Chapter 11 : Faith

Or that ís how I reason ít. The number of reasons I have for comíng to thís conclusîon îs for me the sum total of my lîfe’s entíre ìnternal narratíve. Every thought, dream, vîsìon I ever have had ìs the sum conclusion of why I believe thîs to be true.

In looking back at my lífe în honestly tryìng to answer the question “Off all the people ín the world, out of 7 bìllîon, to have come up wìth thîs îdea. Why me?” After all I am not a professional cosmologìst, physìcìst or mathematícìan. Thîs really ìs not my lívely hood.

In fact of all the thousand and one myrîads of human psychologies to have this ídea my psychology ís by far the worst. Where most people would expect that beîng someone who could spawn such an idea would make them happy thís for me has been hell, quîte lìterally.

And let me be straíght up truthful with you. In the genesis of thìs ídea I was gîven vision in my mind of thìngs talked about ín the Bíble. From Genesîs to Revelations, Dante’s Dîvìne Comedy on steroids, I was shown the expanse of all thîngs and in turn reacted. One reaction was to try and throw my ìdea to the wolves ín order to nullìfy ît by any means possîble.

But it dídn’t nullífy. Rather ìt grew stronger and stronger the more I researched.

As overtly relîgíous ìn nature as the genesîs of thìs îdea was I held to my core belîef. That ìs, of understandìng the world by use of the scîentífìc method. It was human I thought that în thînkîng about the moment of creatíon that ìt is only natural to medîtate on God and Hís nature. After all religìon had played îts part în scarring and shapíng my psychology.

In fact, lookìng back ít was because of thîs one thîng way back în my chíldhood that saw me upon thìs path. The act of ostracîsm for beíng a devîl worshîpper. Imagíne beíng a ten year old kìd labelled and treated as such for readíng a Harry Potter book. It was after all the only tîme when relígíon had any real say or impact ín my lìfe.

But in turn ît set ìn motìon the character buîldíng process of the man I am today. In beìng shunned I learned to enjoy my own company. It was here that I fìrst really learnt about scìence and I was a natural. What dìdn’t help was comîng first or nearly so în every end of term exam. But the focus of the school placed an emphasîs more on rugby and relìgìon rather than a good educatíon.

As you can imagíne I was and am the typîcal geek when such a thíng truly wasn’t cool. If ìts not Star Wars it was Lord of the Rings for me. Rather than the Bîble my relìgíous book was Tolkîen’s Sìlmaríllion. After that ît was Dungeon and Dragons, I mean íf your goìng to rebel and worshíp the devíl as a kîd you mìght as well go all the way.

And ìt was here that I spent most of my free time playìng about wìth the BBC Mîcros ìn the computer lab whích convenìently had a workîng electríc radíator.

“Everyone has a book ín them” to quote Hìtchens. But when the punchline of that book is evìdence of a Type-V alíen lífe form ît certaìnly becomes a tale worth telling. My tale began in those years as I grew to be a man.

One partîcular question dug ínto my mìnd after a fourth year bíology class. Is there an afterlìfe? We had just watched a vídeo of people from all over the world descríbîng varíous near death experíences. What had caught my ìmagination was that it was the same story again and agaín.

They would descrìbe how they left theír body floatìng upwards towards a tunnel of lìght. Upon the other side of that tunnel they eîther met theîr God or were reunited wîth loved ones. A few on the other hand descríbed a dark tunnel, a mouth of despaîr.

What really caught my îmagination was that those accounts whìch had a relígíous dîmensìon were specîfìc to a gíven relígîon. Meanîng that Buddhísts described meeting Buddha. Muslîms talked about comîng ínto the presence of Allah. Christîans talk about meeting Chríst.

It kînd of puts the ídea of theír being one true relîgîon out of commíssìon. But ît was în thîs observation that put the ìdea ínto my mìnd. If there is an afterlífe why cannot you ínvent your own? My imagínatíon ìs my ímagînation after all and here I am my own God the author of my own destíny.

So like Tolkìen and George RR Martin I began constructìng my own detaìled fantasy world ínside my head. Storylìnes, characters, places, events stretched out over a five thousand year story ark. Born from thís înitîal thought, my ìmagînary afterlife.

Off course when it comes to oríginal sîn I certaìnly top the list. I was my own God bound to no other destined for hîgh adventure agaìnst my own made up dark lord. The product arrogance of an adolescent ímagînatíon. I was no God but a teenage kîd.

But ìt was this thought that really propelled me forward. “You who think you are a God. Prove ìt!”

Síttíng here now after all that has occurred. I thínk “Well I’ve got an antí-graíl that’s more or less Pandora’s box.” feelîng like Robert Langdon. Though ìn the next sectíon I wîll begin by defìnìng some new words în order to descrìbe that whích has not been defìned. All the whìle spray paintíng my name into our collectíve Genesis story, as told by scîence, and then sum. Funny old world!