Concerning Friends and Phonecalls

On the 21st of January 2011, Lank Moody launched with little fanfare. I ranted about how I was going to bitch and complain about local celebrities. Today, I'm a little more mellow on the topics concerning my own personal experiences and I guess just basic thoughts on life. A lot has happened for me since January, some regrettable and some unforgettable, but one thing remains and that's the ability to document my experiences on the blog. Mostly cause someone out there might identify, or even just give a knowing nod of "A-ha."

Today, the blog has grown quite a bit. In the short space of time we've been up, with the limited exposure I've given the blog (choosing only to share on Facebook and most recently Twitter) we've seen quite a steady increase in traffic as more and more people decide to check out the blog regularly.

I don't track my own hits...just by the way.

To a more seasoned blogger, these hits may seem like peanuts, but I'm encouraged by the steady increase in traffic. It seems to rising steadily, but I'm not about to get comfortable now. I'd like to let you guys in on a feature I'm hoping to implement in the next week or two. It's exciting because even YOU can get involved, it's an open invitation to the world for a conversation about the world.

Skype Goats (working title) will be a feature I add once a week to begin with. I will call a willing stranger or friend and record the conversation (audio only) we have about life, the world or whatever comes up inbetween. That conversation will be uploaded here and will be free to listen to like any other podcast, except it's just a conversation between two people.

If you would like to be a conversational partner, add me on Skype @ deadrebelza. Look out for this sometime next week, time permitting.

I have another project for the blog in the pipeline, but as it comes closer to a reality, I shall talk more about it.

Cake Nazis (Can I say Nazis?)

You ever been in two minds about something? This cake or that cake, hmmm. Both cakes look so good, but you can only choose one; the cake Nazi is standing by to fry the cake you don't eat. Bad example? Probably, but the point remains. Whether the decision is trivial or one that can ultimately change your life, it's not a fun place to be.

I actually found a picture of a Nazi cake!?

I have a very real cake decision to make and I'm at odds with myself. I should drop this cake thing. Let's say a decision that concerns both your heart and your mind needs to be made. You want to follow your heart, in this case heart is the compassionate caring for others side of things. You also want to follow your head, the logical self-preservation side of things. You follow your heart, you could do a lot of good in someone's life and the pay off will come about later when you can be proud of yourself. You follow your head, you save yourself from a lot of emotional complications and you do what's best for you.

The problem is both decisions might have very real life-long implications starting now, but you can only choose one path. Scientifically speaking, proven by psychology, they say the complex decisions in life should be made by the gut and not by a logical decision because the result is almost always more positive for the decision maker. Problem is, I can't actually identify what my gut is telling me because I want both outcomes.

"You can't always get what you want, but if your try sometimes; well you might find, you get what you need."

-Grand Philosopher Jagger.

So what decision am I going to make? Well, for now the best decision I can make is to not make one at all. I'm going to take a step back, gain some perspective, take a break, breathe in and out, center myself, do a backflip, party hard, spoil myself, then stop...and trick myself into a gut decision when I least expect it.

Force my impulse to do something useful for a change.

Peanut Butter or Cheese?

"Faith is the art of holding onto things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods." 

- C.S Lewis

Time to tackle something I don't often talk openly about, faith/religion/ritualistic belief. Whatever you call it (philosophy of religion works for me), it's not something that I like to write about because at the end of the post it sounds like I've come to a conclusion; conclusions are unnecessarily definite. Ever questioning our world is the best way to earnestly learn about it. It's the people who conclude they are superior and chuck a burning tire around the curious that we should fear, not the curious ones.

They always kill the good guys.

My object today isn't to convince, but to share a view that might resonate or stir some discussion about the most important of questions, God. Who/what/where is God? Hundreds of thousands have died defending their ideals and belief in God since the dawn of time. I honestly don't think I need to convince anyone of it's importance, so I won't bother trying.

In modern times Atheism is picking up quite a bit momentum and I guess that's understandable. As the human race as a whole gets more educated and exposed to the media, the less 'naive' and more cynical we seems to get. "How can a loving God allow such suffering?" "There's no proof that is measurable to a human being that He exists so believing in him is stupid." You hear a lot of perfectly reasonable questions and statements from people; if that is how they feel then it's no wonder they can't bring themselves to believe in a God. I do however worry about some of the bitter, more intolerant Atheists that seem to be becoming the face of Atheism. If you don't believe in God by all means don't, but when you start belittling other people's faith needlessly then you err on the side of arrogance.

Way to respect each other guys...

On the other hand, it's becoming harder than ever for most religions to keep up with the times. A lot of religions are having to make compromises to avoid straying into hate speech or even all out violence. Some religions are fighting modern times in a very dangerous external way. For them it's not a case of questioning inwardly, but taking a knife to the unbeliever's throat. Herein lies the a strong argument against God. How can a loving God promote violence, even if only to keep man-made traditions alive in modern times. So by fighting to prove God's existence you only give the other side of the argument more leverage. A silent pious faith can change hearts and minds, violence can only change the vitality of the body.

Waging war with peace before it was cool.

So what do I believe? I believe we can never fully comprehend God because we are His creations. Can a sandwich understand why I chose to have peanut butter instead of cheese? Not likely and yet it's similar for us; we cannot comprehend something not within the realm of our own understanding. We know the universe we live in has rules because those rules are proven. Gravity, momentum, speed of light, etc. These rules are ones we learn through life experience. They didn't come down from the sky to be written on stone tablets. If I put a gun to my temple and believe the bullet won't exit the chamber and then pull the trigger, I'm an idiot and deserve the bullet. At the same time, our intellect and understanding of our universe is as ever expanding as the universe itself. We don't, can't and never will know everything about the universe so how can we possibly understand the creator of it?

The blog has gone on a bit and I didn't really get to elaborate on my beliefs, but there's plenty of time. My point for today though is if anyone has ever ended another person's life because of a limited understanding of God or concept of God, then that is a life wasted to ignorance and stupidity. It breaks my heart that is continues on in the way it does even today. God doesn't belong to any of us.