Memories

Sometimes the best memories we have are the ones of things that never even happened - nostalgic dreams of long walks in gardens under apple trees and a warm spring sun, or of lime milkshakes sipped through straws as our eyes meet for the millionth time. 

Perhaps, it's these very memories which give life and love more meaning than reality itself; as though we never need experience anything but the serene happiness of a moment which will probably never happen; a moment which is so beautifully perfect and so unspokenly loved that it need never exist at all. 

LOVE

“We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.”

-Albert Einstein

In the beginning, the Universe was created. This single act is often hailed as the most pointless and self-important anomaly of all time. Indeed, ‘time’ itself only exists as a result of the Universe being created and thus, by the very nature of it, the creation of said Universe is the very deed which allowed such a monstrously purposeless thing as a ‘universe’ to exist in the first place.

Regardless of this, here we are: Irrational, self-obsessed smidgeons of life with a bizarre fixation upon discovering the meaning of our, otherwise meaningless, existence. Yet, if it weren’t for one miniscule occurrence, we would have realized the futility of our pursuit many centuries ago. This occurrence takes the form of something which we have come to call ‘emotions’ – socio-environmentally stimulated responses in the prefrontal cortex of our brains, which we have the greatest difficulty describing and understanding.

One emotion in particular has caused us both irreparable damage and irrefutable joy. Yet, in what is possibly the most ironic act in all of human history, we decided that this behemoth of a sentiment should come to be known simply by the short and undescriptive name: Love.

Considering Life

(Written on my cellphone, in bed, on a sleepless night when I was only 15)

I am lying under the covers in my bed at boarding school. It’s after lights out and technically I shouldn't be typing on my phone at all, but seeing as how I feel liberated and inspired at this precise moment, I consider it acceptable to be bending the rules.

I often have become depressed while pondering about an afterlife and its conflict with logic and science. I was raised a devout Catholic and up until the age of 13 I never had room to consider alternative possibilities. As far as I can gather, the powerful minds of free thinkers have had a problem with religion since the beginning of time.

My Thoughts, during Maths

She’s born and bound in these pages

The messiah of hallowed ages

For she sees through the hypocrisy preached by their sages

Standing in a void she provokes-

A snake and serpent enrages

And she sees mirrors on turn-styles

And echoes of teenage death howls

In subterranean deluges

An inexplicable tiger growls

The Unknown Acquintance

Upon the death of a man I knew...


We are humbled by your passing
Your bridging the eternal unknown
But in your subdued agony
The way for us is shown

We are saddened by this news
Stumbling upon life's bitter end
But in your memory and message
You are forever a true friend

For I may not know you
But we did both walk this ground
And we both must face our deaths
In this we are ultimately bound

For we do strive to be like you
That when our last breath is stole
We will have lived a life of honour
That we may have a worthy soul

Science vs. Religion

(Originally delivered as a prepared speech during WIDPSC 2013)

“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

Today, we find ourselves engrossed in a reality where human knowledge and innovation culminate in a society devoted to progress - a society which has a profound yearning for truth and precision. But alas, we also find ourselves in a world where the desire to answer the fundamental questions of our existence has resulted in an injurious war between scientists and theologians. It is now a commonly held belief that faith and science are incongruous approaches to answering the central questions which all introspective individuals must ask themselves.

It does not, however, have to be so. My aim is to illustrate how science and religion are, in fact, destined to be allies and that the conflict between them will degrade into a mutual agreement for the benefit of humanity.

Before we can formulate a solution, we must outline the problem. The difficulty may seem to lie only in the realm of the inherent differences between science and religion, but if one analyses it then it becomes apparent that the problem has its roots in the historical conflicts between the two.

Nuptial Nostalgia

It was the morning of a wedding. Thankfully, it wasn’t mine, but rather some obscure relation I was barely acquainted with. Sitting alone, detached from the congregation, I randomly perused the hymnal, while the preacher painstakingly prepared to deliver his propaganda. There were candles on the altar, tall and ivory white. I smelled them burning and subconsciously recognised the odour. It was somewhat synthetic - almost like burning rubber... 

I swerved to avoid the bystander and lost control, the wheels of the sedan screamed, spinning toward the edge of the bridge. There was a moment of unexpected serenity as we hung in the air, beginning to fall, then came the inevitably freezing, brackish water beneath. Gripping the steering wheel in terror I turned to see her face for an instant, before plunging in...