The Voice of Reason

I don’t know.

Sometimes this can be the most powerful, insightful and honest statement of all.

I don’t know.

I don’t know what happens when we die. I don’t know if these is something beyond what we can see and measure with science. I don’t know if I have a soul or if the concept of a soulmate is a true thing. Far too many people spread certainty when they simply don’t know. They tell us that when we die we’ll be whisked off to a magical place full of puffy clouds, pearly gates and old guys with long beards and iPads full of every mundane thing we’ve ever done.

By the way, I do know what you did last Saturday. That was awful.

But seriously, I know these guys don’t really have any certainty. How do I know this? Because I don’t have certainty. They don’t have mystical mental abilities that I lack, they can’t use The Force to grab another diet soda and they can’t waive parking fines by getting on their knees. Ok, maybe some can. I won’t speculate. But I’m all about honesty with what I do and my honest response is that I don’t know. I see nothing wrong with preaching the gospel of doubt and the gospel of skepticism. We each have immensely powerful computers sitting right inside our skulls that are capable of the most incredible reasoning and memory functions. Reasoning and rational thought is what led us out of the Dark Ages and gave us incredible inventions like the computer, the light bulb, the iPhone, MRIs, and 3D movies (though I question the rational thought behind Clash of the Titans – I mean, how can he find the owl and not bring it with him?).

I think when we choose to use reason and logic, we’re led time and time again to the same conclusion on these questions: I don’t know. Maybe we will have an answer to some of the questions one day like “how did the universe begin?” Those string theorists are scarily intelligent. But we may never know for sure if there’s life after death and maybe we’re not supposed to know. Maybe part of the great mystery is that there is to be some mysteries that forever remain an enigma (you thought I’d say mysterious, didn’t you?). Maybe there is such a thing as a soulmate and that we meet that person during our lives, whether we realize it or not and take advantage of it or not. And maybe there’s not; rather, it’s about finding someone we get along with and that complements our interests, desires and direction.

To these questions I will continue to give the only honest answer I’ve ever found: I don’t know. And you know what, until we find a definitive way of answering these questions, I’m content with my response.

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