Never trade the thrills of living for the security of existence.

That pair of eyes. ohmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyygodddddddddd.

"There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before."

Sometimes I feel that humans, although portrayed to be much wiser and intelligent than most creatures, although much more knowledgable, have the latest technology, there are things we can never do as well as animals. Man is all too intelligent for his own good.

Ricky Gervais: Why I’m an Atheist

Why don’t you believe in God?

I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming and pointless. People who believe in God don’t need proof of his existence, and they certainly don’t want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic therefore that “I don’t believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence and from what I’ve heard the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe,” comes across as both patronizing and impolite.

 Arrogance is another accusation. Which seems particularly unfair. Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -­- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leach down your trousers and pray. Whatever you “believe,” this is not as effective as medicine. Again you can say, “It works for me,” but so do placebos. My point being, I’m saying God doesn’t exist. I’m not saying faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I see it all the time. But believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”

This, is of course a spirituality issue, religion is a different matter. As an atheist, I see nothing “wrong” in believing in a god. I don’t think there is a god, but belief in him does no harm. If it helps you in any way, then that’s fine with me. It’s when belief starts infringing on other people’s rights when it worries me. I would never deny your right to believe in a god. I would just rather you didn’t kill people who believe in a different god, say. Or stone someone to death because your rulebook says their sexuality is immoral. It’s strange that anyone who believes that an all-powerful all-knowing, omniscient power responsible for everything that happens, would also want to judge and punish people for what they are. From what I can gather, pretty much the worst type of person you can be is an atheist. The first four commandments hammer this point home. There is a god, I’m him, no one else is, you’re not as good and don’t forget it. (Don’t murder anyone, doesn’t get a mention till number 6.)

When confronted with anyone who holds my lack of religious faith in such contempt, I say, “It’s the way God made me.”

But what are atheists really being accused of?

The dictionary definition of God is “a supernatural creator and overseer of the universe.” Included in this definition are all deities, goddesses and supernatural beings. Since the beginning of recorded history, which is defined by the invention of writing by the Sumerians around 6,000 years ago, historians have cataloged over 3700 supernatural beings, of which 2870 can be considered deities. So next time someone tells me they believe in God, I’ll say “Oh which one? Zeus? Hades? Jupiter? Mars? Odin? Thor? Krishna? Vishnu? Ra?…” If they say “Just God. I only believe in the one God,” I’ll point out that they are nearly as atheistic as me. I don’t believe in 2,870 gods, and they don’t believe in 2,869.

I used to believe in God. The Christian one that is.

I loved Jesus. He was my hero. More than pop stars. More than footballers. More than God. God was by definition omnipotent and perfect. Jesus was a man. He had to work at it. He had temptation but defeated sin. He had integrity and courage. But He was my hero because He was kind. And He was kind to everyone. He didn’t bow to peer pressure or tyranny or cruelty. He didn’t care who you were. He loved you. What a guy. I wanted to be just like Him.

One day when I was about 8 years old, I was drawing the crucifixion as part of my Bible studies homework. I loved art too. And nature. I loved how God made all the animals. They were also perfect. Unconditionally beautiful. It was an amazing world.

I lived in a very poor, working-class estate in an urban sprawl called Reading, about 40 miles west of London. My father was a laborer and my mother was a housewife. I was never ashamed of poverty. It was almost noble. Also, everyone I knew was in the same situation, and I had everything I needed. School was free. My clothes were cheap and always clean and ironed. And mum was always cooking. She was cooking the day I was drawing on the cross.

I was sitting at the kitchen table when my brother came home. He was 11 years older than me, so he would have been 19. He was as smart as anyone I knew, but he was too cheeky. He would answer back and get into trouble. I was a good boy. I went to church and believed in God -– what a relief for a working-class mother. You see, growing up where I did, mums didn’t hope as high as their kids growing up to be doctors; they just hoped their kids didn’t go to jail. So bring them up believing in God and they’ll be good and law abiding. It’s a perfect system. Well, nearly. 75 percent of Americans are God-­‐fearing Christians; 75 percent of prisoners are God-­‐fearing Christians. 10 percent of Americans are atheists; 0.2 percent of prisoners are atheists.

But anyway, there I was happily drawing my hero when my big brother Bob asked, “Why do you believe in God?” Just a simple question. But my mum panicked. “Bob,” she said in a tone that I knew meant, “Shut up.” Why was that a bad thing to ask? If there was a God and my faith was strong it didn’t matter what people said.

Oh…hang on. There is no God. He knows it, and she knows it deep down. It was as simple as that. I started thinking about it and asking more questions, and within an hour, I was an atheist. Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa? Yes, of course, but who cares? The gifts kept coming. And so did the gifts of my new found atheism. The gifts of truth, science, nature. The real beauty of this world. I learned of evolution -– a theory so simple that only England’s greatest genius could have come up with it. Evolution of plants, animals and us –- with imagination, free will, love, humor. I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live.

And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer and pizza are all good enough reasons for living. But living an honest life -– for that you need the truth. That’s the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.

So what does the question “Why don’t you believe in God?” really mean. I think when someone asks that they are really questioning their own belief. In a way they are asking “what makes you so special? “How come you weren’t brainwashed with the rest of us?” “How dare you say I’m a fool and I’m not going to heaven, f— you!” Let’s be honest, if one person believed in God he would be considered pretty strange. But because it’s a very popular view it’s accepted. And why is it such a popular view? That’s obvious. It’s an attractive proposition. Believe in me and live forever. Again if it was just a case of spirituality this would be fine.

“Do unto others…” is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is -­‐ a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. “Do this or you’ll burn in hell.”

You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.

 One of the best.

 

"No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings." - William Blake

I love you!! <3

Heartfelt

Today passed by too quickly. As far as I can remember, it started with seeing many familiar faces; all with the same expressions. It all happened too soon and the grief all around me almost brought me to tears even though I wasn't closely connected. All I could do was to give a pat on their shoulders and hope they stay strong.

My heart sank when I saw B light a stick. It was unexpected but I could understand why. I hope he's fine though. I always regarded you as someone important and I know very well that I am not as important to you, but you have matured so much since I last saw you, no longer a boy who swears and curses. Stay strong bro.

I felt strong emotions within strangers, even people whom I don't know and yet we could tell how pain was it for his sister, but I will never know how much. I am happy that as friend, I was able to send him off.

Losing someone dear is painful. For each life lost, people around learn something. I believe everyone today has learnt something from it. Cherish and appreciate, for you will never know when will be the last time you are able to do anything you want. I sincerely hope Nigel's family stay strong, and may he rest in peace, knowing that he will always be remembered by the people who love him.

This is for you too, Eugin. Thank you for letting us learn to treasure and appreciate the friendship among us 6 Wisdom. You will always be loved and remembered.

On Singapore

"I am not actually a brave man. But I love Singapore and I love Singaporeans."- Fighting for 29 years and counting, Mr Chiam See Tong.

A man of wisdom, a man who truly deserves respect.

People may support different parties. There are friends who support the PAP and those who are for the opposition parties. Regardless of which party we support, I don't think it is wise to be arguing or lashing out at anyone who doesn't agree with anyone else just because they support different parties.

We come from different backgrounds and we all have different statuses, it may be in terms of social standing, wealth, occupation, etc. Current policies may or may not benefit us, that is very subjective. For those who benefit from the policies, obviously they wouldn't want a change. That goes without saying for those who don't benefit. There are indeed people who just look at the mainstream media and just treat it that they have 'all the resources needed'. There are people who blindly support. There are people who go with the crowd. You call them daft Singaporeans. But just as there are 'daft Singaporeans' who are pro-PAP, there are also similarly daft ones supporting the oppositions.

That being said, the main thing isn't to prove who is right and who is wrong. You can support whoever you want, as long as you think that is the party which best represents you. I hate to see Singaporeans being divided when times like General Elections come. Aren't we small enough? Why the hate? Just learn to understand that not everyone suffers from the policies, and not everyone benefits from it as well. There are two sides to a coin.


I just saw a video on Mr Chiam speaking on the recent White Paper. And I really admire his spirit. Despite suffering a stroke before, with all the constant pressure put on him as one of the few opposition parties in Parliament, along with Workers Party Mr Low Thia Kiang, it is rare and amazing to see such a commendable character in Singapore. He may be weak physically but he is strong-willed. I feel sad for the fact that people chose to boot him out from GE2011. Nevertheless, I believe he has won many hearts of young Singaporeans.

I always thought of Singapore to be, a corporation. And day by day I feel that it feels more and more like it. The country is focused on staying competitive. GDP, GDP, GDP. The lives of Singaporeans, such tolling lives, are but mere digits... easily replaced and filled up by people from overseas. I feel sad to see such statistics on paper. 6.5 mil, 6.9 mil, they can just adjust and set it as a target to fulfill. Lol. Giving extra incentives for people to have more kids just so to increase population size to solve the ageing population problem. It feels like a tool, just to solve problems for the country. Does it mean that people are expected to have kids because of extra incentives instead of feeling the need to have a family? Sigh.

There are people who believe that political issues are out of their concern and we are just talking about it once every 5 years. There are people who think that all these talks and speech will not affect them at all. I can only say, by the time they realise that these things are indeed affecting them, it will be too late. Today you may be taking money from your parents and all you worry about are exams and grades. In 5 years' time, the things that you worry about will not be just that. Your parents will stop giving you money. Your worries will not revolve around getting As or Bs in your transcripts. You will start to think about job prospects, cost of living, housing, loans... Maybe it's too early. But in 5 years' time your mindset will change. Don't be too early to say this isn't any of your business.

There will be more to come in GE2016 I believe. It will be something spectacular.

"Animals don't bite. Humans do."

One of the best things in life is the simplicity in animals.