As I ran through a local park today, I noticed something in the far distance. A new construction project, probably for a suburban community or something, was taking place. Oblivious workers cutting down trees and adding new but soon to be grimy pipelines into the ground. Birds, squirrels, and even the local porcupines are sure to be running for their lives right now. As I heard the loud noises of axes and chainsaws at work, I kept on running, hoping that the project doesn't expand to this wonderful park I'm running in right now, where it is kept quiet and is the only safe haven left for miles in this area for animals to roam.

Keeping on running my course, I had other things on my mind. Specifically, a few posts on here commenting on here about how anybody can commit such an act as to be an Atheist or how Atheists have no right to express their opinions on how things should be ran in a social or governmental manner. I am not an Atheist. Instead, I am an agnostic. I don't believe in any omnipotent figure in the heavens above, where he/she commands us about how to live our lives and the methods of getting into the holy heavens. The afterlife concept is something, however, that I firmly believe in. You may ask why I believe that or is there actually any proof of an afterlife. My reason for believing in another heavenly world is quite simple: I don't want my death to be the end. I will admit, my answer is probably quite trite, but it's true. I would be bored as hell just laying in my coffin staring at a black abyss for the rest of eternity. I would at least want to be up in the skies doing whatever the hell I felt like. And best of all, no God telling me that I am going to hell for my sins. Just a simple utopia that will be my eternal resting place.

Some say that you need to have some sort of spiritual guidance in order to fully live your life successfully and to be one with the spirits above. I find this to be quite illogical. Why can't I control my own destiny? Why does it need to be in the hands of someone that I don't even know exist? Why would I even want to put my life in someone's hands, regardless if they can supposedly control all? I would not to wish that upon someone else.

As an individual born in a Native American family, I have learn a lot about the Natives culture. Specifically the Iroquois tribe. I was never really interested in the cultures as a kid because quite frankly I couldn't care less and I just wanted to go back to my manga and and anime. However, as I matured, I learned that the Iroquois people had a different faith that was unlike any other I had seen before it. For instance, in one story a local Onondagan chief told me some years ago was about how the Earth was made. A version of his story goes as follows (skip if you don't wanna read):

In the beginning, the world was not as we know it now. It was a water world inhabited only by animals and creatures of the air who could survive without land.

 

Up above, the Sky World was quite different. Human-type beings lived there with infinite types of plants and animals to enjoy.

 

In the Sky World, there was a Tree of Life that was very special to the people of the Sky World. They knew that it grew at the entrance to the world below and forbade anyone to tamper with the Tree. One woman who was soon to give birth was curious about the Tree and convinced her brother to uproot the Tree.

 

Beneath the Tree was a great hole. The woman peered from the edge into the hole and suddenly fell off the edge. As she was falling she grasped at the edge and clutched in her hand some of the earth from the Sky World. As she fell, the birds of the world below were disturbed and alerted to her distress. The birds responded and gathered a great many of their kind to break her fall and cradle her to the back of a great sea turtle. The creatures of the water believed that she needed land to live on, so they set about to collect some for her. They dove to the great depths of the world's oceans to gather earth to make her a place to live. Many of the animals tried to gather the earth from the ocean floor, only the muskrat was successful. With only a small bit of earth brought onto turtle's back from his small paws, Turtle Island began to grow.

 

The Sky Woman soon gave birth to a daughter on Turtle Island. The daughter grew fast. There were no man-beings on Turtle Island, but a being known as the West Wind married the daughter of Sky Woman.

Soon the daughter of Sky Woman gave birth to Twins. One was born the natural way, and he was called the Right-Handed Twin. The other was born in a way that caused the death of the mother. He was called the Left-Handed Twin. When their mother died, their grandmother, Sky Woman, placed the fistful of earth that she grasped from the edge of the Sky World, and placed it on her daughter's grave. The earth carried special seeds from the Sky World that were nourished by the earth over her daughter. So from the body of her daughter came the Sacred Tobacco, Strawberry and Sweetgrass. We call these Kionhekwa. The Life Givers.

 

The Right and Left-Handed Twins were endowed with special creative powers. The Right-Handed Twin created gentle hills, beautiful smelling flowers, quiet brooks, butterflies and numerous creatures, plants and earth formations. His brother the Left-Handed Twin made snakes, thorns on rose bushes, thunder and lightning and other more disturbing attributes of today's world. Together, they created man and his many attributes. The Right-Handed Twin believed in diplomacy and conflict resolution. The Left-Handed Twin believed in conflict as resolution. They were very different, but all that they created is an integral part of this Earth's Creation.

 

Their Grandmother, Sky Woman, now came to the end of her life. When she died, the Twins fought over her body and pulled it apart, throwing her head into the sky. As part of the Sky World, there her head remained to shine upon the world as Grandmother Moon. The Twins could not live together without fighting. They agreed to dwell in different realms of the earth. The Right-Handed Twin continued to live in the daylight and the Left-Handed Twin became a dweller of the night. Both of them continue their special duties to their Mother the Earth.

Notice a few things in this story, in which basically explains the core beliefs in which many Iroquois Natives adhere to. First of all, there isn't a "God" or an omnipotent entity. True, there are some Native tribes which note of a "Creator", but as this Native version of basically the book of Genesis is concerned, there was already an eternal heaven existing, called "Sky World". What's different about this kind of heaven is that it's actually an Earth in itself, and that even though infinite food and animals exist in this utopia, it's still possible for people to "sin", such as the Sky Woman rooting the tree of life. Also note that underneath Sky World is the actual Earth. In no mention of the story was there a God to create that world in seven days. It was simply there since the beginning of time. Also note that there are living creatures already present in the water Earth such as marine and air-based animals.

Now, one might say that the woman basically disobeyed an order from a higher power by making her brother root up the Tree of Life, but that's not true. The PEOPLE of the Sky World made other people not go near the tree. It was a group effort, not some other powerful individual. The woman was curious about the entrance to the world but she did not break any commandment established by an order. Very different from the story of Adam and Eve, in which the serpent (Satan) told them to eat the apple from the garden of Eden, against God's orders. The Sky Woman wasn't provoked by any force, she used free will and decision making to uproot the tree.

Also note that in the Bible Genesis story that God harshly punished Adam and Eve by banishing them to the Earth below without any assistance. In this story, the Sky Woman is saved from her fall by the birds in the sky, and in an effort to make her survive, the birds dropped her on the back of a giant turtle, then proceeded to make other animals, especially the muskrats, use all their might to bring the Earth up above the water level so the Sky Woman to survive. No God, no Jesus, no Allah, no Zeus. Nobody but nature itself helped this poor woman out.

When Sky Woman's daughter married the West Wind (I have no idea what West Wind represents, even some Native Americans are confused as to what the significance of this being is. It's probably just a plot device to have the Sky Woman's daughter have offsprings.) and gave birth to the Twins, this doesn't explain how modern humans were born. The Twins only personify on how nature on Earth evolved. While the Right Handed Twin beloved in positive energy and creation, the Left Handed Twin believed in strict conflict, harsh treatment, and all the negativity that embodies the Earth. Their differences became so evident that they eventually became day and night and totally split off. This is meant to explain why most humans are suspicious of the dark while in the day, they are comfortable and at ease. Kind of like Princesses Celestia and Luna, albeit to a more serious tone.

Now, back to me running on the nature trail. As I was thinking about this story, I noticed something. This story completely relates to the Earth as we know it. It might be just as far fetched as the Adam and Eve story, but think about it. The story didn't specifically focus on a spiritual being, but on nature itself. The Twins could be argued that they were special supernatural beings, but still, they were merely personifications of the different degrees of nature. If we all took basic Biology, we know that plants give off CO2, the most essential compound a human needs to survive. Trees are homes for many different types of animals. The Sun is what makes our days warm. The Rain makes our crops grow. The magnetic field between the Sun and Moon causes tides. Bees make honey from the pollen in flowers. The Ozone layer protects us from the Sun's most deadly UV rays.

Can we really give a God any credit for these actions? I conclude that the true "God" or "omnipotent entity" in this equation is nature herself. Without nature, we would have a shitty environment and this world wouldn't be as stable as it is now. Now, I know, people say "God created everything". So you're meaning to tell me that even though science clearly dictates that if I put a seed in the ground and planted it with top soil that it will grow with water and sunlight, that's God's doing? Or if rainclouds form as part of evaporation aka part of the water cycle and it rains down on that seedling then it's God's doing? Or if the Sun appears out from the clouds dispersing and uses the rays to make the seedling grow, then that's God's doing? Sorry, but I simply can't accept that. Anything that can be explained by science and logic is not something I would put on God. It's something I would put on NATURE.

We have the Left Handed Twin giving us hurricanes, massive thunderstorms, droughts, earthquakes, etc., everything that can be explained by science. Weather fronts merging, increased heat causing massive friction, lack of rain due to no water cycle or fronts, tectonic plates colliding, etc. All explained by natural science and not a supernatural force. But then, religious people might go on to say "Oh, but those actions are made possible by God." Sorry, not gonna accept that. But if you want to believe that, I'm not gonna say you're wrong. It's just something I can't buy into. Because I don't know if there's a God or not either. None of us will actually really know until we are dead and ascending into the skies (IF we even do that). But, what I do now and when I put two and two together is what matters most to me, and that's really good enough in my perspective.

As I am running back and I see the construction project going on, the humans cutting down the trees and making the animals escape from their life-long homes, I weep for nature. Nature, despite it's negative energy, also has it's life saving manner for us and we need to be grateful for that. I'm not one of those massive tree huggers, but if I stop to think about my existence, I need to owe it all to the Sky Woman and her twins. Not that I actually believe that there was really a woman or her twins, but you get the picture. The fact that I believe nature is enough in place of a God is really what I am trying to get at.

NEXT EPISODE: Why Agnosticism? My Experience With Death and the Catholic Concepts