Nolo Segundo
United States

My friend, a retired surgeon,
tells me he would like to believe
in an almighty and loving God,
but claims science, annoyingly,
keeps getting in the way—so
I ask why, why is that?

After all, one is of this world,
the world of physics, of math,
the world of flesh and blood,
the world of nature, full of
contradictions, unpredictable,
noble, beautiful on occasion,
cruel and base at other times
(and I make clear to him, by
that I mean nature’s nature,
with its sunsets and rainbows,
hurricanes and earthquakes,
and human nature, with its
art and music and poetry and
war and genocide and slavery).

But God is not of this world—
in it, yes, through it, yes, yet
always unimaginably beyond,
a Being that is a Force that is
a Presence, that is the All…
so how could my friend, or
anyone who can think only
one thought at a time define
such a One? Or worse, talk
about God as though God
could be measured, weighed,
evaluated…captured by a
puny being whose existence
spans a handful of decades
and never really can know
its own mind completely?

Alas, my friend, the doctor,
just cannot see that science,
like art, music, poetry, and
that singular gift, sentience,
are just intimations of God….