This Week In God

Sunday afternoon Wikipedia binges will be the death of me.

But god damn, aren't they fun.

And speaking of God, it seems like his holiness has been en vogue over these past few weeks. Especially in the wake of Thanksgiving and Christmas soon upon us, many of my thoughts have returned to the idea of him (or her, or whatever it is).

First off, let me double back to the beginning of the week when I found my trusty iPod after weeks of it being lost in my apartment (divine intervention, anyone?). It was left in my travel bag from my recent last-minute business trip to Atlanta. Having been away from the old music for so long, I decided to fire it up on random and interestingly enough, it started playing Jesus Christ Superstar: one of my favorite musicals of all time.

Yes, I said it... Jesus Christ Superstar is amazing. And not so much for the whole "Ooohh, a musical about Jesus"-angle... but more because, well... this thing is funky as hell. Plain and simple. I'll put it to you this way: It doesn't get much better than a musical finale with Judas being lowered from the sky in his angelic jumpsuit and tassels, as he sings Jesus' praises with his back-up soul dancers and a funk soundtrack dominated by a walking bass-guitar line... Perfection, fully realized. (Update: Click the picture for the scene I'm talking about)

But nonetheless, fast forward to today after a long drive home from Thanksgiving. I'm on the internets attempting to knock out some work, and sure enough, I get sidetracked by digg and wikipedia. This time, an article came up with someone attempting to rationalize the "high probability" that existence, as we know it, is simply a Matrix-like simulation maintained by creatures beyond our comprehension.

More than anything, I view this write-up is a cute attempt to intersect fan-boy mythology with existential philosophy... but its a fun read nonetheless. And when you consider his argument, the conclusion he makes is somewhat logical, even though his initial assumptions are anything but. (For more on this idea, I direct you to a further developed write-up, which is void of the mindless drivel that pollutes the original posting).

But with all of the Matrix-like comparisons aside, this theory is basically arguing in favor of the existence of God. I mean, when you think about it, if you woke up in the after-life only to find out that our almighty God was nothing more than a teenage boy fiddling with our universe in his copy of Spore on his Playstation 23... Or maybe a middle-aged author suffering of writer's block while the figment of her imagination walked the earth in constant search of her divine direction (Yes, for those of you who weren't keeping notes, Harold Crick is a comedic, yet brilliant characterization of Jesus)...

Would the possibility of God not being the larger than life, white-bearded alpha (and omega) male that we all thought him to be, cheapen his existence? Would we have wasted our time on earth attempting to seek and follow his will?

Of course, we all won't really know until we are done here in the current song and dance that is our lives. But in the meantime, if one needs absolute and irrefutable proof of God's existence, one need only look at Metheny/Mehldau, a newly released collaboration of two of the most amazing jazz musicians ever to pick up a guitar and piano (respectively). I came across this album at the recommendation of an old friend, and I am blown away.