Religion. Or a lack, thereof.

Being past the half-way point of the human life expectancy and having sat through yet another memorial service a week or so ago, I lay in bed tonight thinking about the end of my own life as I know it. Will I lose all consciousness and fall into the abyss of nothingness, as one friend of mine believes? Or will my idea of "self", my memories, my personality, my being, survive the death of the physical me? 

These are questions I ask myself late at night, when there is no sleep to be had and I know I should be writing these thoughts down. I was brought up in lackadaisical fashion as a Christian. But as I grew and read, and questioned, I found that there were other religions in the world. One thing that stood out to me in most religions as I studied on was the so-called Golden Rule. Do to others as you would have done to you.

 In other words, if you are mean, other people will be mean back and you'll deserve it. Same thing as being nice. Although the niceness doesn't always get you niceness in return. 

But I digress. What happens to the us that is each individual? I believe, now, after many decades of thought, that we do live on as an individual, unique, ready to be reborn in another physical manifestation. Ready to experience all that is good or bad, again. 

 I wonder, though, do you progress as a soul, and become a soul supervisor or super-soul? Maybe it's a growth in spirit much like that of a growth from baby to man. A puling infant, ignorant and demanding, into a thoughtful middle aged person who considers carefully some of the consequences of all actions. To know right from wrong is a taught value, I believe. Perhaps in souls it is the same. Does that explain the person who has no respect for other life? The man who was convicted of animal cruelty, the serial killer who is classified as a psychopath? Are they the newly born soul, or a somehow escaped demonic soul? What happens to them? 

 If you believe eternal life is only to be had by one religion or one particular explanation of some supposed holy writing, I request that you once, at least, take a look at the photos of the Hubble Telescope. I have a photo of Spiral Galaxy M101 on my desktop as I write this. If there is only one person, one holy writing, one belief, what about all the souls that live in the spiral galaxy M101? or the arm of the Milky Way, yet another arm of our home galaxy, containing millions of stars and perhaps billions of planets? Maybe there are billions and billions of souls, just in that galaxy. But look! Beyond that galaxy, there are several others, both old and new. 

I am thinking, when this physical body is done, I will still have my love of travel.

Spring is here. Time for a change

Long ago and far away, .... no, just about 6 years ago I finally decided to lose some weight after looking at a picture of myself busting out of the jeans I was wearing. I am not going to say what size they were or how much I actually weighed. Trust me when I say, it was not pretty, but I wasn't at the point of no return. I was obese but not morbidly so. I had been looking at the South Beach diet book, and I thought for a long time that it was just a big fad. Then I started researching it. Basically, the idea is that all carbohydrates are not equal! I bought the book and read it, and decided to give it a try. 50 pounds and a year or so later, I was fitting into a size that I hadn't seen in years. This lasted for several years and I was able to maintain that weight loss. Then I got a little complacent. I went back to my old ways of eating, and before you knew it, I had gained back some of that weight. Next thing you know, I've gained at least 25 of it back! Yes, it took me a couple years to get there, but last fall, I'd had enough. It's kind of like quitting smoking, though. You need to work on one thing at a time. First, I knew part of my problem was lack of exercise. So I joined a local gym and started working on the weights and the elliptical. I have not been able to turn it into a daily habit, but I do go get some kind of workout in at least three days a week, and then try to do some other activity on two other days. Today I took the dog for a 2.5 mile brisk walk (or at least, mostly brisk. Dog decided he wanted a few minutes in the river by the path). Tomorrow is the pool, and Sunday we'll go skiing. Then, it was time to go back on the strict South Beach way of eating. This week I've shunned all white flour, most carbs except vegetables, and until tonight, no alcohol. So far, I've lost at least 5 pounds. I will weigh myself again next Tuesday and report on my progress. So, this blog for now is a journal of my progress, and a reminder to myself to keep it on track!