Saturday, November 19, 2005

Born Again


I was interested to read today that there is a variety of leech that resides in the anus of the hippopotamus. This strange quirk of evolutionary biology has got me thinking.

Religious beliefs are really a bit silly; requiring levels of credulity that seem inappropriate in our age of rational thought and scientific empiricism. Our rational minds tell us that virgins do not give birth, that travelling to Mecca to walk around in circles is silly, and that the chances of being reincarnated in human form, let alone as a budgerigar, are rather slim.

Of course there always remains that element of doubt. I can’t claim to be an atheist as to my mind that requires as much faith in the impossibility of a deity as religious belief requires faith in an invisible, benevolent god. Some people believe that the propensity to believe in the numinous is hard wired into our brains and must serve some evolutionary purpose.

The belief in reincarnation is one of the fundamental tenets of Buddhism. I find the idea fairly satisfying in the sense that rebirth in a form commensurate with your actions during your life seems just. Of course I don’t believe in it, but it’s a nice idea.

I’ve decided to pay more attention to my karma, and will in future devote myself to good works (when I get round to them) and leaving complimentary comments on blogs. Behaving badly just isn’t worth the risk. If there’s anything in this reincarnation malarkey I might end up swimming around in the anal tract of a mud cavorting bloater. That wouldn’t be very nice at all.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! I'm first!

Nothing to say yet, just wanted to get in first.

Yay! I'm first!

Yay!

Yay!

And did I say 'Yay!'!

garfer said...

Er, thanks for that.

pissoff said...

Well, no... I don't want to end up in the anus of a hippo either. Really, I don't. I also don't want to become a rat or a snake. I was thinking a giant red cedar that lived for thousands of years would be kinda cool. But then again, they'd just chop me down in this day and age.

Wyndham said...

Thanks for the complimentary comment on my blog, most welcome.

Sniffy said...

Oh har har har har, I get it now, you bastard! Leaving nice comments at my place, making me feel all warm inside on such a chilly day, and now I find this!

April, that's a cheery thought. I reckon garfer would come back as a happy little piggy, one who grows into a prize breeder and who lives through a happy retirement until dying in his sleep at a ripe old age. However, we know what happens to the ones that aren't quite as good in the sack, don't we?

S.I.D. said...

I want to come back as a Rabbit!

garfer said...

Why so Cold Earth. Is it the constant shagging or the carrots that attracts you to the bunny lifestyle?

Wyndham said...

What those hippos want, if they want to lose some weight is get themselves a tapeworm in their anus instead. It worked for Maria Callas.

S.I.D. said...

Both garfer,both.

Unknown said...

Just putting this out there, but don't you think leaving nice comments could be construed as is just a cynical ploy to avoid becoming nature's answer to hippo constapation, and therefore make this is all the more likely?

Oh, BTW thanks for the nice comment

garfer said...

I have no recollection of leaving any comments last night. I was extremely inebriated.
I have been lying low today as a consequence.

Sniffy said...

PS from post below. Miranda's appearance in HP4 was only fleeting, but brilliant nonetheless. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed this film. They're definitely getting better each time.

As for reincarnation? I'd like to come back as a curly wurly. No particular reason, other than for people to marvel at and for really short people to use as a ladder.

garfer said...

I think I would prefer to come back as a Cadbury's Flake.

Rowan said...

I happen to believe in reincarnation and I feel I"ve been alive before....I also feel that I"m paying for a past sin, or that I am here to right a past wrong and I that I cannot evolve past this point until I do.

THat said, I was raised as a salvationist, and therefore, this evident agnostic or dare I say, heretic notion, is not looked gladly upon.

Also, my husband is of the eternal opinion that long ago, we all believed there were many Gods, so, he feels logically that is a more probable answer (in terms of teamwork and building societies etc.) I guess a sort of one job for everyone extravaganza. Wonder why his handle is Dionysus then eh?