19 years gone

I just realized that I wasted about 19 years of my life. I'm actually 24, but I'm guessing that at around age five I would have had the fear of God pressured upon me by my parents before I attended kindergarten. I need to find a way to make up for that time lost, because I definitely have not been living my life. It's time to take risks and wishing for bigger and better things. I can achieve all that by trying indefinitely. But, first things are first... I need to move out and become fully independent. I got the skills, so the best thing to do is use them to get a better job. Life is great so far. I haven't had any qualms at all. I do sometimes have a crick in my neck when someone tells me what God gave me. Other than that, everything is fine and dandy.

I managed to watch The Four Horsemen. Great conversations by the four (Dennet, Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris). There were times I validated my similar thoughts of religion with their talk. There were others conversations that surprised the heck out of me. I would say that I agree with about 99% of what the four had to say about religion. I just didn't understand why Dawkins found nothing wrong with grace prayers before eating. He didn't explain it much, other than saying that grace to him were empty words and as an Atheist he can say empty words. I honestly don't find them empty words if you take God out of the grace before meals. It is more of a personal thank you to the hard working farmers and nature. Those are the two elements that made the meal possible why ruin perfect thanks to God? that would make meaningful words empty words indeed.

Gifts from Above

Well, not really - more like California. I purchased two items from richarddawkins.net. I ordered the A for Atheist lapel pin and The Four Horsemen DVD. The one thing that took me by surprise was that I got also the AAI Conference DVD as well and I didn't order it. I guess someone working at the store is really passionate about giving away free stuff.

I really need to find time to watch these DVDs and read all the books I picked up. So far right now I am on the third chapter of The Origin of Species; Finished A Letter to A Christian Nation in one read; read a few pages of Nothing to be Frightened of by Julian Barnes; and I have The Blind Watchmaker unopened, but I am eager to read. I am treating The Origin of Species like a school text book and reading a chapter every week. It's too large of a book to digest in one sitting. I am debating whether I should pick up Richard Dawkins The God Delusion, because I remember watching a BBC special witht he same title. Is the content in that video be a true representation of the book? I cannot decided at the moment, because I am absolutely swamped - both with work and reading during leisure time. Although, all of these books are extremely antithetical, I do indulge in fiction books as well.

I am 2/3 done Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. I never read the book in my life. The book is littered with misery, helplessness and religion. For some odd reason, I actually enjoy the book. I think it's because Dickens knows how to paint a picture with words. The first chapter sealed the deal with me with his writing style. I also have in my posession the three books from Lord of the Rings, but those will be read much later on this year or possibly next year. I've watched the films first and always wondered what Tolkien wrote to illustrate the world of Middle Earth and aided Peter Jackson in his vision. The last of the new books I have in my posession is the Swiss Family Robinson in a small almost leather bound soft covered book I bought from the Goodwill. I heared good things about Swiss Family Robinson from fellow peers.

Question: Have you read any Antithetical books that inspired your transformation?

Maharaji?

Flipping through the channels I stumble upon a broadcast of one man on a podium. His words are eloquent, precise and clear. On the bottom right hand corner of the screen the words "Words of Peace" are permanently placed in position. 'Uh oh' I think to myself, 'another televangelist.' Curious as I always am I try to wait for his next spout of god propaganda.

I listen and wait for the key word, but it never appears. He begins by saying "Peace is not exclusive to any religion. Peace can be achieved by you and I." I sit there attentively trying to wait for the words among his long list of colourful metaphors. When he speaks, he is a very passionate speaker. He holds on the every important word and pauses dramatically to leave some rhetorical thought. It's odd, if this man hadn't said "Life is a [divine] miracle" I probably would have listened to the whole broadcast.

I was of course watching Prem Rawat, the guru, speaking to a large crowd of people at a peace event. There's no doubt that Rawat means good with his teachings, but it seems a bit washy with very banal observations about life. I think the only thing that may be of attraction to his speech would be his colourful metaphors about existence and the human race as a beautiful garden with a gardener. If I didn't know any better I would have fallen into his trap and purchased all his books and tapes about achieving inner peace. It's amazing what a little charisma can do.

I often wonder how Atheist charisma could be presented. Trying to imagine Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris to do what Parem Rawat does for his awakening methods would cause the mind to explode. These three are with a passion against religion, yet they do not succumb to impassioned speeches to prove a point. It really is for those listening to find what drives them to listen. During a Q& A session in Lynchburg, Kentucky, I found myself cheering on Dawkin's responses to the religious while he would calmly state his case without unnecessary filler. Religion or so called enlightenment speeches always seem to be all about sprinkling the truth with spectacle; while the other side of the coin, the truth is more of the spectacle without unnatural emphasis put upon by the speaker. The lies are the ones that need sugar coating.

Sam Harris: Letter to a Christian Nation

I finished reading Sam Harris' book Letter to a Christian Nation. While there was nothing jarring about his writing, because my views are similar to his views on Christianity, one more understand that this literally is a letter to the Christian Nation. When reading this book, you need to place yourself in a Christian mentality. Once you do that, you will understand how controversial the book is. Of course, the book is titled Letter to a Christian Nation, therefore if you are not Christian you need not worry about its contents, but if you are of any religion, this book concerns you as well.

The book reads as a response to all the hate mail from Christians fuming about his previous book End of Faith. Letter to a Christian Nation, is not at all a hard read. I personally zipped through the book in about three hours. It was almost like reading a 90 minute play, except the characters in the book were the religious and the spectators were you and I who are religion-free.

There may be those who will argue that Harris focuses on the negativity of some scripture doctrine, but think about it this way; if doctrine has negativity in it's writing and it's set in stone, then why are you following it in the first place? If the Bible is holy, then why is God a pretentious ass in the Old Testament and Jesus supports slavery and symbolic cannibalism of his body in the New Testament? Let me understand this, you as a Christian will pull on a dumb-show at mass every Sunday to eat the body and blood of Christ through transubstantiation. Does this practice not seem a little odd even for a blessing from a god? If you can keep your flesh eating symbol, then I am going to keep my First-person Shooting and Free-Roaming video games. The Christian bigot Jack Thompson, believes that video games are simulators creating killing machines. Well, let me be the first to say that Christians practice and simulate the act of cannibalism. Symbol or not, the act of presenting one's flesh and blood as a gift flashes images of crimson puddles, bruised flesh, bone and sinew. Seems more of a hellish dinner nightmare than a privilege to dine with the Son of God. Are you sure it was your God and not your Devil?

Harris not only attacks the scriptures, but he also attacks the fundamentalists who believe in Intelligent Design (ID). I am still reading The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin and I can see why the book was a paradigm shifter. While you can still argue over Darwin's Theory, there have been great advancements since The Origin of Species. DNA, Deoxyribonucleic Acid, the building blocks of life; medical advancements in vaccines; Unlocking the gnome, etc. All these discoveries and developments have all been lead by the notion of Darwin's findings. I specifically want talk about DNA, because this is important. Discovering the building blocks that make you and me -well, you and me -should have been the break in the religious fabric. Yet, looking back, the discovery was in its infancy. But, because of advancements in that field, scientist were able to do something Darwin couldn't prove: All living species are connected. How can the Religious Reich explain why we share DNA similarities with aquatic mammals to the small rodents? [link] Fundamentalists will say that the data means nothing within their doctrine. Why should it? It's impossible to feed a closed fish tank. Liberals and moderates will explain the mystery of god and the world and how these discoveries were put there by Him for us to tinker with as long as we don't go too far. Similar genetic markers between humans and other mammals isn't even news, these claims have been made even before I was born, but I am baffled that DNA never changed the minds of the religious. There obviously needs to be some sort of frontier that needs to be set and I believe we only have to look to the stars.

I'm going to end my comments here about Harris' book. Let me digress and ask you this: Who will bring us upward towards the stars and live within another domain? If your response is God.... then God help you. The answer is science. Humanity has had a slow progression in space exploration to Mars, because of constrictions. When I say constrictions, I talk about the public opinion, the government and the religious. Yes, this is more bashing towards the religious, because it is fundamentally their doing that we as a species haven't advanced further after our moon missions. NASA is an American institution in the wrong place or should I say shrouded in a majority population of devout Christians. These majority Christians won't support science, unless they're threatened with a deadly disease. What reason do they have to support space exploration and support leaving the planet their God gave to them as His gift? I think Stephen Hawking was right in saying that if humanity doesn't ascend into the stars we will most definitely falter as a species. While Earth has been a wonderful home, we must expand. God will not bring us to Mars, nor will he create livable habitats on its surface. Science and engineering will do the planning and construction. We all need to realize that Humanity was not placed in this universe on a silver plate by a invisible being, nor were we spoon fed doctrine by Him as well. We all need to realize that it is in our power to better ourselves and science has shown that the impossible is possible. If we all lived by doctrine, especially our scientists, then our world would stay flat without any advancements to improve our way of living. Let's tell the Christians the live like the Amish, because that is fundamentally what they want the world to regress into. There are those who often say, "Look around you and tell me that god didn't make those." I say, "While it is debatable, He didn't make those things. If it wasn't for science you wouldn't know its history or how it worked. It's as if God gave you a gift without any instructions."
I often look at this photograph [currently my wallpaper] and marvel at its beauty. This is a picture taken from the Mars Rover in 2005 of the Martian sunset. Mars' crimson sky graying into a blue haze towards the suns almost makes you wish you were there. This image alone enhances my perception of our solar system and universe. What seemed like science fiction becomes science fact. When we colonize Mars, let's see how the religious port their doctrine to those born on the Martian surface.