So last long weekend I went diving at Lang Tengah. Which was beautiful above the surface and kind of boring underwater. The transport there was torture, the diving was mediocre, but it was wonderful to escape from Singapore. Clear emerald waters, pristine sands, cloudless skies, good company, no phone reception, and all we wore the whole day was swim wear - can't really ask for more. At night, the resort turned out the lights. If you looked into the skies, there were a gazillion more stars than what we see at home.

If I may digress now. Stars that have been there for eons, which we can't see because of the murk of city lights. They've always been there looking down on us, and we can only trust of their everlasting presence above us by faith.

I asked my friend why she put a tattoo where she'd have to photograph it to ever see it up close. She said it was the only place where it wouldn't become stretchy and saggy and droop with age. If I ever had a tattoo, it'd be for one reason only: Constancy. It's something that we all struggle to achieve in a world that keeps changing, in order to keep our sanity. If anything happened to me, like if I ever got dumped by society, living off trash, sucking in fumes under the highway pass, I'd take comfort by looking at my tattoo, which is the only constant thing in my life and say, "Never mind, still got my tattoo."

What can we take comfort in? Teddy bears will fray at the seams, beloved spouses will stray, friends will lead their own lives, alcohol is a temporary distraction that is ultimately unsatisfying to the soul. I guess that's why humans need Allah, Buddha, God; an endless, benign, almighty Being who will say "Never mind, I am still here for you." when everything falls apart around us.

On another tangent, how could it be that there are so many people worshipping so many Gods, each believing that their God is the only true One? They obviously all can't be right. What if they were all wrong? If God doesn't exist, then the concept of God must be the man's greatest invention, and the world's greatest placebo for our existentialist woes. In that case, aren't we our own Gods?

Then what?

 

((~  ╪  ~))