Mental dialog with Charles

Dear Charles,

It’s nice to have you back with us, hopefully you won’t just vanish again after the lunar new year.

When posting my viewpoint, I have no desire to transform anyone’s ideology or force anyone to divert his belief from Marxist Materialism. The souls, the heaven

, resurrection, are all paranormal phenomenon that cannot be empirically proven

by modern scientific methodologies. We all have free will to either look at these with an open mind, or frivolously disregard them with cynicism and disparagement. There’s certainly more than meets the eye. Have you heard of the vast and

mysterious dark matters recently discovered in our universe? How much more unknown are we yet to explore and discover? And who are we to flippantly discount

the unknown as superstition or general disdain to modern science?

I’ve heard of an analogy that the human brain is like a TV set while

consciousness is like the satellite signals. When the TV is out of order,

it is no longer capable of receiving signals, but we can’t deny the fact

that the signals still exist in the air. I have been wondering that at

the rate computer technology is progressing, is it possible that at some

point in the future we’ll be able to invent computers equipped with so much

computing power that they gain consciousness themselves like the human brain?

By then if we slowly turn off one of such computers, which should resemble

a real human death, let it sit idly for a period of time and turn it back

on, then will we be able to find out what happens to the computer's

consciousness when it is turned off and become lifeless? If so will we be

able to unveil the secret of what happens after death? There was actually

an article in a magazine discussing this kind of mind-boggling futuristichypothesis but couldn’t reach any meaningful conclusion.

In the reign of faith, you really have to seek your own path and attain self-enlightenment. You should never allow anyone to impose any kind of dogmas unto you.

I formed and solidified my faith not through external litanies or preaching, but through my own readings, deliberation and observation. Charles, I have to say

sorry but I’m not in a position to engage in a debate on this divine topic, as

I have no intention to shove my faith down anyone’s throat. One of the benefits

I get from reading English religious books is that it substantially enhances my

English vocabulary, in addition to the inner feeling of peace and contentment that soothes the heart and eases down the mind. Perhaps you should give it a try.

I went to a Buddhist temple last weekend and picked up two English Buddhist books: “How to live without fear and worry” and “What Buddhists believe”. I take this as an opportunity to peep into the fascinating core of Buddhism.

Have you ever wonder where the vast information contains in each DNA come from?

The Supreme Being will NOT simply show up just because we, the relatively primitive humans, ask Him to prove himself, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact

that His fingerprints are left all over His creations on this planet, such as the incredibly informative DNA’s . This reminds me of a proclamation made by a Russian astronaut: “See? There’s no God, I didn’t see Him when I was in orbit.

” How can a mere mortal, although exists outside of Earth at that moment, expect to come into visual contact with a divine being who exists outside of time and

space? Just because the truth is not blatantly visible doesn’t mean there’s

no truth. Perhaps we’re just the blind man trying to describe the elephant by merely touching the various parts. On current developing phrase humans are blindfolded by bigoted conviction in our piddling technology and advancement, hopelessly mired in ignorant complacency and fail to see the forest in lieu of the trees

. I firmly believe there are just too many missing links in Darwin’s natural selection and survival of the fittest theory; the deep riddle of the origin of life (and the destination of death) remains an uncharted territory for science. Atheists may argue that there’s no need to create a God to fill in the gaps of the

unexplainable, but I’d opt for the counter argument that faith picks up what science left off and enables the human spirit to thrive and the quest for truthto sustain well beyond the vale of tear.

Perhaps I should quote some more excerpts from “The case for faith” and “The

case for a Creator” to share with you. I don’t think all religions should be mutually exclusive, and I always try to have due reverence toward various religions. I would urge people to think independently, and long and hard about which faith to embrace. Doesn’t this coincide with Karl Marx’s preaching of striving to remain dialectical?

Neil