Everyone has been greeted by those fine Jehovah Witnesses who have knocked on your door and tried to spread the word of God through their Watch Tower pamphlets. These people are very polite and they are always neatly dressed. Usually, they come in pairs and sometimes they are accompanied with their children. Normally, I would brush them off by saying that I was not a religious person, nor was I interested in their beliefs and that was that. No doubt, you have had your own encounters with this religious group.
Early last spring when I was at my son’s place in Toronto, I was alone one day with my daughter-in-law working at home upstairs. The doorbell rang and sure enough I recognized immediately two ladies who looked very much like Jehovah Witnesses. For some reason, I wanted to have a nice long talk with them. Maybe as a retired person I had too much time on my hands and nothing better to do! We greeted each other cordially and they said that they were Jehovah Witnesses and I replied that I guessed that much. I found out that Grace was the older lady and Monica, the younger one, was accompanying her to “learn the ropes.” Since I had intended to have a meaningful conversation with them, I said a few welcoming words to put them at ease. I told them that I respected their dedication to their religion and the commitment they have in spreading their message door-to-door. I said that I was a Christian when I was younger and that I even believed in God. However, as I grew up and became an engineer, I moved away from any formal religious beliefs as my profession as an engineer relied on logic and science. I told them that I even wrote a book on the meaning and purpose of life based on the things we have all seen and experienced and knew to be true.
I re-assured them saying, “If you believe in your religion and it gives you peace of mind and happiness, then that is good as everyone deserves to be happy.” We started to talk, or rather as usual, I did most of the talking! “Grace, did you know that we are so unique and special in our Universe? We are like the snowflakes where there is never any two alike. There will only be one of you and one of me right now and for all of eternity! If you can imagine that! I don’t know why Creation or Nature made it this way, that this life of ours as we know it will be the only time we will ever be us.” Grace interjected, “Don’t you believe in life after death? Don’t you want an everlasting life in heaven?” I frowned at her. “Look at me. I’m getting old and every week some different ailment hits me for no particular reason. I certainly don’t want to live forever like this! I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t believe in heaven or hell as I believe these concepts are man-made. Furthermore, I don’t believe that I will disappear forever into nothingness. With infinite time, I’ll just evolve to become something else. We will always exist. We just don’t know what we will become.”
Suddenly, Monica blurted out, “Yes, matter cannot be created nor destroyed.” I was surprised that she knew this basic scientific truth. “Precisely,” I said. “Given enough time, science theorized that we evolved from rocks even though you may believe that God created all humankind. I think that I might become a rock in my after-life. Maybe a very big rock!” Grace and Monica looked at each other somewhat perturbed. I could almost read their thoughts, “Who is this crazy guy we are talking to!” But I could see that they were intrigued with my strange observations on life.
I threw more scientific facts at them about the ancient 3rd century Buddhist concept of “Emptiness”, that the reality that we perceive is not the reality that really exists. I told them that recorded experiments in quantum mechanics in its puzzling “double slit” experiment (google it) confirmed this amazing contradiction of our reality. There is a particle emitter that shoots photon particles out onto a receptor plate. In the path of the emitted particles, there is a barrier with two vertical rectangular slit openings. The distribution of the particles which pass through the slits are recorded and we expect to see the image of two parallel bars on the receptor plate. This happened every time this experiment was conducted and observed. One day, the scientists started the experiment and went away, maybe for lunch. When they came back, they were surprised to see multiple bars on the receptor plate instead of just the normal two. How can this happen when no one is looking at it? Instead of a particle distribution of just two bars, they were seeing a wave distribution of multiple bars! This unsolved enigma persists today. In other words, our reality sees two bars, but it may be a false reality. I told them that everything may be just a figment of our imagination, that we exist only in our minds, and that our lives may be mere illusions. Grace and Monica looked more confused than ever.
Undeterred, I asked them if they saw the latest Academy award winning movie, “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” which dealt with the concept of multiple universes and alternate realities. Since Jehovah Witnesses rarely go to the movies, they didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. I told them that there was a scene in the movie where two rocks with google eyes were talking to each other! I am not the only one who thinks we came from rocks! We talked for good 20 minutes. Maybe I should have invited them inside for coffee. Every time they brought up something from the Bible, I countered with a scientific observation refuting it. I said, “If you believe that Eve was created from Adam’s rib, that is fine for you. I, however, believe that women were created to confuse and frustrate men!” Finally, I told them that I knew the definitive reason why good will always triumph over evil. The ladies perked up immediately as I sensed that they probably had been searching for such an answer for a very long time. I could see the disappointment in their faces when I said, “I am not going to tell you. If you really want to know, go buy my book and read it!” At this point, there was not too much left to discuss and we said our goodbyes. I think I made an impression with these ladies. Walking away, they were still talking, animatedly with arms waving, maybe saying what a weird person they met today!
I told my son about this encounter and he said, “Thanks Dad. I don’t think these Jehovah Witnesses will ever come to this house again.” All I could say was, “You’re very welcome. Son. The things we do for family!” That’s my latest story! If you are interested why things are the way they are in your life, then read my first book: “Words of Wisdom for Living Life.” You might see your life in a totally different perspective! Like what your life might be like if you were a rock. Then you might realize how great it is to be alive!