I sat through a really impressive yet intellectual take on existentialism this morning and it was fairly good. Our speaker was a clinical psychologist and he spoke about death and it's pertinence to Alzheimer's. He explored
and questioned man's fear of death and the common reaction that death is a negative event.
He unashamedly verbalized our secret fears of being forgotten and ceasing to exist ever again in this world, he talked about and is challenging us really on a paradigm shift from mainstream thinking that Alzheimer's is not a disease process but is in fact natural- that it simply is age-related decline which eventually leads to mortality. He presented facts as well and believe you me they were facts- statistics and research findings which suggests a conspiracy theory- that someone is medicalizing the natural process of ageing and hitherto getting funded billions of dollars for the quest for a cure...for which there never will be. That is the summary of his thoughts minus the PC of it all.
His speech blew me away because i enjoy listening to lateral thinkers, by far he is one of the 3 people that has truly impressed me academically speaking...However- (there's a catch, see...LOL) let me shy away now from his take on Alzheimer's as i agree with every bit of it and although I agree with 80% of what he said, I disagree with some of his personal opinion on spirituality. I wasn't surprised that before he began his spiel on death and man's denial about death, he discredited- for lack of a better word- the 'notion' of God and strengthened his supposition with atheistic quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche and Douglas Adams. He professed that he has no religious beliefs whatsoever which in my mind is stating the obvious already.
Hmmm...there's that bad seed being subtly planted, uh-oh...
Therein lies the irony- that as much as they are trying to prove that men dodge the abstract truth and reality of death despite the fact that 'we will all die anyway', they are doing the exact same thing by denying themselves the truth about God and eternal life. The existence of God is not dependent on our personal or popular opinion- it does not matter whether we believe it or not, He exists anyway.
They are actually robbing themselves of that great opportunity to go beyond the veil, they choose to end their journey here on earth and end their appointment with the grim reaper when we are offered more.
For there is more...there is a God who provided a way for us to step out of time and live eternal lives and we are born on earth to make that decision. All the theories or science in the world could never, try as they might, confound that truth. Faith will always be stronger than carnal, finite opinion.
I think when their eyes open beyond this breathing world, they would cry with horror that they wasted all their life believing the lie that God is but a myth- for He never is nor will He ever be, much to their disappointment. So, I think it would be fitting to end this post with a quote from a former atheist C.S Lewis-
"God will invade.
But I wonder whether people who ask God
to interfere openly and directly
in our world quite realise what it will be like
when He does.
When that happens, it is the end of the world.
When the author walks on to the stage the play is over.
God is going to invade, all right:
but what is the good of saying you are on His side then,
when you see the whole natural universe
melting away like a dream and something else -
something it never entered your head to conceive -
comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us
and so terrible to others that none of us
will have any choice left?
For this time it will be God without disguise;
something so overwhelming that it will strike
either irresistible love or irresistible horror
into every creature.
It will be too late then to choose your side.
There is no use saying you choose to lie down
when it has become impossible to stand up.
That will not be the time for choosing;
it will be the time when we discover which side
we really have chosen,
whether we realised it before or not.
Now, today, this moment,
is our chance to choose the right side.
God is holding back to give us that chance.
It will not last for ever.
We must take it or leave it."
~C.S. Lewis
