As I read your words, it reminded me of where I stood in my own philosophy. Yesterday I spent a long period of time talking to an agnostic. Today it was a self reliant preacher, the grandson of one of my oldest dearest friends (long departed) whom I hadn't seen in 20 years.

I guess the search for god or the reason for our own individuality in relation to the universe, is a private, almost indescribable thing. In my life, I'd have to disagree that "the only intelligence aware of my intelligence is that of those people around me that know me...."

In my experience, I encountered the UNKNOWN that had an intelligence I could communicate with, even if very crudely. It shook my world. I haven't been the same since. So, to some extent I am always looking and always listening. Never been able to understand it or classify it or even file it away quietly. It's always there.

Nor will I get into it here. Or share it with the hyenas and jackals that inhabit this zone. I've had enough ridicule and sarcasm to last me a lifetime. The path to ourselves IS the path to the universe.