Diana's Diary

2001-06-03 - 1:49 a.m.

The one in which Diana ponders the meaning of life.

So, I talked to JB today. She wanted my input on a paper she was working on for her summer school class in magical science and religion. Anyway, she got to telling me about this one assignment, which is one of the most absurd things I've ever heard.

Each student is supposed to come up with a question. An important, life-changing question. The student is supposed to ponder this question, and walk around until a rock finds them. Literally. (And no, not until the student finds a rock. Pondering the question in a quarry is against the rules.) Once the rock finds the student, the student is supposed to continue to ponder the question. Then, the professor will bring in this "expert" who will listen to the rock, because the rock will have all of the answers.

What kind of new-age hippy crap is that? WTF, a rock will find you, and it will have the answers. Puh-leeze.

Anyway, JB was having trouble coming up with a question. (Good thing I wasn't in the class, I would have waaaaaaay more problems with the assignment than just coming up with a question.) So I suggested that she ponder the following: if people only matter to other people, then does that mean that people don't matter?

Blame my liberal arts education for that one. But seriously, people always talk about "wanting to make a difference." A difference to whom? Other people? They're all mortals, too. When the sun goes nova and we're all dead, what difference will you have really made? (My biggest gripe with environmentalists is that they say, "We're killing the planet." No, dumbass, the planet got along just fine before humans came along, I'm sure it will do just fine after we're gone. We're not killing the planet, we're killing ourselves.) At any rate, my question is something to ponder if you're wondering if there's any point to this whole stupid rat race.

JB informed me that I was putting way too much thought into it.

Sometimes, I love JB simply because she doesn't put much though into these things.

Personally, I think that if she doesn't want to ponder the meaning of life, she should at least take a couple of minutes to wonder why she's taking a class in which some weirdo with a bunch of crystals tells her that a talking rock can answer that question for her.

It all turned out to be a moot point, because right after we got off the phone, JB decided to drop the class anyway.

Gee, I wonder if it was something I said?

And I didn't even get to explain my theory on how our free will is actually predetermined. I mean, just because we don't always know what we're going to do doesn't mean that ::Diana gestures vaguely heavenward:: Someone doesn't already know. Hmm, that's kind of awkward. What I mean is, we have a choice, but if there is a higher power, he/she/it probably already knows what choice we're going to make. And just because he/she/it already knows, that doesn't mean that we have any less of a choice.

Despite the somewhat light tone I'm taking here, I'm not intending to make fun of anyone's religion or philosophy. It's just that, well, I actually do think about this stuff, and sometimes it hurts my head. I can't take it 100% seriously all of the time, because if I did, my head would probably explode or something. And that would not be pretty.

-Diana

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2003-12-16 - Ow! My Nose!
2003-12-15 - 'Tis the Season...For Moving
2003-11-17 - Rush, Rush
2003-11-03 - Apartment Hunting Sucks
2003-10-22 - Apparently, "nauseated" is a good look for me.

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