YOU are a beautiful person.

I believe that man is inherently good.

I would say that it started with my older brother telling me that Santa doesn’t exist when I was four. I found it hard to accept at first, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. After some contemplation as time went on, I considered that maybe my stuffed animals didn’t actually have a party every night while I slept… Upon further reflection it didn’t seem very realistic. Superstition and luck soon became a subject of my skepticism. Simple random chance and probability gladly took their place in my mind, leaving no room for the concept of fate. A few years later, I started seeing suspicious similarities between ‘the man in the red suit’ and ‘the man upstairs’, and despite my mother’s strong disapproval and concern for my soul, that began the end of my faith in religion. However, my belief in the soul survived that revelation somehow, only to die due to my growing scientific knowledge and more common sense in the years that followed. We are nothing more than our physical selves. Along with the soul, went my belief of soul mates, true love, even the irreplacibility of people. I was understandably disappointed with this new reality I saw at first. I wanted my life to be meaningful and significant. I wanted everything to happen for a reason. I wanted to find ‘the one’ person I was meant to be with. I wanted my loved ones to watch over me when they died. I wanted to watch over my loved ones when I died. I didn’t want death to just end everything. My mortality and the mortality of others began to scare me. It became my ultimate goal to leave something behind, to make a contribution. But I realized that it was completely impossible to make the kind of impact I strived to make because no one could. Our species, all life, and this entire planet are just a tiny part of an infinite universe that continues to exist, completely unaffected by anything and everything that we see as important. I was devastated by that thought. Life seemed hopeless, pointless. I’ve kind of gotten over it though, I guess. So here I am; applying my makeup and hanging out with friends and preparing for my pathetic, insignificant future.  But I never forget that I’m part of this mind-bogglingly complex and cohesive world. Sometimes I like to just step back and consider what I am and what’s around me. I’m always left in awe. People criticize the way I see things, calling it dull or cynical or pessimistic. But I think it’s absolutely beautiful; everything’s existence, the way matter and energy interact so perfectly.  Everything may not happen for some divine reason, but there is a reason for everything that happens; cause and effect. I don’t need for there to be magic or miracles, or a Santa Clause or a God to see that our world is incredible. We exist. Now that is magical.

Pastafarianism

I am a proud member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. We believe that the universe and all its inhabitants were created by an omniscient, invisible, flying spaghetti monster. He invented science only to test our faith, but I’m not fooled by all that nonsense. Just because we can’t see him doesn’t mean he’s not there. Have you ever seen a million dollars ? Probably not. Do you doubt that a million dollars exists ? Of course not ! I know that he’s up there in the sky watching over his masterpiece. You can’t prove that it isn’t true, so it must be true. Right ?..