Deep Thoughts

Timeless questions about the Universe

This (the article above) is just something to think about. That is, if you think about such things. I often do and I do it without the benefit of great knowledge and learning. Of course, my thoughts are likely wrong-headed because of that lack but it does not keep me from thinking about such matters.

I was asked once by a shipmate what I believed in. What happened after we died. He knew I was atheist, I never kept that a secret during my stint, and he was curious if I had any beliefs at all. I made up something on the spot.

What I told him was something about how matter and energy could not be destroyed, just transformed from one to the other, and that I considered us (human beings) to be a combination of matter and energy. Therefore, we would just  remain part of the universe. It was hippie-dippie crap but he seemed to accept it and as something deep and meaningful. It was the 60's after all. I didn't really believe that at all.

I don't really care what happens after we die. I don't think you can care and remain  atheist.

My father was agnostic, or close to it. I never saw him in, or going to, a church except to attend a wedding or a funeral. He distrusted organized religions but he believed in a Supreme Being. I don't think he knew about my atheism, we certainly never talked about it, but we hardly talked about anything of that nature so that's not a surprise.

But I do think about the questions I think are at the heart of all religions. Why are we here? What is "here" in that context? What is nature?

All of these are part of those questions we have about the Universe (or "multi-verse" as the new consensus seems to be asking).

And we are a curious species... in all the meanings of that phrase.