anything.
I read the theories, I see the information presented by experts, I know of the books, the Bibles, the Korans, the priests, and the ghostly tales.. I am aware of the Planet Nibiru.. I know that aliens met Dwight Eisenhower and told him there’s no God.. I know that George Noory has the worst toupee on earth.
But I just don’t know what my own opinion is.. I look at others who often say that they have the answers as closed-minded.. I often categorize Christian zealots in the same bin as atheists—neither allows much thought opposed to their own..
But as for me? I just don’t know..
Opinions are so often existent only to be proven wrong.. If I say that Flight 370 landed safely there’s the chance it didn’t.. and really, I just don’t know!
I don’t know!
We don’t know!
And though we don’t know, we will endlessly fall victim to the parade of opinionmakers, and haphazardly jump on the blowhard bandwagon of hot air. No one on that train knows, really. They just don’t admit it.
Is there a God? I really don’t know.
Are there aliens? I don’t know.
Is anything real?
Is anything real…That is the question Truman Burbank asked in one of my favorite movies, THE TRUMAN SHOW. The answer he got was that he was real.
Maybe that’s it.. nothing is really real.. except us. And we waste too much time debating and creating wars about Gods we have never seen and beliefs we cannot defend with fact.
I want there to be a God.
And aliens. I’d rather there be no planet X, though.
But Truman Burbank? I just know he’s real..
Here’s something controversial to ponder while you sit indoors during a snowstorm.. allowing sick children to opt to kill themselves.
I’d add in the ole ‘slippery slope’ argument..
I’d also say, if you’re for assisted suicide for adults, how do you make a distinction based on age?
There are so many moral implications and question.. so many reasons to argue.. And so many sick children …
On that note, if you’re for assisted suicide for children, what limit would you impose.. only sick? or sick and tired..
So many issues and so many problems with this.
Sounding the alarm to my Catholic and atheist readers alike: What say you all!?
Proof that organized atheism is just as religious as religion.. Now the churches of nothingness are splitting, fighting, and perhaps ruining their cause. Could there be a Martin Luther of Atheism? Someone who will bring about reform, and further the beliefs of nothingness to even believe in a stronger nothing ?
The Pope is stirring debate again after an interview with an Italian journalist—who is also an atheist..
The cool rockin Francis said, in part, that church leaders ‘have often been narcissists’..And the WASHINGTON POST reports this,
A top official with the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, took the unprecedented step of rebuking Francis, writing that the pope’s interview was “a theological wreck” and that Francis was dabbling dangerously in relativism.
We all need something to get us through life… And if this is how people cope with the insanity in the world, so be it. Jedi.
From Live Science, here is an interesting listing of nations that are the most religious and the most atheist..
Interestingly, only a little more than 4% of people from Japan are certain of the existence of God. After the year that they have had, who can really blame them?
