Religion? Philosophy? Politics? A little bit of each.

Yes, I'm a believer! *humming Monkees tune in my head* Yes, I know that many of my friends do not consider themselves as believers of neither (a) God nor (a) Christ, but I am.

Guess that this is going to be one of those philosophical/religious posts... Feel free to ignore this post if you wish!

I never really realized it until just a couple of years ago and it was even more intensified as time went by and I moved from home. It may sound as a cliché, and for all I know this is, but it feels as if that now that I'm living by myself and am dealing with issues and problems on my own, that God's even closer to me than I thought He was. And incidentally this is seen even better during times of trial. It feels good that even though you may feel as the most insignificant creature in the world - even though you've virtually hit rock bottom mentally - you still aren't alone. As the famed Rogers & Hammerstein song and Man U anthem states: You'll Never Walk Alone. To me that's an amazing thought - and a wonderful feeling.

I've been thinking about this quite a bit these past few days, these standards of modern (Norwegian) society. Some of these standards are so radically different from those I have myself. I won't state them here, but I guess I could be labeled as a conservative. And then there's this eternal focus on personal happiness. This is what society nowadays focuses on. I'm not only talking about materialism. I'm talking about the idea of always minding one's own business. The idea of "you-can't-stop-me-from-doing-what-I-want-to-do-in-life". Now I'm not saying that having this kind of attitude is wrong, but in my opinion one shouldn't focus on this idea completely either; that would be rather limiting one's perceptions of the world, now wouldn't it? That would be kind of egocentric and may lead to tactlessness. That would be not considering the fact that some actions may have consequences on other people.

Yes, I am stating the obvious here. Live by the golden mean. Avoid any extremes. Be considerate to all parties so that all of us can live like one big happy family. Then again, society requires us to have our own opinions on issues. Understanding both parties of a discussion can possibly give you a greater sense of outlook, but you still have to make up your mind. Sometimes that can be easy; sometimes more difficult. There are some things that I haven't found out of yet with respect to taking a stand in certain issues, but I'm getting there.

I believe there's a reason behind everything in this world (Catholicism, I guess!); all that we encounter in life has a higher purpose. One has to seize the opportunities that God presents to you and trust that He'll guide you on the right path. Still, that does not mean that one should accept anything that comes one's way. You should be able weigh things morally, not only considering what would benefit you yourself, but also consider the effect on other people. You're not the only person on this Earth, you know.

I don't know whether or not this makes sense; for all I know my ideas can be kinda randomly scattered around without any coherent structure to it, but for some reason I just needed to get this out. Don't ask, 'cause I ain't got no answer.

Hm, sudden flashback to excerpt of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography... Anyway, enough of this. Back to exam prep!



I'm still a believer,
Elise