The Battle at Newcastle: Rogier meets the Mormons

Arrive into Newcastle, get some beef jerkey (I know it's digusting, but it's fairly healthy). Find a coasy little hostel. My room is already the stage of a battle between two Canadian and two American guys, featuring the usual "do you guys live in igloos?" questions etc. I stand-up for Canada, saying I like it. After being asked what I liked about Edmonton, I have to admit that I only liked the girls over there.

Time to get something to eat, end up at Subways, sit outside to eat my sub yo! Two reasonably okay looking girls come up to me and ask "can we ask you something?", me "is it directions? because I'm not from here at all", 'obvious leader of the gang girl' (I'll call her leader girl): "no :) where can we find fish and chips around here?", me "how are you gonna have fish and chips? You're in Australia, you should be having kangaroo or crocodile meat.", leader girl: "blah blah excuses, why she can have fish and chips". So this goes on for a while and then she starts openly pondering wether she should invite me to her 'bonfire' party. Leader girl: "you seem cool, but I've only just met you, you might be weird", me "I'm not sure if I wanna go, but ask me any question.. what do you want to know?"... she can't think of a question, upon which I assert that I like volleyball and philosophy, some how she's magically convinced of my 'non-weirdness' by this. So along I go to have dinner with them (they go to some other fastfood place). I'm making jokes and it's all haha's, but that's when the first shit starts to hit the fan: leader girl: "there won't be any drinking at the bonfire, we're MORMONS", me "okay".

There's 3 of them now, their other friend joined. And from then on they start talking about their religion only. I find out that two of them are missionaries (so I guess they're on a people converting spree pretty much) and they see a juicy victim in me. When they started with the religious talk I thought about just bailing out, but since I've acquired a new interest in religion and know some things about it, I figured I was gonna stick this one out to the bitter end. So I listen attentively and ask questions at times. I'll spare you guys the entire discussion, but it kinda comes down to this. They claim that other religions have bits of the truth and therfor are not bad, but they don't hold the complete truth, which only their religion holds. How do they know? Well, their founder had a heavenly apparition and you just have to find out for yourself. You have to ask god whether the mormons system is the only real truth.. and god will answer. But then how do they know they don't get an answer based on the question they're asking (and that they're not influenced by their upbringing)? Their answer to this was that the feeling you get with their religon is a lot stronger than with any other religion. When I asked them how they knew? And how I could ever know this without trying all the religions, I got the first emotional reactions from the leader girl (who had been doing most of the talking). She mumbled something like "well if you think that, you're just sad". The other girl gently told me that I should read their book and see if I'd still doubt them then. So in the end I asked them, "so what, if I'm still not inclined to look into your religion after this multi-hour talk? does that mean I'm a bad person according to your god?', leader girl: "it means you've been given an opportunity, but you are not ready perhaps, but everything happens for a reason. Do you really think it was a coincidence that we randombly met on the street?" (little did she know that this was not the first time I've met people on the street). So then (after having listened for over an hour) I asked them whether they wanted to know what I believed? All three at once, genuinely eager, replied "yes!".

So here I began to preach my own personal dharma, as though I was the Buddha, or David Bohm himself. "I believe that all thought and therefor language, is limited. All religions therefor necessarily are limted as well, not one of them holds the complete truth. The thoughts that are in your mind will always be fragmentations of the whole and the whole is where the truth lies. When you look at a tree, you say that is a tree and it ends at its roots, because of your concept of a tree.. of course in reality it doesn't, it's part of an unbroken whole". Leader girl exclaims "philospphy..." while smirking at her friend. I go on: "yes, philosophy.. but philosophy too is limited, because it is language it is thought.. and I think that when thought ends (when fragmentation ends), there is something that lies beyond that.. and I think THAT is truth. I think all religions have a core somewhere deep within them that points towards this truth.. much like you (leader girl) perhaps have when you have that feeling of truth when you pray for your question to be answered". Leader girl tells me that she loves philosophy and science... and goes on to say "you know, because of what you just said, I think YOU could get more truth out of our religion than anyone else" (kind of a 'the force is strong in this one' kind of thing). They ask me to come to the bonfire, but I decide against it by saying "I've had enough religious talk for one day", leader girl: "what, are you afraid we're just gonna blast you with continues religious truths??", me "yeah, I kinda am" at which the other girls laugh :P We then go our seperate ways. They do ask me for my phonenumber also so "some people could contact me", me: "yeah no thanx, how bout facebook?"

Next morning I meet a cool Finish girl on the stairs of my hostel. Exchange facebook with her. Just now (while typing this) I think I'm talking to her, turns out it's leader girl from the mormons! Nooo! Twilight zone shit!

Anyway, I'm kind of making the mormon girls look like the enemy here, but really I don't think there's a lot wrong with their practice, except for the fact that they see it as the one truth. Of course I don't know about all their rules, etc. But at the core of it, it is practice directed to introspection, which if practiced correctly (this goes for any religion) could probably lead to profound insights. They were also quite acceptant of my ways of thinking and in general really friendly.

More from me shortly! Running out of internet time! Miss everyone!