Love and the Sea and Everything in Between

chapter seventeen

The day is gone too quickly – as all days are. After arriving late in the night, Liz and I parted with a kiss because apparently studying is a thing.

At my desk, now, I'm overwhelmed by the textbooks and notebooks and assignments. According to my syllabus, I have an essay for Intro to Philosophy due tomorrow and I haven't even started. The prompt: choose two world religions and write a one-page essay detailing how they view life after death.

I've got nothing.

I think for a moment. Does Atheism count? It would be a bit easier to just talk about Christianity and Atheism, but I don't think Atheism is technically a religion.

Instead, I choose Christianity and Buddhism - one I'm familiar with and the other intrigues me. On my computer, I type my essay title: Heaven, Hell, and Reincarnation.

At least it's a start.

For the next five hours, I lose myself in mounds of research articles I found on the internet. I discover that, like Christians, Buddhists believe death is not the end of life. They believe the spirit carries on in search of a new body and the quality of the body in which they are reborn is directly related to their past actions. In other words, karma.

It's certainly appealing, I think. But I'm skeptical. What's the point of life after death if you might become a leaf?

After a while, I fall asleep at my desk and am awakened by the sound of my roommate returning. Sitting up straight, I see that it's dark out now. The day has gone.

"Hey," my roommate says.

"Hey," I return, yawning. "How was your weekend?"

"Fine." He lies down on his bed and drifts to sleep almost right away.

I'm thankful. Shallow conversations are not my forte.

* * *

It's Tuesday morning. I've had my cigarette. I've had my coffee. And now I'm next to Liz in Intro to Philosophy, my half-baked paper sitting with the rest at the front of the classroom.

Leaning back in my chair, practically laying, with my arms folded across my chest, I zone in and out of Professor Garcia's lecture, my thoughts wandering to the girl beside me and the world beyond the walls of the Ed Building.

"'The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.' Who can tell me who said that?" Garcia asks.

Liz is the first to raise her hand.

"Go ahead, Ms. Richards."

"That was Socrates."

"Very good," he says with a nod. He looks to the rest of the class. "Who can tell me what Socrates was saying?"

I raise my hand this time.

"Mr. West," he says, almost surprised. "Go ahead."

"Socrates was saying that when we recognize that we know nothing compared to all the things we can know, we become truly wise. When we assume we know everything, we become fools because someone always knows something we don't."

"Very good!"

Liz smiles at me and I'm the happiest I have ever been.

* * *

When class is over, I approach Garcia.

"How are you today, Adam?" he asks, packing his laptop and notes away in his bag.