{"id":1458,"date":"2014-04-06T05:54:28","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T10:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1458"},"modified":"2014-04-05T13:17:39","modified_gmt":"2014-04-05T18:17:39","slug":"poem-inexplicably-wonderful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/06\/poem-inexplicably-wonderful\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Inexplicably Wonderful"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\">The gift of life<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Is quite inexplicably wonderful<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">But fear not<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Teams of scientists<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Are working<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">Around the clock<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: large;\">To redress this problem<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Skepticism has its limits.\u00a0 In practice, I am a skeptic of much skepticism.\u00a0 Life is wonderful.\u00a0 The foundation for life being wonderful is that it is a gift, something we received without any effort or merit of our own.\u00a0 This foundation of life as a gift is the most natural springboard for gratitude.\u00a0 Gratitude is the antidote for cynicism.\u00a0 Try it.\u00a0 Try being cynical and grateful at the same time.\u00a0 Nearly impossible.\u00a0 Of course, this poem mocks a particular form of skepticism, that of scientific skepticism.\u00a0 Scientific skepticism is a religion to some, even a disease.\u00a0 Not without deep irony, many of these same folks view religion as a disease.\u00a0 I find very few militant scientific skeptics as happy and carefree.\u00a0 While I appreciate the work ethic aroused by deep commitments, empirical skepticism, scientific reductionism, is simply unable to answer the most important questions in life.\u00a0 Over-committed skeptics regularly rule out contemplating meaning as a legitimate enterprise.\u00a0 If they do find some subtle tricks to allow for meaning, these heavenly concepts are confined to cramped quarters with narrow doors and frequently with no windows to larger realities.\u00a0 There may just be no explaining my wonderful, carefree frolicking about.\u00a0 Well, deal with it &#8212; and preferably not as a problem&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The gift of life Is quite inexplicably wonderful But fear not Teams of scientists Are working Around the clock To redress this problem Skepticism has its limits.\u00a0 In practice, I am a skeptic of much skepticism.\u00a0 Life is wonderful.\u00a0 The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/06\/poem-inexplicably-wonderful\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":[269,458,476,462,608,255,506,267,359,486,457,609,658,94,544,83,93,53,321,529,380],"class_list":["post-1458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-cynical","tag-cynicism","tag-disease","tag-fear","tag-gift","tag-gratitude","tag-heaven","tag-irony","tag-life","tag-meaning","tag-militant","tag-mock","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-questions","tag-religion","tag-scientific-reductionism","tag-short-poems","tag-skepticism","tag-time","tag-work"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>POEM: Inexplicably Wonderful | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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