This may be disconcerting to some but I am not saying that in fact something like a spirit or should escapes the body and moves somewhere, we just can’t see it. My grandfather died in the Second World War, close to the end of the war on the eastern front in Russia. My grandmother swears that while she was sleeping she heard his voice saying “My dear, I have to go.” Of course that could just be imagination and in retrospect this is hard to prove.

Interestingly the topic of death also drew particular attention by the Franciscans who in the mid ages spent hours meditating on death.

My old school friend with a very secular mindset gave me this book about a duck getting old and in the process of dying. The duck ask its friend, some other animal, what dying is and they were saying something like, “and well, when you die you die.” Eventually the duck dies.

Now, this is very deep apparently and in my own simplicity this was the last drop that made me decide to join the Catholic Church. I am joining “The Catholic Church!” You need to understand that growing up in Europe, particular Northern Europe means to grow up in a secular society where in Religion is general is felt to be a relic of medieval primitive superstition. Not few believe that the Nazis in Germany had very close ties with if not endorsement by the Catholic Church and historians desperately try to prove this.

I don’t’ really know what the catholic priests in the church had to say when the concentration camps were liberated by the allies and I don’t want to assume anything. Maybe not a bad attitude just not to assume anything…

I was a fervent critic of the Catholic church and any religion for that matter. As a physician and scientist I have reasonable doubts about the ridiculous mythical claims of Christians. I also believe that the Christian faith brought a lot of suffering into this world, obstructed science and abuse of power throughout history. People like me, educated and open-minded, should be able to easily unravel the contradictions and hypocrisy of the Catholic church. I order to educate myself about the Christian faith I read books and watched movies about why Jesus never existed, contradictions in the bible and the sins of the Catholic church in history.

This year I decided to go through RCIA  (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) which is the process of becoming a Catholic.