@mhsutton

heart.head.work.life

Category: podcast

published to the experimental human/AI collaboration on Spotify.

  • A Reluctant God

    A Reluctant God

    When you encounter an article that starts ‘What if…’ that’s the cue to engage your imagination and cast aside your preconceptions on life. So…

    What if God really did not want to be God. What if God was simply asked to do a rush job on the Creation as a favour for some other supreme being – an office junior in a Ministry of Creation just doing a job. It does sound like a rush job doesn’t it – six days to create a world. Oceans, forests AND man!

    Did God really sign up for all that goes with the role. All that worshipping and pretentious piety. Has God ended with more than He bargained for? Even the idea of God’s gender is questioned, is He a he or a she or maybe even a ‘they’?

    For the purpose of this post, I’ll go with the popular ‘He’.

    The constant questioning of His existence, all that blaming and cussing. All that cruelty in His name, all that blood spilt in crusades for His glory. But of course, as is typical with Ministry employees, He has been moved on to something else now, with little consideration how his last project is progressing. Perhaps every now and then, He might get a call about some missing paperwork or design decision. But the longer it persists, the less He remembers.

    Of course most of the chaos has been caused by arguably God’s greatest creation – Man (its funny – do dolphins think of God , if they did do they think they are His greatest creation or is that exclusively a human arrogance?).

    So, reluctantly corralled into this job, what if God was a little forward thinking and gave Man a little more intelligence than was planned. He hoped that in doing this He could avoid some future maintenance by creating a being that had the power of choice, free will and thought (of course the power of choice would absolve the creator of the responsibility for the creations choices – nice).

    Perhaps the creation and a short time thereafter was God’s retirement; perhaps the world, the land ,seas and oceans, flora and fauna were all final farewell frivolities?. Perhaps despite all that praying and belief, no one is actually listening because God is in retirement in some divine Costa Del Sol. Perhaps shit really just happens.

    Cast into this reluctant role of super deity, the beginning and the end, what if God does not have a grand plan for each one of His creations and after the Creation(which was a Ministry design anyway) He basically ran out of ideas of what to do wit this Creation of His.

    What if contrary to popular belief God does not know, see and hear it all.A victim of his own success, perhaps God has really had enough of this enforced support role and now wants to be rid of this project that never goes away – that is more trouble than its worth.

    Featured Image By: nasrul ekram – CC BY 2.0

  • Death, you damn bastard.

    Death, you damn bastard.

    My friend has a deadly brain tumor. They have done all they can, and now its time to rest and await Death, that damn bastard.

    He is more than my friend, he is my mentor – the guy I looked up to for the longest time, though not of the same mother or father, he is my brother. He made everything alright for a lot of people – me included.

    So much can be said of him now… so many occasions can be remembered. but there will be time for those – when the brandy is flowing and his friends are gathered.

    I remember him picking me up from the airport when I first ever set foot in the UK, in his suit and his Mercedes. I remember the drive from the airport with him, to my brother’s shared flat. The thought that I had him in the same country as me made my uncertain future a little more certain.

    He was always the expected guest at the party, the soul of the group. For as long as I can remember, he was Mr Dependable. He supported his parents and his siblings back home. He shouldered responsibilities many would shirk and he did this with dignity and maturity. He commanded the respect of his peers and the love of his friends. A love that transcended petty fallouts, one based on honor and respect and an appreciation that this was one damn fine human being.

    He was….No he IS a good man.

    Sure he had his demons, he perhaps drank a little too much. He could be cocky and perceptibly arrogant.

    His love for life and all within it was legendary, he loved wine, women and a good time. But when the time came for him to take his place amongst the respectably settled, he did so with his trademark confidence and fortitude and was equally successful at it as he was in all he undertook. He became a husband and a father to three beautiful children.

    But now the death that has shadowed him for two long years now is finally upon him and the twilight is near. If death could make a mistake, this would qualify as a pretty big one.

    Death , you damn bastard. Why would you take this man whose life has been a working lighthouse to many lesser opportuned souls cast adrift in a harsh world? Why abandon his family, his friends to a future without his wit, his confidence , his friendship and love? Surely there has been some sort of error, perhaps you got your list wrong. Maybe you spelt the name incorrectly. You damn bastard Death, spare him and redeem yourself. Can you not see it’s not his time?

    I cannot imagine a world without him in it, at least not such a happy one.

    After the sun has set on his story and the tears have fallen, life will go on. Age will tell on us all, memories will fade and in time the loss will dull. Yet his children will bear testimony that he did indeed walk this earth and through them his legacy must live on.

    Perhaps one can take a simple lesson from all this. Be like him. Help all you can and enjoy life to the full. So that when that damn bastard , Death comes to harvest your soul, you can say with absolute dignity and resolve that you led a good life and that you were now ready for the next. That you have done your best and the rest is left to , well, the rest.

    I salute you my friend, my brother. I will grieve you for a long time. In those moments when your name is uttered in friendly banter, be assured that it will be with respect and fondest memories.

    Featured Image By: Wayne Wilkinson – CC BY 2.0