Philosophy

“Hey, nice jacket. Got a minute?” said the religious guy. The writer stopped and nodded politely.

”Sure, what’s up.” He could see right away the other man was wearing a black name tag which read: Elder Joseph. This clean-shaven well-mannered young man with a broad smile on his face was definitely a Mormon.

Around them, the street buzzed and hummed.

”I wanted to take up a  few minutes of your time to talk about God."

"Thanks, that’s nice of you,” said the writer, “But I’m not really interested in religion."

"Okay, that’s fair enough. What about God?"

"I don’t really believe in God."

"Why not?” the religious guy did not lose any of his joy asking this question. If anything, he seemed glad the conversation had taken that turn.

”Well,” the writer mused, “The question should rather be ‘why believe’ since that is an action. Lack of faith is lack of action."

"You said it right, we believe and that requires action. It requires a decision to be made. Are you interested in happiness."

"Of course I am,” said the writer, “But I believe happiness comes from a balance between sadness and joy, not from an external agent."

"Fair enough,” said the religious guy, still smiling, “Are you interested in the meaning of life?"

"I believe,” said the writer, “That life is life and does not need to be assigned meaning. Our actions should be meaningful and lead to goals, but life itself is just life."

"Hey, I like that,” said the religious guy. “What do you do? Do you go to school or what?"

"I’m a writer."

"Oh yeah?” said the religious guy joyfully. “Have you ever written a book about Mormons?"

"Huh?"

"The Mormons, have you ever written a book about Mormons?"

"No, I haven’t,” and they both laughed good-heartedly.

”Hey, I gotta go,” said the religious guy, “But I just want to leave you with this. No, maybe this.”

He fumbled with a few tiny booklets, until he came up with one that showed Jesus with an ironic look on his face talking to a group of confused children.

”Thanks,” said the writer, “I’ll definitely read it.” And he meant it.

”Take care,” said the religious guy.

”God bless you,” said the writer, saluting with the booklet.

They parted, and the street did not notice.

Posted by: Paweł Kowaluk