"God."

In my experiences, there are two things that people never seem to agree upon: religion and politics. Even between the closest of friends, the perspectives on these two different ideas usually differs in one way or another.

The other day my thoughts shot off on this random trajectory about religious and spiritual philosophy and the thought that maybe there really is no such thing as an "atheist" popped into my head. I mean, an atheist is defined as someone who believes in no god or higher power, but in a way, everyone believes in some sort of higher power. Whose job was it to define what "God" is, anyway?

There is something built into the core of our existence as human beings that calls for us to put our faith in something higher and outside ourselves. Anthropologists found that even the earliest type of homo sapiens buried their dead with flowers, tools, and other possessions. Even during those times it was natural to question Why? and What next? and Who?

Some people put their faith into humanity and believe that people can be whole-heartedly kind, empathetic and conduct affairs peaceful with one another. Other people put their faith into spirituality and believe in an unseen connection between people and others, or between people and the natural world. There are even those who put their faith into gaining the most that they can out of this life, whether it be material, status, or the acquisition of knowledge.

In the end, everyone puts their faith into things they believe they are put in this world to do and in a sense, that is their god.

I do believe in God, though if you asked me to describe it, I couldn't tell you. For me, at least, it's hard to imagine that there is no God. Maybe not the humanistic portrait of God as man, but the binding force that holds everything together. I feel like I can see God in humanity, in people offering kindness to one another (not even necessarily someone they know or love). When I go somewhere beautiful, secluded, or untouched by industrialization its the whisper of a presence, the lofty mysteriousness in the air. Even in the most crowded of places, each person has their own little reality or culmination of thoughts and experiences, somehow wired to a million or more other little realities.

I always considered a blend of religious belief and science. "God made the world in 7 days" - well, a "day" could've been millions of years before our concept of time as put into use. A scientist once wrote that the more he studied the ventricles and passages of the heart and saw how everything was a miniscule, carefully molded, complicated system, the more he believed in God. A master designer, planner, and engineer, apparently.

My personal belief is that no matter what religion you are, all the goodness (the prayers, the kind deeds, the selflessness) flows into the same source. You can call the higher power whatever you want. It would be nice if religious dominations would start focusing on the vast similarities among their philosophies rather than the comparatively small differences.

God is like...well, God is like an egg.

Some people like their eggs cooked scrambled, over-easy, poached, fried, sunny-side up, or hard-boiled - but what no matter what they do to it, it's still an egg.