Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M

I received a brilliant video link on my Facebook page today, posted by Jacob Abramov. It was for the video, The Pale Blue Dot, by Carl Sagan, posted originally on YouTube. I first met Jacob in Germany at a clinic which we both attended to treat our respective illnesses. I met him with his lovely mother, who had gone out there with him, to support him. The invigorating thing about Jacob is that you are just as likely to have a good belly laugh at his sophisticated wit as you are to have a stimulating debate.

This video is typical of Jacob. Absorbing, thought- provoking, challenging, true. In it, Sagan points out how the human race, in its arrogance, is racing towards its own Apocalypse. The destruction of the only planet, and a beautiful one at that, that can sustain life, as we know it. That amounts to mass suicide, doesn’t it? Deliberately putting our planet in peril? But that is what we are doing, surely?

Some weeks ago, I was approached by a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was sitting on my doorstep waiting for a taxi. They were on a mission to deliver their pamphlets. They were both charming, polite and evangelical about their need to convert. I was a trifle bored and happy to debate the finer points of life. The cynical amongst you might also say that I knew there was a finite time till my taxi arrived, so I knew our discussion would be cut short sooner or later.

Wikipedia defines Jehovah’s Witnesses as millennialist restorationist Christians, with nonTrinitarian beliefs. They believe that the destruction of the world – Armageddon – is imminent, and that the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth is the only solution for the future of mankind. This world view is referred to as ‘the truth’. Of course, only the chosen ones will be saved. After Armageddon, God will extend his heavenly kingdom to include earth. Gradually, those who were not God’s true followers will be resurrected, if they are deemed worthy from their deeds post resurrection, and a glorified human race will inhabit the earth, living in perfect harmony. My new friends were so certain that their truth was the only truth, that it made me reflect on what it is that drives us with such conviction towards a particular religion.

The notion of Utopia appeals, I am sure, to most of us. But not at the expense of others. The saddest single facet of religion to me is that so many seem to be mutually exclusive. That they all seem to preach that their philosophy is the right way to think, that all others are misleading or downright untrue. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that for some people, religion of any denomination, can be a real source of solace and support. But I myself do not feel the need to follow any one creed, because I do not want my beliefs to be ring-fenced by a set of rules that tell me how to put them into practice. If asked, I will say that I have faith but not religion.

Because I do. I have faith that something far greater than I created this jewel-like celestial body we live on. That it wasn’t just a cosmic accident that created our extraordinary planet, or its sun and moon. That the huge diversity of life on Earth is the product of intent and not incident. That the miracle that is the human body was a piece of grand design, of exquisite aesthetics, of precision engineering.

I’d like to think, when you watch Sagan’s video, that you stop to think about embracing the idea of protecting this Earth. Of switching off lights, of recycling goods, of accessorising old clothes to reinvent them, or giving them to charity to reuse in an even more practical way. Of trying to be as carbon neutral as possible. I’d like to think that not only will we preserve that pale blue dot for future generations, but we might also make the colour more vibrant – azure,, ultramarine or cobalt, not powder or baby blue….