(this is a part of a continuing series... I guess you need to read back a few).

... But the question still lingers... what do I think of the existence of a higher being? Well... let's move on to my thoughts on existence and I'll get back to you.

The more I learn, the more I wonder about who I am. I'm sure that is natural... but being a chemist (biochemist?) I'm starting to see myself on so many levels of abstraction. I'm a person, one of a society, made up of a range of organs made up of cells, made up of organelles, molecules, molecular building blocks, atoms, subatomic particles. My actions, thoughts feelings are, on some level nothing more then favorable chemical reactions and synaptic shuffling and on an even lower level the superpositions of lots of probability spaces and quantum interactions. So where do I fit in. What makes me consider myself a complete person. The book A Minds I, provides a pretty comprehensive look at this from various thought-provoking standpoints but I'm not here to repeat it. For me, its a classic "sum is greater than its parts" thing... the question being how many parts do I have to sum? So my existence is really just a lot of quantum states... or is it?

A quick divergence to the existence of fictional characters (Movie goers and general public: think, "The Matrix", for a better reference, if you've read Sophie's World, that's more what I'm talking about.). I firmly believe that fictional characters exist. That is why writers and in particular Tolkien are so amazing to me... they can create universes in their heads, and bring existence to things otherwise unmade. The question is then, are we just some words on a page penned by a higher order being? I don't know. Or may we be just quantum-level calculations by some higher order computer program?

So how does this reflect on my opinons of whether there is a higher being? Well, there might be... the author, so it would be, of the book of the universe. Also, the language of biochemistry strongly suggests that there is a fundemental belief in a higher being... "... enzymes were designed to... " for example. But then again... they try really hard to explain everything as being possible through evolution... It's all a source of great puzzlement to me.

... ok... That said... I'm taking a break...

Next installment.... the longest maybe, will be more coherent.

--C.