Editor’s Note: On May 1, 2006, Beliefnet user Neil Woodward, a 59-year-old painter from
Location:
It took me a couple of days to replace my stolen belongings. During this time I managed to clarify what I hoped to accomplish with this bike trip. I decided that my purpose was not necessarily to reach
The trip was to be more an exploration of possibilities.
Even without my laptop I would try to update my weblog at internet cafes and public libraries along the way. I would stop over for a day or two whenever I felt the need, and I would put my life in God’s hands and let Him show me the way. I wanted to learn to trust in God completely, and with this in mind, there was one item from my stolen things that I decided not to replace. In 1994, my doctor told me that I “almost certainly” suffered from clinical depression, caused by a serotonin imbalance in my brain. He had prescribed antidepressants which he said I should probably take for the rest of my life. But his diagnosis was based entirely on what I had told him about my personal history, and I had always questioned it. To me my recurring bouts of hopelessness, despair and fear of life meant only one thing -- that I didn’t have enough faith in God or myself or anything else.
This bike trip seemed a perfect opportunity to prove I didn’t need artificial medications. I would be getting plenty of fresh air and exercise, eating well and having an adventure every day. I would be learning to trust God completely. Why would I need anti-depressants?
My preparations completed, I cycled out of
I did make it, barely, by the end of the day, and over the next several weeks I climbed many more such passes, becoming stronger at a remarkable rate. For one five-day period I rode in the rain every day, arriving at my destination completely drenched. A couple of times I even had to set up my tent in the rain and then mop the inside dry with towels and clothes from my laundry bag, before unpacking my bedding. Then I had to wash and dry the towels and laundry at a laundromat before going to bed.
Footprints in The Sand <USE A PIECE OF ART OR PHOTO – LINK TO GALLERY>
One day, as I sat in a coffee shop at day’s end, I met a fellow artist named Michael, who invited me to have dinner with him and his wife, and offered me his guest room for the night. I accepted, and later that evening, and after an excellent meal, we got into a conversation which eventually turned to spiritual matters.
Although raised as a Catholic, Michael had actually been an atheist since he was very young. To him it seemed that throughout history great suffering had been caused by people who believed they were obeying some imaginary deity. When I asked him what he thought about a God whose only directives were to love one another and be as positive and constructive as we could with whatever we were given in life, he became thoughtful.
Then he began telling a story that he had always loved. In the story, God shows a person who has recently died that person’s whole life, represented by two sets of footprints in the sand, and says “You see, I was with you every step of the way.” But the deceased person points to several places where there was only one set of footprints, suggesting that in some places he had walked alone, to which God replies, “Those were places where you were too weak to go on, so I had to carry you.”
Michael almost cried before he could finish the story. Then he apologised, saying that he always choked up when he told it, not because he believed it, but simply because it was such a beautiful story. The next day, after I said my goodbyes and went on my way, I thought about Michael’s reaction. How could a confirmed atheist be so moved by a simple story about the love of God? I wondered if he really wanted to believe, but somehow couldn’t. I also wondered if God were “carrying” me right now, and who I would have been angry at, had I been an atheist such as Michael.
‘Pipe Dreams and Mirages’ <PIECE OF ART OR A PHOTO – LINK TO GALLERY>
Early in June I reached the
“Why would anyone take such irrational things so seriously?” seemed to be their attitude. I began to think I was very different from the people I knew and loved, and I realized that was one of the reasons I felt angry at God. Why couldn’t He have made me more like them -- logical, practical and pragmatic? Why did he have to make me such a woolly-headed idealist, condemned to spend my life chasing pipe dreams and mirages?
From
But as I rode across the prairies I became increasingly aware that I hadn’t updated my weblog since I had left
PULLQUOTE: In a few years all of us will be gone, I thought, and in a few more years no one will know that any of us ever even existed.
By the time I reached
In a few years all of us will be gone, I thought, and in a few more years no one will know that any of us ever even existed. The world as we know it will be gone forever. What possible significance or meaning can our lives have, knowing that?
‘A Turn for The Worse’ <PIECE OF ART/PHOTO – LINK TO GALLERY>
In the small town of
When I finally recovered and continued into southern
I visited a friend in
There my journey came to a halt again. I couldn’t go on without resolving my spiritual dilemma. I found an internet café and read everything I had posted on my weblog to date. It decided it was all a lot of rubbish, so I added a new post apologizing for everything I had written so far, and expressing my utter hopelessness and despair at having failed in my spiritual journey. I expressed my bitter disillusionment with God, who seemed to have led me around in circles and abandoned me without the answers I had been seeking. I’m not sure why I wrote this, but I think I was hoping someone “out there” would have been where I was spiritually, and would be able to tell me where I had gone wrong, and how to resolve my dilemma.
PULLQUOTE: I expressed my bitter disillusionment with God, who seemed to have led me around in circles and abandoned me without any of the answers I had been seeking.
What actually happened was completely different. I received concerned e-mails from several members of my family reminding me that I had two wonderful children, three sisters and an extended family and friends who loved me very much. I was shocked. Surely they didn’t think I had forgotten that. They were by far the most wonderful thing in my life.
Suddenly I began to see how self-absorbed I had become. I was blessed with a loving family and friends and I was worrying them with my behaviour. I also realized that despite being physically strong and healthy, I had become depressed.
I knew then what I had to do. God had given me a condition to live with, and it was up to me to accept proper treatment for it.
Next day I rode north to
The spiritual part of my journey may have been over and thieves may have stolen my belongings, I assured everyone, but the ridewould continue until I reached
Two days later I crossed a bridge into the French-speaking
(to be continued…)