I Think, Therefore I am.

So, If i haven't told you before, my dad likes to talk. A lot.  And this morning in the car he tried to talk to me about Rene Descartes and his philosophies and such (In case you aren't familiar with him, he's the guy who said I think, therefore, I am, and was a french philosopher in the 1600-1700's i believe).

But it got me thinking about a few of the existential questions. Are we alone? Where did we come from? Why are we here?  What happens when we die?  Is any of this real?  And  I realized, I really, really want to know the answers to these questions.  I'm not content to accept this life that I've been given, because what if there is something else out there? Something better and more exciting.  Given that the universe is infinite, there are probably other forms of life out there.  I find it hard to believe that fate would be so cruel as to only put humans on a planet.  Not only cruel to humans, but to the universe in general.  Because, let's face it, we aren't exactly hot shit.  We destroy, we take things.  We're inherently hateful and spiteful creatures, who only think about ourselves and what we can do for personal gain.  Sure there's a lot of love in the world, and there are a lot of good people out there, but there is also a lot of war, hate, and generally a pretty good supply of assholes.

So I want to find something better, because I really hope there is something better.  Another thing my dad told me, "When there is no hope, there is no capacity for life."  Which, now that I think about it, is one of the most insightful and true things I've ever heard in the fifteen years that I have been on this earth.

In my lifetime, I will most likely not change the course of the world forever.  As much as I'd like to dream, as much as any of us would like to dream, reality always calls us back.  And if I do something huge with the planet, or space, it will most likely be me and a team of people.

But I can't be content to be confined to this planet, this solar system, this galaxy.  This universe.  I feel, I really and truly feel that there is something else out there.  Someone else out there.  I hope there is.  I really, really hope there is.  And hoping is what I'll have to settle for now.

Because it's the hope that will sustain me.  It's the hope that will keep me alive.