Trying to Make Sense of the Unknown and a Beautiful Ride with Eddy Voorspoels

This blog post dovetails with my previous entry as I continue to ponder life—my life, in search of answers that likely won't be revealed to me until my time here is done, if then.

I've been in a very contemplative place for at least the past two years while I watch helplessly as the years of my life pass by, each one faster than the one that preceded it. Contemplation is one of my superpowers, if only for my benefit. Along with my preoccupation with contemplating my life and all of its twists and turns and lessons, my thoughts are beginning to dwell more and more on life beyond this one and what that might look like. It was so much easier when I took shelter in my Christian faith, not really bothering to seriously consider any other alternative than one where I leave my physical body and pass through a tunnel of white light into the arms of Jesus, to dwell with other believers as we sing songs of praise to God. It was a very simple way of looking at life and death; so much so that it required little to no deeper attempt at understanding what I was accepting.

Honestly, the singing praises to God part never appealed to me in the least. How boring, I thought.

Since I now see myself as much more an agnostic than a Christian, it's opened up entirely new areas of possibility for me to explore—but along with that comes an uneasiness in admitting to myself that I lack so much understanding about what lies ahead. I'm a Virgo and one of our traits is orderliness (another one of my superpowers, if you can call it that). Perhaps that's why not knowing what awaits me after this life troubles me and leaves me with a feeling of anxiousness. But it's where I am.

There's comfort in believing as the masses do; I get that. And Christianity is the most popular religion worldwide so this should be an easy call, right? Not for me. 

Major religious groups

• Christianity (31.2%)
• Islam (24.1%)
• Irreligion (16%)
• Hinduism (15.1%)
• Buddhism (6.9%)
• Folk religions (5.7%)
• Sikhism (0.3%)
• Judaism (0.2%)

If I had to explain it, after all of the thinking I've done about what I really believe happens to us when we die, I would say that there's a transition period between our death and the next life that will follow. How long of a transition period, I haven't a clue but I'm becoming more accepting of the belief that we will be given new lives after this one—reincarnated lives. Our soul's energy continues on to take up residence in another being and can't be extinguished. And the cycle repeats. Honestly, it makes as much sense to me as any religion I'm familiar with and the sometimes outrageous claims of truth they put forth. 

At 65 years old, one would think I would have long ago settled on a belief that I could cling to, and I thought I had, but as I said in my previous post, evangelicals over the past 6-7 years have shown me that what I was putting my trust in (to include the leaders of the Christian church both yesterday and today) are merely men with agendas and aren't to be blindly trusted. It really boils down to that for me. And so I continue to contemplate that which can't be known with any great degree of certainty. It's part of life as I see it. 

Okay, moving on. 

A video popped up in my YouTube feed last night that captured my attention in a way that very few videos do or can. It's a video posted by Eddy Voorspoels from Belgium. My interest was piqued all the more when I learned early on in the video that we're the same age, within about a month. Eddy has quite a lot of experience cycling around the world (a dream of mine—maybe in my next life?) but had to dust off his bike from years of idleness for this latest 32-day journey—a journey that would take him from Antwerp, Belgium, southeast toward Luxembourg and France then northeast into Germany before returning to Antwerp for a total of 1460 miles / 2350 km. 

Eddy talks about the simplicity of riding as he captures some beautiful scenery along the way while leaving me longing for that same kind of experience which is considerably different than the kind of riding I enjoy. His is a slower pace and one that focuses on taking in all that the road has to offer, most importantly, the encounters with people along the way. He had me so captivated that it wasn't until I was well into the video that I noticed he was riding in sandals and without the ubiquitous helmet the rest of us wear. 

Eddy rides without the latest technology or cycling apparel that I can't seem to get enough of—very old-school, yet he has the ability to capture video footage and stitch it together in a way that most of us who dabble in this sort of thing can only dream of being able to do. 

For as vastly different as our riding styles are, I couldn't help but feel a kinship between myself and Eddy. I would love to ride with him and get to know him. It's truly a beautiful journey he will take you on in the video below. 

I'll leave you with some words of Eddy's as I close this out. 

"In the end, everything passes—the heat and the cold, the rain and the wind—steep climbs, mechanical breakdowns. Everything always passes or finds a solution. The only thing to stay is the road—the ever-changing, eternal, and glorious road. And it always leads back to ourselves."

Enjoy the ride. 

That's all I've got.