Hergest Ridge

After a four day break, I’m back at jogging. Did an extended run today, without getting too tired. Now that’s what I call positive reinforcement!

Watch the following entry in video format! (But do read the second last paragraph, for it’s not in the vid.)

I’ve been feeling a bit burned out lately, and it all has to do with religion. Well, for me the lack of religion, but I’ll explain in just a jiffy. I’ll start with the end result, and will move on to the cause.

Yesterday I emailed my networking group to inform them that I won’t be there this - now past - Wednesday morning. To underline the significance of the decision, strict attendance records are kept, and this is my first absence since I joined the group in November.

Did I miss the meeting because I’m sick? No. Did I miss it because I had to fetch the Queen of England from the airport? No. Did I miss it because I was feeding starving children in Africa? In short, no.

I missed it because I knew there was no way I could have been an asset to the group today. My attitude would have sucked, or, I’d have dropped to the floor unconscious, having used up the last ounce of my extrovert energy.

Yes, I’m an introvert, and I’ve put myself on the line for the “Rational Response” crew, and the good of the world as a whole. You see, a while back the Rational Response crew posted a challenge and I decided to take part in it. “The Blasphemy Challenge” is a relatively simple task. It consists of the denying the Holy Spirit publicly, through a YouTube video.

I pulled out my digital camera, set it to film mode, created, and posted the damning video. Then, I watched hundreds of other people do the same, and ultimately, hundreds of Christian videos informing us that we can still be forgiven and that their prayers are with us. I guess they all decided to ignore Mark 3:29 “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven”. Another part of the bible conveniently ignored.

I’d really like to see the bible after it has been edited to remove the verses that we need not bother with. The end result should help the Christian churches gain new followers. The ‘new bible’ could be read in a couple of days, and the believers would save themselves from defending - to give an example - the verses where the old man got stoned to death for collecting sticks on the Sabbath. But, I digress.

Taking a journey through the many videos from both sides of the issue has given me a broader view of humanity, but at the same time it has stolen a piece of me. As Woody Allen once said, there are some people out there that “are a true credit to [our] race”, but they are few and far between. Maybe that’s the only way things can be. After all, everything is relative.

Yes, I’m burned out, and do plan to take a detour for the sake of recovery. There still are many things I want to say, or as the case may be, repeat what others have said so well. From now on, I’ll do it in a more focused and thought out method, because doing it with as much emotion as I have done so far, well, it’s just not working out that well for me.

To those in my life and closest to me personally, I feel the need to explain a few things, and that’s the goal for my upcoming entry, “… a short interlude.”

If you got this far, congratulations. This is where you get your gear - or exit strategy - for the journey I’m about to embark on. I hope you’ll join me, but entirely understand and respect if you choose not to.