Ineffable Things
April 10 2022
I'm baffled by the scientist
who believes in God.
How does one resolve
the magisterium of faith
with a worldview
based on evidence?
By restricting the material
and spiritual
to hermetic compartments?
By simply accepting
there are ineffable things,
a realm of mystery
that need not be solved?
That there are parallel lines
that do not intersect;
The Word
received, and inviolable,
alongside the unending questioning
of unsettled science?
Then those of us who
were immune to faith
almost from birth,
who see no need to contend
with the fine points of theology,
angels dancing on pins
and sacrificial altars.
This is not contempt for the religious
but simply indifference.
And sometimes, even envy.
For the comfort and clarity
of the true believer.
For community
and gratitude
and the constancy of practice,
the ritual
and mystical
and sense of having answered.
If only our indifference
was not accompanied by risk.
Because there is no conviction
quite like the religious;
its direct pipeline to God
and missionary zeal,
notions of purity
and the corruption of power.
Because self-righteous certainty
has been the scourge of history
down through the ages.
And because
in the face of death
even atheists waver;
just as the faithful
struggle with their faith
through the suffering and triumph
of lives to be lived.
These philosophical poems are a bitch to write. Because you invariably do a lot more saying than showing. And yet there is only so much you can say, so it risks becoming just poorly thought out prose: big ideas that don't lend themselves to the compression poetry requires.
Not to mention the risk of sounding pretentious.
And, of course, most readers would rather read about anything else!
No comments:
Post a Comment