{"id":1093,"date":"2013-09-29T05:05:18","date_gmt":"2013-09-29T10:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2013-09-28T14:47:50","modified_gmt":"2013-09-28T19:47:50","slug":"synctretised-swimming-syncretism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/29\/synctretised-swimming-syncretism\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Synctretised Swimming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Synctretised Swimming<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Unearth as it is in heaven<\/span>
\nLand and see<\/span>
\nThe evolution<\/span>
\nOf God’s creation<\/span>
\nAnd learn<\/span>
\nWho or what<\/span>
\nOur teachers be<\/span>
\nIn theology schooled<\/span>
\nLike fish in water<\/span>
\nExpounding on thirst<\/span>
\nAll the wile<\/span>
\nShitting where they drink<\/span>
\nConsidering it a symphony<\/span>
\nWhen just one movement<\/span>
\nAnd by miracle<\/span>
\nPinching loaves and fishes<\/span>
\nFeeding scores<\/span>
\nStill<\/span>
\nSome live on bread crumbs<\/span>
\nAnd what will follow<\/span><\/p>\n

This is one of those poems that came to me in the middle of the night, and a few lines quickly grew into a full poem.\u00a0 The poem’s title, “Syncretised Swimming,” is most apparently a pun of “synchronized swimming.”\u00a0 Probably less obvious, is the reference “syncretised” which refers to syncretism.\u00a0 “Syncretism<\/a> is the combining of different, often seemingly contradictory beliefs, while melding practices of various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merger and analogizing of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths.”\u00a0 Religious purists view syncretism as some form of error or heresy.\u00a0 This poem speaks against such religious purism.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, why the “synchronized swimming” reference?\u00a0 Schools of fish swim in perfect synchronization, moving the same way instantly, in a way that science cannot explain.\u00a0 This mystery is used as a parody reference to the three seminal lines: In theology schooled\/Like fish in water\/Expounding on thirst.\u00a0 Trained theologians, awash in mystery, manage to move in surprisingly similar ways, apt to expound on a set of similar abstract truths that may engender blank looks like when trying to explain thirst to fish in water.\u00a0 Theology undertakes the humbling enterprise of trying to make mystery a science.\u00a0 Of course, mystery cannot be fully explained by science — that’s why it’s mystery.\u00a0 To try to reduce mystery to a science would deny and kill mystery by pretending to banish it.\u00a0 My objection to religious purists and the issue of syncretism is that ultimately there are things that we cannot know, in principle!\u00a0 Philosophers and theologians call the discipline of what we can and cannot know, epistemology<\/a>.\u00a0 The heart of theology is ultimately unknowable in any modern scientific sense.\u00a0 This rubric of theology builds in an irreducible amount of hubris for any absolute claim.\u00a0 This is why I see a necessary foundation for spirituality is openness, especially if one is looking for a living God that moves.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The reference to evolution evokes a popular conflict between scientists and some religious people, most heated between those scientists who don’t understand epistemology and religious folks who don’t understand science.\u00a0 I don’t think that there is a conflict between religion and science.\u00a0 Rather I view religion and science as complementary fields which need to give proper due to one another.\u00a0 I intend the analogy of evolution more specifically as a context for my mixed metaphors.\u00a0 Most poignantly, the line “Shitting where they drink.”\u00a0 For humans, generally understood to be more advanced than fish, “shitting where you drink (eat),” is an obvious and palpable example of short-sighted and self-destructive behavior.\u00a0 For fish, not so much.\u00a0 The difference is context.\u00a0 I think that religious purists tend to view syncretism in a limited context, perhaps not worthy of the unfathomable depth and diversity of God’s creation.\u00a0 As a biologist, I look at human culture as analogous to ecosystems.\u00a0 There are countless possible configurations of thriving ecosystems.\u00a0 I see human culture as similarly adaptive; though human’s seem to have an accelerated trajectory of epic successes and epic fails.\u00a0 What this ultimately means is appropriately a theological question.\u00a0 Nonetheless, I have perhaps a more synchronous view of religion and science, whereby they are both judged by their fruits; what is produced, what works, what follows.\u00a0 Of course, the most intriguing questions are not about mere utility and manipulation, but what constitutes a good end or state of affairs.\u00a0 In this case, theology trumps science.\u00a0 Which is fine in my book, as long as it doesn’t thump science.<\/span><\/p>\n

I get a chuckle out of how God can take our impure, zigzagged paths and sanctify them. I get somewhat less of a chuckle out of how we humans can seem to take credit for this through our various programs of sanctification, none of which are very pure.\u00a0 As a former United Methodist, I chuckle that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement never envisioned as separate denomination but desired only to be an Anglican – of which he lived, breathed and died.\u00a0 Of course, the Anglicans, the Church of England, is a sooty descendant of the Roman Catholic church which had irreconcilable differences with a King over divorce.\u00a0 Even further, Christianity, at times claimed solely by the Roman Catholic church, is founded upon Jesus, a Jew who never wanted to be anything other than a Jew.\u00a0 Yep, Christianity is a Jewish sect.\u00a0 Thank God for syncretism, holding it all together amidst our unholy messes!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synctretised Swimming Unearth as it is in heaven Land and see The evolution Of God’s creation And learn Who or what Our teachers be In theology schooled Like fish in water Expounding on thirst All the wile Shitting where they … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[396,121,25,262,384,720,574,516,134,692,440,432,65,431,506,541,202,404,24,296,86,548,417,658,94,544,83,31,390,30,545,186,439,421,719],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-analogy","tag-catholic","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-conflict","tag-creation","tag-culture","tag-diversity","tag-epistemology","tag-evolution","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-heart","tag-heaven","tag-heresy","tag-holy","tag-hubris","tag-jesus","tag-jewish","tag-metaphors","tag-modern","tag-mystery","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-questions","tag-religion","tag-religious","tag-science","tag-spiritual","tag-spirituality","tag-state","tag-theology","tag-truth","tag-unity"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Synctretised Swimming | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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