Living Forever

Today, I read an article from the BBC about genetic testing being done on people who live over the age of 100 to find genetic correlations between them. It's a pretty interesting article that, of course, got me thinking about death.

I'm an atheist, but I'm not one of those self-righteous ones that goes around telling every religious person they meet that they're idiotic. I believe that, for some people, the belief in a higher being is a positive one. However, I have a very scientific mind that won't believe in things for which there is no evidence. I was raised Christian by my mother and Wiccan by my babysitter (who I saw more than my mother). I identified as Christian until eighth grade, at which point I realized that the Wiccan faith held more tenants that I could get behind than Christianity did, such as hurting nothing (one could consider me a tree-hugger) and that we're all interconnected. I was a very devout Wiccan, even getting a tattoo of a pentagram with a sun and moon interwoven throughout, until about a year and a half ago. I began to realize that I'd really been kidding myself. I didn't truly believe any of the parts of Wicca that made it a religion; I only liked the wishy-washy parts. I didn't believe in the idea of deities at all and the God/Goddess worship involved always left me feeling guilty. I decided that it was finally time to be true to myself and admit that I was, in fact, an atheist. I discovered a Youtube video that made me feel better about this admission, as it fully summed up my personal spiritual feelings. I could be a good person and not believe in gods. The two were no longer separate from each other.

All of this leads me to one feeling about death: Though I know it's absolutely necessary, it still scares the shit out of me. I know that I'm not going to some fluffy white cloud kingdom when I die. I'm going to be put in the ground or, perhaps, be sprinkled onto a really pretty body of water. Something like that. I don't live my life crazily avoiding anything that could kill me, though. I don't take stupid risks, but if you don't enjoy the little time you have on Earth, you didn't really live.

Becoming an atheist was the best thing that ever happened to me. It made me realize that we do have a limited amount of time with which to make our legacies. It pushed me to start making major decisions about my life. It also helped me create my life's credo, which, as stated in a previous blog, is that I want to make a huge positive change in the life of someone who never expected it.

I don't want to live forever. Doing so would take away the quality of life for future generations. If it weren't for the new generations coming and changing the way people think, we'd still be hiding in caves dying of mud poisoning (or something). Still, I'd like to live a long, happy, meaningful life.

I guess this blog didn't really say anything too interesting, but I guess what I'm trying to get across that life is what you make it. Take the steps needed to make it long, but don't take it to the point that you never lived at all.