Beyond Belief
I’m almost done with, “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins, and I must say, I can’t put it down.
I’ve been questioning my beliefs a lot over the past few years. This year I began listening to a Buddhist podcast on Zen, and recently, my faith in Christianity. I went through this about a year ago but regressed to Christianity out of comfort. Here I am again, only this time I’m finding my belief in the Christian God waning.
To summarize my beliefs: I think there could be a God, I just don’t know who the fuck He is. I believe in evolution, and I’m living my life as if it’s the only one I have. Like my friend Patrick said, life is too short to waste mental power on an afterlife. If there is an afterlife, I’ll be pleasantly surprised providing that the God of the Bible is not real, and I don’t find myself in Hell.
Consequence
A side effect of my waning belief in the Christian God is a waxing awareness of the present. I feel more alive — lucky to belief alive that is. This enhanced awareness of the present has affected me in both big and little ways, from a newfound drive to what I want to do with my life, to an acuteness of the senses when I’m on my motorcycle.
An additional consequence is a greater desire for time management. Life is too short. I don’t have time to fuck around. Thus, things have got to go. I’m reminded of a blog post by the lovely Gwen Bell titled, “If You Can’t Pitch It, Ditch It“. Gwen describes a man she met that lived life by a stopwatch in order manage his time. It sounds extreme, but I get it now: life is too short to fuck around. A stopwatch was this man’s way of making efficient use of his time. This man would even evaluate his friendships, and call them off if they weren’t beneficial. While that may a bit harsh for my tastes, the point is that I need to make efficient use of my time.
Once I’ve finished “The God Delusion”, I’m going to read it through a second time and take notes. With these notes, I’ll post my thoughts as well as a full review on the book.
