It’s the end of the world
April 13, 2000
While studying for my finance final, I listened to the Art Bell show, one of the last hosted by Art Bell himself (he retires on the 26th). The topic of the night was religion based, with prophecies of the impending doom of the world, mentions of the Third Secret of Fatima, and such.
The guest, Kathleen Keating, presents her case and claims that “It’s going to be a free for all for our souls” between God and the Antichrist who is alive right now. She gives her thought on all sorts of questions but sometimes doesn’t answer the question clearly.
For example, children of alcholics sometimes are born alcoholics themselves. Why are children, who are born pure of evil thought, sins, and such, punished for something their parents did? How can such a loving God do this to a new soul that just entered the world? Art himself questioned Kathleen about it and her answer was rather ambiguous and did not answer the question to a satisfactory degree.
Anyway, my point of this rant is that there’s so many people out there who claim the world is going to end or Armageddon is among us, Judgment Day is near, etc etc. I personally do believe in a God, but my idea of God is not typical of most religions in that God does not really give a damn whether you go to church or obey strict rules and such. I feel that if you can live your life in a good way (I know… goodness is subjective) and you can face yourself and all that you have done, God won’t send you to hell just because you don’t believe in him. I know a lot of people share my view.
Oh yeah, supposedly, on May 5th, the world is going to end. This was predicted by other people. There is scientific basis to this claim though - on May 5th, 2000, the planets align in a way that [they claim] will alter the Earth’s geomagnetic forces and wreak havoc upon the life on our hurting planet. I do believe Nostradamus also predicted the end to occur at this date and his predictions (written beautifully in quatrains might I add) have an uncanny knack of coming true.
Most people would probably fear the end of life and the possibility of eternal suffering in Hell or whatever such punishment you believe in. I don’t. I’ve done nothing wrong in my life to deserve punishment described by those of the bible. I’ve done shit, but I paid for it in some way. I don’t fear death because I believe in life after death, be it as ghosts, free wandering spirits, winged angels, or reincarnation. And even if death = death and nothing of my consciousness lives on, then you know what? Who cares? If when I die and that’s it, nothing remains of me, then I wouldn’t know it and thus would end my existence.
People fear the unknown and death is pretty much as unknown as you can get. But death is just a natural part of life, on par with birth, puberty, sickness, and aging - there’s nothing to fear in it (unless you die a terrible painful death, then maybe you’ll be a bit averse to death). Embrace the unknown, walk straight, and be brave. This is the wisdom I hope I can impart on anyone who is willing to listen to a 19 year old philosopher.
Humanity at large also tends to view our species as being superior. Perhaps we are, in that our cognitive abilities are unmatched on this planet. I’m well aware that there are some out there who seem as stupid as a common housefly. But don’t we realize that homo sapiens are just another species in evolution and nature?
When our species is eradicated by a vengeful God, hungry aliens, a big space rock, whatever, I think other things will live on. Survival of the fittest isn’t it? Cockroaches have lived past dinosaurs, wooly mammoths, and one day, humans (most likely). So many people think that when WE are extinct, the earth will also be devoid of life and be a hunk of rock floating around. Now that’s ego.
Well, that was my little thought on the matter. I would love to hear from you and hell, I’ll even post up your thought. Send them here.
Ahh fuck [17:24]
All that studying for naught (or is it nought?). Fuck I screwed up. After comparing answers with Andrew (haha I left the exam earlier again), I realized I made many stupid stupid mistakes. All the studying in the world wouldn’t have helped and as such, I’m pissed off at my performance. I demand more out of myself than stupidity, most of the time. Dammit
Anyway, it’s over so now I get a nice break tonight from studying. Then there’s two more exams and then I start work and summer course. Doh.
After the exam, me, Andrew, and Sunny went for lunch at the Flying Beaver (trust me, it’s not a lesbian restaurant or anything like that). Food was ok. Nice nice view with cool seaplanes roaming around. Oh yeah, they have these weird vehicles that tow the planes back to the hangar or drive them to the docks. Imagine a small Nissan pickup truck, now, chop off the back. Yep, chop off the trunk and you’re left with just the front half (2 wheels). Then attach a metal frame thing with wheels to the front and you have the weird vehicle. At first glance, it looked so hilarious. Haha I guess you had to be there.
I remembered about a write I did for Dennis’ About Me page at his site while driving to the exam today and I forgot to put it up here. So it’s here now.
Burning the midnight oil [02:09]
My finance studying ended at 1:45 or so this morning and I then commenced a RANT writing. It’s up. Absorb it loyal visitors. Absorb, ponder, then write back! Tell me what you think of the matter. Contrast and compare ideas. Exchange knowledge. This is the purpose of this site.
I’m tired now and I think I’m getting some hunger pangs. So I’m going to sleep now to slow my metabolism down and maybe I’ll have a cool dream again. Dreams are so cool - it’s like a holodeck you can’t control. Huzzah.
