Try as hard as you can

try as hard as you can

to make what you have last a lifetime
to make the best from everything available to you
to leave behind diamonds in your wake

move mountains for the ones you love
for the right reasons
to honor yourself

live each moment in truth to yourself
in glory
in peace

spare no chance to show your love
to serve those around you
to appreciate what you have

wake every day knowing that you are loved
and wanted
and needed

go to sleep with peaceful thought
with thankfulness
with confidence

your tomorrow is made today
your life is made in the present
take the greatest care in what you make

God is a meme

As you can see from the sidebar, I'm an atheist.  I have my thoughts on religion and the practice of religious thought, and they may not be what you think.  As they say, it's complicated.

A god is, as near as I can tell, a mental construct peculiar to people.  An organizing principle.  There doesn't appear to be any testable evidence of the physical presence (reality) of any gods.  On this point, my rational mind says, "There are no existing gods of any description, nor were there at any time in the past."  Now, I fully understand that a very substantial majority of people are quite certain that not only IS/ARE there a god(s), but that the god(s) they believe to exist is/are THE god(s) and that those other people are WRONG.

I don't begrudge the religious their beliefs.  Religion brings joy and solace to many.  It is an organizing method and a way of communicating and celebrating shared values that are often positive.  I do, however see it as an unfortunate reality that so many people allow their beliefs to function as a reason to wreak psychological havoc.

The organizations of religion trouble me the most.  The concentration of moral judgement in the hands of a few people who answer to no one is a fundamental flaw, in my view, especially when these people use their moral judgements to "justify" oppression, homicide, and endless war.

This situation will continue well past my demise. I accept it, but I regret what I regard as the colossal loss to humanity.

And tonight we rest quietly

At once, my mind is filled with so many thoughts.  It's always this way.  I have a thousand things on my mind at all times (OK, maybe just like 20 in the foreground) and they all seem simultaneously important and trivial.

What would jaw surgery entail, visually?
That friend of mine has foibles, but I ignore the foibles.
I need to start this project - where is the pattern?
I saw many friends today, I wish I was closer to them.
The children I know all seem to be growing up, but unevenly so.
Work is interesting and fantastically detailed - but mostly just to me.
I met someone today and failed to show much interest in them.  In retrospect it seems rude of me but I was just feeling shy.
I thought of a great porn title; The King's Peach
"She had a voice like a copper violin." (This ersatz Sam Spade quote dropped into my head, at random today.)

Etc.

I could tell you so much but I have so little to say today.