Odds and Sods

SWIMMING

I really had to force myself to go this morning and it took about 10 lengths before it stopped hurting. I won't be able to get to the pool now until Sunday, hence making myself go today. Swimming in the early morning is proving much better than last thing in the day. My BP today was 116/56 with a pulse of 53. Not bad going.

DOG SHOW

I have a dog show tomorrow, 154 miles away at Newby Hall. Only Micah is going. Shameless is a 'gawky teenager' at 9mths and she just had her first season so she is all over the place.

ATHEISM

Many people wrongly assume I am an atheist. I am not. Or rather I might be. Nothing is that simple. I don't know one way or the other and whilst I can suffer from arrogance just like anyone else, my arrogance does not extend to saying I know there is a God or that there isn't one.

Of one thing I am almost certain - we all survive physical death.

I often wish it were not so. I was very very angry and more than a little afraid when I had the experience which indicated strongly that physical death was not the extinguishing of self. Since that time I have had many many more experiences, shared with and experienced by John, which all indicate the same thing. Both of us have thought our way around this, through it, dismissed it, researched it, then experienced it over and over till we cannot find another explanation for it other than we do indeed survive physical death.

And that the surviving of death has nothing whatever to do with what we believe.

Those who see me as being anti religion are correct. I think religion is pernicious, an evil force upon the psyche of humankind. Those who argue that our values and morals come from religion are mistaken, don't understand humankind or it's history and clearly do not see what is around them.

So the above is my answer to those who have not been able to get their head around what I believe in.

I believe in Good, the power of Goodness. I believe we are all connected, we all come from the same source. If you like, we are all drops of water and the Ocean is our source and our power. I believe we are each personally responsible for ourselves, that we each reap the results of our beliefs and actions-positively and negatively. No one pays for us. That it takes much much more than is possible in even the longest lifetime to achieve wholeness. That growth is continuous, even after we leave our bodies.

I don't believe in gurus, gods, miracle workers, leaders, clerics. I do not follow anyone. I live according to my own conscience, which is the only thing I can do. It is also the only thing you can do, even if you think you are living by a code written down elsewhere. You live according to your conscience regardless. Maybe not well, or happily, and even maybe in a way that damages others, but it is still yours.

So are we clear now? ;-)