(too much)During a stormy night at a winter sleepover, my friend told me that if I was scared, I could lift up my hand and ask God to hold it. A shy eight-year-old, I clasped my hands tightly, fearing that I was beyond redemption in my young life and God would shun me. But the strong Midwestern wind kept blowing, filling the house with strange creaking noises

so i lifted my hands up

For one small moment, I felt a warmth encircle my outstretched hand. I felt a flicker of hope that perhaps God might reach out to me. But once I brought my hand down, the hope vanished and I resumed my familiar dance with my childhood partners of doubt and guilt...
...
In religion and spirituality, the respiration of the human being has for obvious reasons been strongly linked with the very occurrence of life.
.Sentience is the ability to feel or perceive subjectively.
Many philosophers, notably Colin McGinn, believe that sentience will never be understood, no matter how much progress is made