A Daemon's Notebook entry 1

11/5/08

When i was growing up i can't say i had much in the way of faith. I never had much reason to believe in anything. Near enough to 2 years ago i met someone that changed the way i think about alot of things, and faith was one of them. In a manner of speaking she taught me a very important point: Why should anything need a reason? Why should faith be any different?

That individual has become as important to me as my best childhood friend as well as my closest confidant. Yet it was only half a year or so ago when she told me what she believed in that i began to ask myself what it is i believe. When she asked, i was quite embarrassed to say that i don't really know. Now i think i can answer that question.

I believe any faith in the world is no bad thing if it brings comfort or security, just as long as it isn't at the expence of other people. I believe that there is more to the world than what we can see. I believe there are things we don't see or know for a reason. I believe it should stay that way. I believe there's a God. I believe he/she/it is known all over the world by many different names. I've never met him so i don't presume to call him by any name. 'Father' is my preference since i've not really had much of an single father to look up to and also because it feels the most natural to me.

I don't believe everything that other people claim to know or have read in books. For instance i do not believe the earth was created in the romantic manner suggested in the bible. I have always believed in the big bang theory and the continued expansion of the universe until it expends all of it's energy. At which point everything we know will have a cataclysmic implosion and the whole thing begins again. However, that energy had to come from somewhere and nobody will ever be able to say where. Or at least not until the hereafter anyway.

What do i think will happen after death? I believe in an afterlife. I've always imagined it as being like our most peaceful and serenest of dreams. I believe that as long as you live as a good person and try hard not to harm others or cause trouble, whether you have faith or not then that dream will come true, in one life or the next.

I do not in any form believe in damnation, hell, or any other kind of punishment. But let me run a scenario by you. There are 2 men. The first is a person who has worked their whole life to get what they have. Once in a while he may have done bad things out of anger or sadness, but for the most part he has lived a good life. He has found the love of his life and raised 2 children but he does not have faith of any kind. The second person has barely worked a day in his life. He lives for the thrill of lying, cheating and stealing to get what he has. He exploits the labours of others and lives his entire mortal life like a king off their backs. The second person murders the first for the meagre cash in his pocket. I don't believe that these 2 individuals will meet the same end. I simply can't ever believe that because i believe in justice, whether it is served in this life or another.

So what happens to the second person? I honestly don't know. But unlike the first man, in eternal sleep his dream will not become real.

As a final point in my notes of faith, i will mention something my older brother once said to me. "Unless you see or do something for yourself you do not know anything for sure at all. You only know what other people have told you." For this reason i think everyone should be prepared to question their beliefs and not be afraid to do so. I believe our father would want for us to explore and learn all things for ourselves if we can. As Einstein once said, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."