I wrote a brief response poem

[dr_con]

to an article a friend sent out, when I had finished had sent me this article:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-should-not-try-to-absorb-religion-and-other-ways-of-knowing/

Other ways of knowing indeed;-)

belief that persists today

Con/Jur/d, 6/30/2021

 

I’m sorry Tom,

I don’t mean to pick on you

but it’s so

 

it’s so, ignorant

not that I’m any better.

Modernity’s tribes,

 

tend to believe in progress

the scientific method,

which, to them are magic

 

When you say,

“supposedly magical rituals”

assuming you’re honest

 

Your stockbroker,

Your apps, screens and

other magical sticks

 

(Which, btw are not, I repeat,

not as cool as a snake)

of course, you’ve

 

Outsourced your Shaman’s

allowed them to hold

trademarks, copyrights, patents

 

believe they’re different

from a world

“inhabited by multitudes 

 

of usually unseen 

supernatural spirits or ghosts.”

Ever hear of a Quark Tom?

 

Or DNA, RNA the microbiome?

Germ Theory, AI Nano-beads?

Trading Bots?

 

Tom. Tom, Tom,

I don’t mean to pick on you

I’ve visited your tribe

 

sat through the lectures,

watched the shows,

and used the magic potions

 

And I must say,

I’m impressed, for Ape’s

with little idea of what,

 

why, how, not bad at all,

it’s the feeling of being special

I’m calling out.

 

The idea you know what’s going

on, how you’re going to die,

and who will be waiting,

 

when you do.

Just saying you should, 

get it right

 

since if they’re holding

a staff, looking a little

like a snake,

 

you should learn to 

apologize now,

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/4400-year-old-shamans-snake-staff-discovered-finland-rcna1291

 

[dcmarti1]

Stock brokers, apps, and screens as Tempter in the garden. My apostate and socialist self like that very much. 🙂

"Outsourcing shamans" should be a whole novella! Ha!

[tonyv]

Juris, the linked article itself was tl;dr, but I did read your fine poem/reply. It's sharp and stings like a reprimand. Did you submit it to the author of the article? I hope so.

In my view, "the science" these days amounts to a religion, because often it just boils down to consensus. As I like to say, I admit that I'm irrational when I say God exists. Someone who says he doesn't know, I get; there's rationality in that. But someone who says God doesn't exist is just as irrational as I am, and despite his protests, his saying so amounts to an expression of his "religion."

Tony

[David W. Parsley]

Hi doc, yes, this piece touches on something elemental in the human experience and the way each human chooses to interpret and internalize that experience.  It has a definite quality of irony but veers shy of anything that would feel like rebuke or harangue.  The poet simply says, "We have all seen this before, right?"

Like Marti, I took particular pleasure in specific epigrammatic lines and phrases, and the way you develop them into well-wrought conceits, as you do with great wit and elan in "outsourcing shamans" - brilliant!

And to Ton'ys relevant digression, I would like to recommend a self-critical summary on scientism, a topic of some interest to me.  I love science and I love God.  Why can't I have both, as well as everything else that makes life so wondrous?

Thanks (I think!),
- Dave

[dr_con]

Ty all! Appreciate the feedback🤗