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What's this about "Free Thoughts"? Well, this is where you find out how crazy I really am. Actually, freethinking is thrilling like nothing else. Inexpensive thrills but by no means cheap. Just free your thoughts from the shackles of convention, of authority, of the stifling comfort of believing what others believe. One note: In my meditations I try to dissociate myself from my religious beliefs, to which, as I age, I've tried desperately to cling. I had a nutty (like self) acquaintance from Ibiza, Spain. We exchanged a lot of ideas but once I told her that I thought humans were nothing more than glorified machines, and that was it. She said I made her want to vomit. After firing a few succulent insults at me, she pretty much made it clear that I, an inferior being, need not contact her again. I didn't. To be fair, I have to say that I've had many contacts from Spain and, with that one exception, they've all been great. In fact, with a Biologist from Monforte, who accepts me as the conscious machine that I am, I developed a friendship which I'll always cherish on the intellectual and human level. I'm a tad eccentric in my ways of thinking, but I consider myself generally VERY skeptical. For instance, regarding the Hoolie-Woochie of UFOs, I don't think they're machines piloted by ET's. And I don't think ET's have visited or are visiting us by any means. I'd love to have them come around, but it's just not happening. Yet. However, I'm dead certain that we're not alone in this universe. It's just too darn big. We can't make the mistake we have made countless times throughout history. The mistake of thinking that mankind is somehow unique and holds a unique place in the order of things. Surely one day we'll confirm that we're just a run-of-the-mill civilization in this vast universe. We live in a wonderfully mysterious universe. One can just sit down, start thinking, and be overcome with a feeling of awe. And even a touch of the creeps. Relativity and Quantum Mechanics rule the universe but they're far from intuitive. Especially the latter. The Wave-Particle Duality, for instance, is chillingly odd. Non-locality is hair-raising. Richard Feynman, Nobelist Physicist, a warm and fun human being who followed the beat of a different drummer, once said "... I think I can safely say that nobody understands Quantum Mechanics". Consciousness, another very odd thing that we all experience, is so strange that until recently science considered it imponderable and didn't even try to study it. We don't know exactly what it is or how it is produced. Or even why. Is Free Will real or an illusion? Is the theory of evolution on solid grounds with its Natural Selection or is there a deeper explanation for what has developed in nature? Why is the DNA double helix preponderantly right-handed? See the Left-Handed DNA Hall of Fame . Is Time infinite? Why is there such perfect balance between protons and electrons in the universe? Is time travel possible? Does that button that you push when you want to cross the street ever really work? :) The list of mysteries is endless... But, since you're nice enough to be reading this, let me tell you what the Supreme Mystery is: The mere existence of it all. Of the universe itself. It is mysterious, complex, huge, wonderful, incomprehensible... With all its laws of physics, mathematics, logic, etc. And it's here. But, where did it come from? Why is it here? How is it here? Why is it the way it is? Why is there something rather than nothing? I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about these things. If we go back in time to the Big Bang, we face a stone wall. What happened in the eternity before that? Did time exist? Where did whatever exploded come from? Can the universe exist without conscious beings to contemplate it? Perhaps these things are... UNKNOWABLE??? Scary, isn't it? But God created it all, you say. Well, I'm not an unbeliever, but if we are to make progress in finding answers to transcendental questions, including the ultimate truth, we can't simply say "God did it" every time we face something seemingly inexplicable. I do know that it may not be possible to prove or disprove the existence of God. Most of us simply believe from faith. In my humble opinion, man (or woman) is not intelligent enough to draw definitive conclusions about the existence or non-existence of God. But, whatever our belief is, we are left with an ultimate mystery: Where did the universe come from or... where did God come from? If you like to think, come back now and then and read on. And give me some feedback and new ideas. Or maybe... THE Answer. Come, join me in my meditations... |