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Excersus CXIX: By a Tree, By a River...
Last week I asked to hear from the non-theists among you about what keeps you going in the face of the knowledge
of your own purely chemical nature. I wanted to share with you all Robyn Seale's response, because it says much
more elegantly than I could what we face and why we keep going anyway:
As an Atheist, I'm aware that joy and despair and love are chemical reactions. However, just because I know the mechanisms behind the feelings doesn't make it any less real. We function in life because it's all we get. Existence is the greatest thing to happen, and I'm glad to have it, happy or sad, chemicals or no.
If this is all I get, I'm going to thrive and do.
And there you have it - the crux of the thing is reality. Fear and hope and everything in between are all entirely mechanical,
but real all the same. All you lose by recognizing their chemical nature is words, and what you pick up is a conception of
yourself so intricate and beautiful that you can spend a lifetime with it and never want for things to wonder at.
- Count Dolby von Luckner
Hate mail and notes of luscious thanks may be sent to The Count at CountDolby@gmail.com.
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