I believe

Kris and I have a friend who has no opinion. He is unable to commit to anything, hedging his opinion to offend no one, never quite saying anything concrete. Often, when we find ourselves waffling, I see Kris visibly shake off the wishy-washy and commit to an opinion, not wanting to be as non-committal as our friend can be.

I don't particularly like waffling, so I try fairly hard not to waffle. I think all friends know I lack tact when it comes to voicing my opinions, but many don't see how much waffling I do before I do voice my opinion.

I'm not so opinionated when it comes to writing here. When things go out onto the Intarweb, and people find them, it's really, really, really hard (nigh, impossible) to take back. So, I've refrained. Heaven forbid I should say something that will offend someone. Or that I say something that I'm ashamed of ten years from now. Or that I regret later.

Doesn't really help me document what I'm thinking at this point in my life. What if I find religion? Was it a gradual discovery or abrupt? Without some baseline of beliefs, I'm not sure I'd know: self-insight is another one of those lacking things.

So, here's what I believe:

• There's something more than all of this. I'm not convinced it needs to wants to be prayed to or worshipped, though. Nor am I convinced it even cares about anything/anyone.
• Organized religion exists to keep in power those in power.
• If people have souls, then animals have souls, too. Not sure how far down the scale the souls go, though. If it's a distinct soul, and not just a "life force," then perhaps plants and algae have one too. Not sure of the consciousness, either.
• Abortion is a horrible, horrible thing. But no one has the right to deny one to another woman. No one.
• That white light people report seeing in death and near death experiences is the last ditch effort of a dying brain to restart itself: neurons firing madly to keep the brain going, and not some other-worldly experience.

I meant to write an explanation for each of those, but that might take a little more time than I have before practice today. The organized religion one is the one that really agitates me.