On a recent episode of The Howard Stern Show, the “shock-jock” host asked his guest, music legend Paul Simon, questions about music, life, art, and anything else that came to mind. Stern rose to fame with his exaltation of immorality and self-adulation. At the end of the interview, Stern said:

Paul, just give me one last answer. You seem very wise. You’ve lived through everything. You’ve created great masterpieces. Is there a God? Because I need to know. I’m getting older. Is this it for me? Am I going to die and that’s it or am I going somewhere? And please answer it in a serious manner.

Simon responded,

This is my feeling about God or Creator. The planet that I’m living on is so beautiful and the universe is so awe-inspiring. If that is the work of a creator, I say, “Thanks so much. I really love your work on the universe. Excellent work, coming from me, Paul Simon, to you, I really dig what you’re doing.” If it turns out that there’s another explanation for creation, I’m still unbelievably grateful for my existence. I still think it’s amazing. If it turns out, I thought it was God but it’s some other explanation, it doesn’t matter to me ….

Then, Stern interrupted, “But it’s so cruel. We have this existence and then we have to disappear. It’s hard.”