Religion Is Pointless

  Both my parents were brought up in devote Christian environments, particularly at school – my mother attended a convent school and my father was sent to a catholic boarding school for boys run by priests and monks. This was in the 1940s and 50s, at a time when discipline was favoured over nurturing and students who struggled academically were punished rather than helped. My mother recalled being frequently picked on by the nuns who called her stupid when she made mistakes, and smacked her knuckles with a wooden ruler when she struggled to pay attention. My father who was orphaned at seven, received far greater abuse from the monks at his school who didn’t recognise or understand that he was autistic and beat him black and blue because he struggled to sit still in class and saw his unruly behaviour as misbehaving and undisciplined. My father didn’t go into detail about what happened to him at that school and I wonder if there was more to it than that. Being that this was at a time...

  Though I was raised atheist and am still on the fence as to whether God actually exists in the sense of a sentient creator, I have always believed that spirit survives death and moves on to an unseen realm.   I wouldn’t call myself psychic, I guess you could say I’m an intuitive or empath – terms that paranormal investigators these days often use – I often know what someone is thinking or feeling without them having to say a word because I’m able to tune into their energy. I’m also something of an animal whisperer and have had some of the most unruly animals feel calm enough in my presence to fall asleep in my arms.   Friendship that survives death and life-saving intuition When I was 19 my best friend died tragically in a car accident and after that my ‘sixth sense’ seemed to become stronger, or perhaps I became more open to it because I couldn’t let go of my friend. I dreamt of her a lot in the days after her passing and felt she had come to say goodbye, but...