Dear Jim Edwards:

Thank you for your most interesting letter. I am sad you gave up philosophy for mythology and theology. If you had only carried on the study of philosophy a little deeper, as a lifetime adventure, you would have finally come to terms not with fantasy but with reality – the little of it that we know. Indeed, even science acknowledges with all honesty that it knows not more than 1 per cent of what constitutes reality. Imagine the other 99 per cent. But let us not entertain fantasy. There is still much to discover and to learn. As far as I am concerned, questions are far more important than answers because in time the answers become obsolete. Indeed, the formulation of better kind of questions pretty much give meaning to my life. Now you might retort: what if there were already all the answers? I would only reply that the answers, whatever they are, would always entail new questions as, at the heart of everything, is a question, not an answer. When we peer down into the deepest recesses of matter or at the farthest edge of the universe, we see, finally, our own puzzled faces looking back at us. Jim, you asked: Where am I going? In life I know where I am going. In death, however, I will be going nowhere. It does not bother me to realize that after my death there will be nothing; just as much as it did not bother me to have realized that before birth, I was a nothing too. True, there are a great many worlds out there, but how am I to participate or enjoy such a world after I am dead and turned into ashes? My identity as a person is depended on my memory and my memory, it seems clear to me, cannot survive if my brain is dead and rotting. So how will I be “me” in the next or other world? With what eyes will I see? With what ears will I hear? With what skin will I feel? With what nose will I smell? With what tongue will I speak? Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Therefore what will survive will be my energy but not anymore bundled up together as my body. My body will die and disintegrate. In the meantime, energy is part of nature just as much as nature is part of energy. Energy is here to stay inside existence, not outside of existence otherwise known as the universe. But me, as Poch Suzara, is no more. As to my wasting my life believing that there will be a better world to come after I am dead – I have stopped entertaining such silly nonsense. I would rather do my best and try to leave this world a better place than how I found it. Not in the authoritarian, but in the sense humanitarian. This is the reason why I have embarked on a lifetime war against the evils of religion. Religion makes us selfish, greedy, stupid, and insane. The world needs sane mind and sane hearts to straighten out the insane mess that keeps our world perpetually in hate and violence of each other. We must look to science and its power to make the life of our children and grandchildren better. The average life span today is 80 years. Science promises to increase the task to l20 up to 150 years, In fact, I would not be surprised when science will conquer death itself and insure immortality for man after birth, and not, like in religion - after death. And I am glad that religion has taken the back seat and today even begging to co-exist with science – indeed, to reconcile with science. Is this possible? I say Yes, but religion must first reconcile and co-exist with other religions before science can entertain the merger. Today I am 68 years old. Too late for me to take advantage of such scientific miracles. But my grandchildren and their children will live entirely different lives than we do today. Hopefully, instead of fighting human stupidity on this grain of sand called earth, they will be conquering the outer planets and colonizing the stars. To me, this is a better ambition for Man than looking forward to meeting a silly God with a silly son who, have yet to make sense of themselves as supernatural beings. Imagine this Son of God Jesus cried out on the cross to His father: MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAST THOU FORSAKEN ME? If this were the kinds of supernatural morons I will meet in the next life, I would rather stay perpetually dead and buried forever on this earth. Jim, with due respect, please let me share with you Bertrand Russell: “There is something feeble, and a little contemptible, about a man who cannot face the perils of life without comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought, and he therefore cannot carry his own reflections to any logical conclusion. Moreover, as he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not rational, he becomes furious when they are disputed. He therefore adopts persecution, censorship, and a narrowly cramping education as essential of statecraft. In so far as he is successful, he produces a population which is timid and unadventurous and incapable of progress. Authoritarian rulers have always aimed at producing such a population. They have usually succeeded, and by their success have brought their countries to ruin.” Human Society in Ethics and Politics With all good wishes, Poch Suzara Sept. 11, 2005

As a High School Dropout

My greatest thrill in life has been the moments, with the courage of thought, to have rattled, in public and in private, the religious complacency of college educated individuals of this God-forsaken Christian country. Oh, dear Bertrand Russell, thank you for saving the mind and heart of this high-school dropout. Thank you for showing me how to live the good life – one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. More than all the gods in hell and all the devils in heaven, I love, worship, and adore you. To me, you are the greatest philosopher of the 20th century. In the firmament of free thought and in the galaxy of literature, you are, to me, the greatest and most brilliant of stars. Poch Suzara

Insanity and Religion

When one is obsessed with the supernatural, it is called insanity. When many people are obsessed with the supernatural, it is called religion. Insanity is the triumph of faith; religion, however, is the failure in education. In the meantime, lives on this earth are spoiled and made corrupt by the belief that there is an immortal life to come after the experienced of a sick death. Indeed, immortality is the condition of a dead man who refuses to believe that he is already dead. Poch Suzara

No Higher Power

There is no higher beauty than reason and since there is none – what dignity has a man bereft of reason - the only beauty that differs man from the animal? Poch Suzara

In Grade School

We were taught to believe that in the choice between faith and reason – to please God, we must always choose faith as reason might only endanger our silly souls into eternal perdition. I thank God, however, that I was expelled out of high school. I vehemently refused to abandon reason in favor of faith. Indeed, I refused to abandon the truth behind reason in favor of the lies and falsehoods behind faith. Poch Suzara

Our Faith-soaked Society

In our faith-soaked society, nobody’s seeking to live the intelligent life. On the contrary, everybody’s just looking forward to a stupid death. For my part, after years of study, I came to the conclusion that Christianity is a recipe for mediocrity. The New Testament calls the disciples, “unlearned and ignorant men.” To be a good Christian, one must negate human intelligence as one need only have faith in human ignorance. Poch Suzara

The Evil called Christianity

After taking my parents and grandparents away from me; after taking my teachers and professors away from me; and after taking even my own country away from me, Christianity has also taken my precious mind and precious heart away from me. Happily, after years of pain and struggle via study and research, I was able to win back such priceless treasures. Today, I love life as much as I love this world. I love humanity as I no longer care for divinity. I no longer have any love for Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I have no more respect for the characters loved and admired in the bible. Such people never even existed. And if they did, they all lived in a state of ignorance believing the world as flat, not round. In place of Christianity, I have learned to embrace the human destiny. Today I no longer fear death. I am more interested to be involved with the works needed to bring about life based upon social sanity, global peace and tranquility, and indeed, to help materialize the dreams of humanity. I am sure I will not succeed, but it thrills me to know that I am one of those rare individuals deeply involved in the never-ending fight against those who never cease to destroy the beauties of this world, especially the beauty of the human mind and heart as part of the beauty in nature. Poch Suzara

The Study

The study of what is natural, which is knowable, is far more beneficial than the study of the supernatural, which is unknowable, and therefore not beneficial. In this connection, I was created in the image of nature. I am a part of nature as nature is a part of me. There is no getting out of nature as nothing can exist outside nature. In fact, nothing can even exist outside existence. Poch Suzara

God as a Designer

f God is the designer and we were designed in his own image and God took off Adam one of his ribs to create Eve – how come women have the same number of ribs as men? And where are God’s ribs to be found inside the body of either men or women? Poch Suzara

Preparations for War

Preparations for war are impoverishing people in every nation. The greatest nation most prepared for any local or global war is the United States of America. Indeed, the US government still embraces not only with much gusto, but with deep faith the paradoxical theory that nations can only live together in peace by preparing to kill each other in war.
In the meantime, religion and government in cahoots are the greatest promoters of war. History proves it: Look at the monstrous Church and government sponsored atrocities conducted in Europe from the 5th to the 15th century. Historians refer to it as the Dark Ages. In world affairs today, the United States of America remains to be the most powerful nation in the world in the business of global man-made destruction. Poch Suzara

Death and Its Aftermath

Most people are bothered by the thought that after death there will be a nothing. They are not bothered, however, by the thought that before birth, there was also a nothing. For my part, I have the highest respect for atheism: it has robbed death of its terror. In the meantime, the victims of religion look forward to eternal salvation after death. The masters of religion would rather begin to look forward to the improvements of human civilization after birth. Poch Suzara

Religion

Religion has had centuries of opportunity to straighten the mess out of this world. It turned out religion had to deal first with its own mess to begin with. Look at world history from the religious perspective: after all this time, religion has not ceased hating other religions! The believers have not ceased waging wars against other believers for God’s glory. Indeed, our world is full of suffering, tragedy, disease, disaster, and pain. We atheists are fully aware that religion has dismally failed to alleviate such evils. In fact, religion encourages people to be selfish, greedy, stupid, and insane. For my part, if I have to save my own soul with the attitude like to hell with the souls of my fellow human beings, I say, to hell with the whole salvation stupid mess. Poch Suzara

God’s revelation

That the holy bible is God’s revelation to mankind is a lot of sacred hokum. Even Luke in his first chapter admitted that what he wrote was in accordance to what he believed it was good to do. In the meantime, in the same bible, man is directed to pray to an All-knowing God; but if God were already All-knowing, why should such a God be fatigued by, or bothered with, – petitions? Poch Suzara

Mentality of Bacteria

One million ( 1,000,000 ) planets the size of Earth can comfortably fit inside the Sun. And we humans, who live like parasites on this grain of sand called Earth, are able to displease with sin the creator of the Sun? For my part, I have more love and respect for the existence of bacteria. None feel threatened with eternal damnation if they do not believe in beings bigger or greater than themselves. Poch Suzara

Where is God

In the US Gulf Coast Katrina Hurricane disaster this week, people are helping people who cannot help themselves. But where is the all-loving and all-merciful God to help also? If God would just rather be busy as usual fooling around with the devil, the least He can do is to inspire His angels and His saints to come down and render ample assistance? Where are they? In the meantime, the Pope offered tons of prayers to the Katrina Hurricane victims in desperate need of doctors and nurses, food, water, medicine, and shelter. And to think that this is the same holy Pope who has access to billions upon billions of dollars in cash deposited in the Vatican Bank at his disposal. Poch Suzara

No Man Loves God

No man loves God, and any man who says he loves God is a liar and a hypocrite and the truth is not with him. You cannot love what you do not know and no one knows the God of religion. To begin with, God is never down here; he is only always out there. In the meantime, Jesus on the cross cried equally for his enemies as well as for His own disciples and followers with these words: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” On the other hand, Jesus could have earned the love and respect of the whole of mankind if, on the cross, He had, instead, cried out: “Man, please forgive God, for He knows not what he is doing." Poch Suzara

A Self-respecting Atheist

God expects me to go to hell. Satan expects me to go to heaven. As an atheist with dignity and self-respect, after I am dead, I would just like to be left alone. I hope and expect to go nowhere. What do I care about supernatural beings at war supposedly against each other to win over my silly soul? Indeed, what do I know about my soul except that it is silly? In the meantime, why should I care for other worlds that do not exist except in the sick imagination of sick theologians? As a proud atheist, if I must leave this world one day, I would like to leave it a better place than how I found it. Poch Suzara

The Kingdom of God

In the world history of hate, and violence, and wars, there is only the kingdom that was always victorious against all other kingdoms - the loving Kingdom of God. And to think that the kingdom of God is located only in heaven, not on this earth! Poch Suzara

Universal Stupidity

In the kingdom of God there is the power of love. In the kingdom of the devil there is the power of hate. In the kingdom of Man there is the power of fear and ignorance. The three kingdoms however, inextricably mixed together, add up to the power of universal stupidity in competition with the power of infinity. Poch Suzara

The Filipinos and the Jews

If God created man in His own image and likeness, how come Filipinos today, with no legal immigration status, are in the State of Israel employed as the servants of the Jews - the Chosen People of God? Who was the moron who said that all men are created equal in the eyes of God? Poch Suzara