A little over
a year ago, I was hacking my brains out to earn a Master's Degree.
While I was at school, I made a lot of friends. Assorted friends,
I should say. From bums to businessmen, to doctors and public officials.
We were all struggling to juggle our time between being students and
being professionals.
Ayrton was one
of my closest friends -- a self-proclaimed playboy and an account
executive in one of the biggest freight forwarding companies in the
world.
We have different
backgrounds. Having studied engineering, I am particularly comfortable
with numbers and the physical sciences. And he is well-versed in the
arts and the humanities. But somehow, we compensated for our differences
and managed to live symbiotically.
Ayrton had been
to a Christian institution which was founded by - and has produced
- saints. Institutions with impregnable reputation for grooming good,
humble Christians. He had studied philosophy and logic. He entered
a seminary in Manila and took up Theology, but later on decided to
quit. He found it irrational to practice something he doesn't believe
in.
He is an atheist.
He denies the fact that God exists. Throughout his adult life, he
had ventured almost everything to convince himself of the existence
of an omnipotent being. He had been to the extremes and back, but
his efforts were futile. In his own words, "wala talaga pare,
eh."
Point of interest:
He believes in ghost. His apartment is haunted; or so he said.
But, as always,
Ayrton has his own cogent explanation. "Ghosts are not stray
spirits as the folklores say. They are packets of energy. Think of
a lightning in super slow motion and very low voltage. St. Elmo's
fire was first thought of as spirits that guide sailors at sea. But
it was later discovered that it is an electric discharge caused by
the friction of air, sea water and the tip of the mast of a ship."
One of our classmates,
Cusi the Nerd, found out about Ayrton's peculiar belief. He was aghast.
He, too, was from a seminary in Guadalupe and (also) did not pursue.
He got his secondary education from a prestigious, all-boys Catholic
school in Mendiola.
He agreed to Ayrton
that there can be no rational and cogent way to prove the existence
of God. But, nevertheless, Cusi, the polymath nerd that he is, firmly
believe that there is a god. He also has no proof, but he has faith.
Two distinct individuals,
honed and brought up to be abiding Christians. Similar backgrounds,
similar chosen professions which both later abandoned, but different
views in life. The former does not have a god; the latter believes
in one. what could possibly trigger the contradicting opinions of
these two fine, intellectual young men?
The arguments
about the existence of a divine creator lead us to think if there
really is one. To most people, it is blasphemy. But to others it is
the beginning of a search. Ayrton had searched and failed. Cusi did
not even dared to search. Blinded by certitude, he has the complete,
utter and absolute belief that there is a god. A belief that does
not rely on books, logic, reasoning and physical evidences; just pure,
unadulterated faith.
Cusi's words to
Ayrton: "You cannot find God in books or philisophies of all
the world. He is in every man's heart. Try to seek God in your heart,
you might find Him there."
Ayrton responded
with a slow nod and said, "I always have great respects for a
great opinion."
Very interesting
people, indeed.
