Faith for the Flightless

Don't worry I am running out of poems about birds but not just yet

Two Orphan Sparrows

"This is the story of two orphan sparrows

Emerged from the egg alone but together

Wait as long as they did, which was quite a bit

No mama, no papa, gave even a nit *

So for our two orphan sparrows

There would be no regurgitated spittle

Fear not; they'd feast and they'd feast and they'd nibble

On minute nest mites and mountain pine beetle

The mites were all protein, the beetles all fat

They ate and they ate, for dessert there were gnats

They soon become too big, too large for the nest

Imminent departure was in their interest best

The younger broke the news to the elder 

It's time we leave this place, my dearest brother *

I have heard it said; I cannot recall where

We, two, are sparrows and we're meant for the air *"

Two orphans sparrows grew out of an online conversation with an atheist friend. He couldn't understand ... knowing what I know about the failings of organized religion to bring us to a peaceful world and at times actually leading us into war ... how often the findings of science unequivocally smash myths within doctrines … how I could continue to have faith.  

My friend wasn't the judgy-judge kind … those atheist who think since you have faith you must lack intellect … as if the two were mutually exclusive … you know the ones who think they possess more smarts than did Plato, Newton, Einstein, and Descartes. You know the ones that would shame you out of your faith or in the very least shame you in to keeping quiet.

I wasn't born into a religious family but  I was born into one that had tacit belief in God … personified as some elderly gentleman who sat on a throne in Heaven … who spent his time judging and throwing people into Hell one minute and forgiving them the next. Although that forgiving part … that's golden. It quickly became obvious that many of these parables were there to scare people into doing what they were told by those who resembled that old man on a throne. In short religion is often used as crowd control. But still knowing about the history of religion and a fair bit about science … I could not be robbed of my faith.

Two Orphan Sparrow

continued

"Believing is for some, still not for others

The younger took flight, left behind his dear brother

For how long he would fly is anyone's guess

But never-ever did he return to the nest

Faith is for the feckless, the simple-minded

The one left behind did chirp and concluded

And with his brother's everlasting exit

In the nest there was room to spread out a bit *

From his girth the nest broke to briar and bits

In the end, the flight would never be for the one left

He fell to the ground with a thump and a squawk

Not even a wing beat, but he did learn to walk

Our lone sparrow bought a fur coat, headed south

Faith, he thought, like being a'laden with louse

He'd been left behind, horribly abandoned

He let his heart freeze over and roomed with the penguins"

* notes abbreviation

Why is there no robbing me of my faith … because it wasn't born through social programming or maintained by believe in myth; I shed most of that before I was out of my teens … captain iconoclast here … or the insistence that I have faith … or else. No, my faith was born when I was. I've always known instinctually that there was more to the world than my five senses could register or that current science could test and prove. 

That doesn't mean I'm at war with science … big fan here. As science has progressed it has only served to enrich my belief. It's beginning to explain the why's of the world and to demonstrate through the creation that is calculus and the scientific method our connectedness and levels … dimensions if you will have it ... of our existence. And knowing your place and many roles yin existence keeps your from getting lost.

How Not To Get Lost in the Cosmos

Remember ...

You are not separate from the cosmos

The creator is not separate from cosmos

You are not separate from the creator

In other words ...

When working your way through the cosmos

Never separate from the group 

If you do … take a deep breath, quiet you mind, and listen 
 you only ever thought you were lost

Clear you mind and take in all the beauty around you … ponder the vastness of space and its complexity and power. That the world and the universe exists at all is miracle enough for me. 

Bang … something from nothing … now that sounds like myth to me. 

Science confirms our connection and at the root we're energy … my own still minds confirms the existence of a universal intelligence. Let me put it to you this way … universal radio waves are always on … but you're not going to hear it over the death metal band that is your own thoughts.

TO ….

Turn about is fair play and so I'll leave with a couple quotes from my favourite atheist. And for you Cosmos fans … I'd just like to point out … the scientific story told is put it into action by one mystical and mathematically-inclined monk named Bruno. Breathe and love ... hypothesize and disprove … but always leave time to rock and roll.

       
              
               … You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other.

             … for small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love. 

                                                                                               
                                                                                                                         from Carl Sagan's Contact