[mwananchi_]

Vicki wrote:
"Do you believe in a higher deity that has control over all that is seen and unseen?"

It would be comforting to have a guardian angel or someone looking over us, rewarding us for our good deeds, punishing those who wrong us, and protecting us from our enemies. A higher being who is in control and would therefore take some responsibility off our shoulders, lift us up when we are down, raise us from death, and take us to a beautiful place of happiness where we'd live forever without sorrow or pain. A loving father who would provide meaning to our otherwise fruitless empty toil in this vale of tears. The 23rd Psalm is a beautiful depiction of this yearning.

Vicki, I do not believe in a higher being. What you see is what you get. You live but once and once you die it's all over. Life is not fair. It is tough and we have to deal with it.

Vicki asked:
"where do you think we came from? What prompted our existence?"

I don't think we came from anywhere. I believe we were always here. Like I mentioned in my post on the "Is there a God" thread, maybe parrots have always been parrots and rabbits have always been rabbits and the sun, the moon and the stars have always been there.

Some argue that the universe could not have been an accident and must have been created by some master architect (read God). But I always wonder was God an accident?