They approach tentatively, as if asking for directions; religion sold with smiles and friendliness, with tacit offers of companionship. I think it would be nice I say. And it would be. I've always loved churches and organs, and to truly believe in a majestic almighty God? How magnificent! The only problem is that I don't believe at all. My faith is in what I can touch and feel. My worldview is mechanistic. My thoughts and feelings arise from a frothy sea of matter; from dazzling neural networks surging with patterns of electricity. I see religions as massive allegories for the human experience, as bits of wisdom preserved from the distant past, (ideally) giving tangible guidance to those in need.

I am totally shirking my thesis duties here. Blog writing is ideal for doing this, almost as good as room cleaning or washing dishes. But before I go, a snippet of Keats:

philosophy will clip an angel's wings,
conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine,
unweave a rainbow...

which I like very much because it explains why some people can't stand science, (a fact which baffled me until only recently). "philosophy" in the poem means "natural philosophy", which is exactly what I do. I delight in "rule and line", in the clean certainty of proof- but the skill of being able to delight in anything at all I learned from my father, whose eyes would flash with excitement as he read me the hobbit and other stories before bedtime. haunted air and gnomed mines filled the corners of my imagination. How ironic that these should underly my career of wing clipping!

David Sedaris has an excellent chapter in one of his books on this as well. It seems his father was also a wing clipper. These science hating writers don't understand that natural philosophy is actually the ultimate indulgence in mystery. Conquering means knowing and understanding at a deeper level than ever before. Doing this opens a door to a room full of new mysteries that no one else has ever seen! Here is Keats with my edits:

philosophy will spread an angel's wings,
reveal new mysteries by rule and line,
fill the haunted air, and gnomed mine,
weave rainbows...