WEEKLY SOUTHERN ARTS
"Sometime the boogaloo 
  • Home
  • Guns, Faith and Murder
  • The Million Dollar Store
  • Artistic Con-cepts
  • Judy Garland - "Soul Singer"
  • Robert & Jimi and the Twenty Seven Blues
  • The Great Pretenders
  • Imagine
  • Me and Junior Parker
  • The Republican
  • Sweet Home Chicago (The Obama Shakedown)
  • The Ballad of Hunter & Joe
  • The 22-yr-old Bottle Blonde
  • Is It Alright...To Be White?
  • Resist the Devil and He Will Flea
  • Music & Reminiscence
  • Lowell George searching for authenticity
  • A Telling Lie
  • Part One: The Monster Is Summoned
  • Like Billy Eckstein Singing to an Empty Club at 1:00 AM on a Saturday Night in 1975.
  • Bent
  • Kelly Joe Phelps
  • Why The Devil Don't Come Around No More
  • Hearing Junior Wells “On Tap'' one more Time
  • Muddy and Me
  • Unwitting Hypocrisy is The Best Kind of Hypocrisy
  • Excess Baggage
  • Excess Baggage pt. 2
  • Fake News Is The New Real News
  • The Death of Billy Graham and Manufacturing Consent
  • American Youth: The Rise of The New Media
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Talk About Slavery and Shit
  • Just Smoke
  • Monkey in a Box
  • How The Children of Sal and Dean Destroyed The World
  • On This Cold Winter's Morn
  • The Crime of the Century
  • Evidence: What The Hell Is It?
  • They Were Pissed: America, Jack Kerouac, and the Beats
  • Negotiating The Maze Of Life and a Blues Shuffle.
  • Everyone Is Hitler (In their own Way)
  • The Mystery of The Giant Balloon Shark
  • Subterfuge and Its Discontents
  • God Debunks Global Warming
  • Day Two: God Continues To Debunk Global Warming
  • Strzoking Russia
  • The Al Franken Effect. Or, How to Destroy America and Lose Elections
  • The Big Maybe
  • The News Apocalypse
  • The Guitarticle (Guitar article)
  • The Nation of Lucifer
  • Slurring Pocahontas
  • Why Everything Good Said About Net Neutrality is a Lie
  • .....and behold, The Cause of Your Demise Is Upon You
  • The Trans-boy That Cried Wolf
  • Believe Nothing
  • Donald Trump Blasts The Heads Off Of Tiny Woodland Creatures
  • The Problem of Hypocrites
  • Roy Moore: Serial Pervert
  • I'm So Frustrated
  • The Devil's Whisper
  • Science Can't Dance
  • You're Gonna Have To Serve Somebody
  • Louie C. K.
  • Common Sense
  • Hunting For Witches
  • Living in The Age of "tRump"
  • The Devil is a Hustler
  • The Skinny
  • Eric Dolphy
  • ISIS Rode in On a Donkey
  • "The Manafort Indictment"
  • The Truth About the Middle East
  • Dennis Budimer's "Alone Together" Revisited
  • The Halloween Edition
  • The 20th Century Was Groovy
  • The Salesman
  • The Dossier
  • Elmore James
  • Isle of The Poor
  • The Patriarchy is Alive and Well
  • Moving Napoleon
  • Guns and Guerrillas
  • Playing Four
  • Hollywood and Scumbags
  • Why Everything You Think, Is Wrong
  • Killing Yourself With Terrorism
  • Being Liberal
  • Laced With Hate
  • A Message From Occupy Democrats
  • A Taxing Dilemma
  • What Really Happened with Aid in Puerto Rico
  • Colin Kaepernick and Beyoncé are geniuses. Part 1
  • When the Levee Breaks
  • The Second Coming of Anthony Weiner
  • How to Never Lose a Fight
  • Creating Chaos out of Meaning
  • Crime and Punishment
  • The Man in the Mirror
  • Guitar Gods of the Sixties
  • Entopy: A Play in One Act
  • The Ragged Tale of a Poverty Stricken Economic Genius
  • The Dreamers
  • Hey There Georgy Girl
  • This Is Not a Defense of Joel Osteen. Or is it?
  • The Ballad of Poindexter Glockenspiel
  • The Big Dummy
  • More Florida in Pictures and Text
  • How Do I Hate Thee
  • Florida in Images and More Images
  • "How To Solve The Healthcare Crisis and Why It's So Damned Hard To Fix"
  • The Big Lie
  • The Demise of the West
  • “Good Times! Good Times! You know, we talkin’ bout Good Times!”
  • "Justice My Ass!"
  • Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
  • The Coming Apocalypse and How to Avoid it: a Historical/Biblical Perspective.
  • "Muthafuckin' Chains!"
  • Lies Our Father's Told Us
  • Poetry and Politics - a few mixed verses
  • The Inner Man
  • The Vampire and The Carpet Salesman
  • Comey Speaks!
  • A Word From Nostradamus about the Comey Hearings
  • The Towering Babble
  • Chain of Fools
  • I Got Ramblin' on My Mind
  • Telling Ourselves Stories
  • Shit! Make Me Wanna Holler!
  • Even More Reasons Why The Paris Accords are Total Horseshit.
  • When Life Imitates Satire
  • Jethro and Becky Sue Come To America
  • Random Apocrypha
  • Why The Paris Climate Accords Are Total Horseshit
  • Urban Stories
  • The Kingdom of God: a personal rant
  • Urban Week @ South Beach
  • Serpico Revisited
  • The Road To Surf-dumb. Or, is it The Road To Serfdom?
  • This is Not a Political Article
  • My Hometown
  • What Does This Mean?
  • We're All Fools Sometime
  • One Pill Makes You Larger
  • "What a Maroon!"
  • Secrets and Lies
  • A Tale of Wine and Murder
  • "White House Under Siege!"
  • The Amateur Narcissist
  • Like a Rock
  • The Greatest of Ally of a True Idiot is.....
  • How To Prove someone's a Witch
  • Jesus Was a Sly Dog
  • An Open Letter From The Democratic National Committee
  • The Power of Language
  • The Existential Croûton
  • Random Facebook Thoughts
  • A Play "The Poverty Racket"
  • The Demise of the 4th Estate
  • Love To Hate My Enemies
  • Feelings, Oh, Oh, Oh, Feelings
  • Art or Reality
  • The Prison Yard Blues
  • Who is Richard Spencer and Why Does He Matter?
  • __an excerpt from "The Power of Voltron "
  • A Plea From a Progressive
  • ANTIFA - The Anti Fascists, Fascists
  • Conspiracy Theory
  • 4 More Poems, 4 More Pictures
  • "Are You Freaking People Insane?"
  • 4 Pictures 4 Poems
  • The Ballad of Carlos Slim
  • Pretending What's in Your Head is True
  • The Cognitive Dissonance of a Faithful Democrat
  • The Human Snakepit
  • George Freeman - Unsung Master of the Jazz Guitar
  • The Price of Milk
  • Suspicious Minds
  • Bill O'Reilly Sexual Predator?
  • The New Soldier
  • Orwell Revisited
  • Larry Coryell - The Godfather is Dead
  • A Tiger Beat
  • South Florida - HOT & COOL
  • Jean Paul Sartre & the Existentialist Mojo
  • Culture Matters, Immigration Matters, Sharks Matter
  • Thomas Sowell
  • A Tree Falls In Central Park on a Gay Banker
  • Black Codes From The Underground
  • Does an Idiot know they're an Idiot?
  • A Poem for Pooh
  • It's All or Nothing Baby!
  • Racism is Alive and Well
  • "Shut the Hell Up!"
  • Jerry Seinfeld - Social Pariah
  • A Man Must Nurture His Pet Peeves
  • Not the Usual Immigration Article
  • Man Talk, with Donald Trump pt. 1
  • Man Talk, with Donald Trump pt. 2
  • The Bad Seed
  • Dogma Never Sleeps
  • Trump and Clinton Debate
  • Was Jesus a True Pacifist?
  • Brexit Was the Shot Heard Around the World
  • Obama, How Great Thou Art
  • War is Good
  • The Willful Ignorance of Intellectual Children
  • What about All Those Peacful Muslims?
  • Terror! What Terror?
  • Biff and Shorty Play The Blues
  • Forty Miles of Bad Road
  • How Obamacare Became the law of the land: And Other Fairytales for Adults
  • Genteel Republicans vs The Alt-Right
  • Should Drugs be Legal?
  • The Prophet Speaks
  • The Dream Sequence
  • Voting 3rd Party and the Moral Low-Ground
  • Sayonara America
  • What does Never Trump Mean?
  • Barack Obama is the Most Brilliant Man Ever to be President?
  • If God Created War, Does That Mean That War is Good?
  • Never Let Your Enemies Define You
  • Facebook, Science & Religion
  • Bullshit by the Numbers
  • Bullshit by the Numbers - part II
  • The Heated Quest for the "No Information Voter"
  • I Love The Dead
  • Those Who Lurk
  • Battered, Bruised and Beaten
  • Trump and Hitler
  • America in Black and White
  • Trans-Athletics
  • Playing a Rigged Game
  • Who was that Mass Murderer?
  • The Kidnappers
  • The Game
  • Terror in Nice: A Variation on a Theme
  • The Idiots Guide on How to Destory the World
  • Terror in France
  • A Fictional Conversation Between a Pastor and a Historian About the Bible
  • The Immoral Necessity for Scapegoats
  • Who Really Shot Those Eleven Cops? Was It Donald Trump?
  • Killer Cops and Cop Killers
  • Happy 4th of July
  • How Do You Cast Your Vote When You've Only Got a Few Bullets Left?
  • "Yes, She's a Lying Sack of Shit....but She's our Lying Sack of Shit."
  • All Apologies
  • Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up
  • Goodbye Scotty Moore
  • If a Bluebird Plays the Blues Why Can't it Play Free Jazz
  • Terror in Turkey
  • When David Slew Goliath
  • The Life & Death of a Global Fat Cat
  • Intentionally Censoring the News
  • The Brits Leave the EU
  • Chick, Christian, Roy & Kenny G
  • Who Really Committed Mass Murder in Orlando
  • The Tale of the Prince and the Shrew
  • A Dying Father's Last Father's Day
  • Mass Murdering, Terrorist's Father is Obama and Hillary's Best Friend
  • Why Cream still Matters 50 Years Later
  • Misguided Anger and Partisan Politics
  • The Deep Guilt of the Religious Left
  • Radical Islam! What Radical Islam?
  • Denial is a River in Egypt
  • A Response to all the Haters
  • Why Muhammad Ali was my Hero (in spite of being a Racist)
  • Why Trump Matters
  • The New Progressive Racism
  • A Tragedy in Cincinnati
  • The Evil that Men do (Women too.)
  • Differences? What Differences?
  • Racism Revisited
  • Battling Immigration Straw Men
  • Blood Quantum
  • Fighting Transgender Straw Men
  • Logical Fallacies about God and Money
  • Progressive Straw Men
  • Everybody is Robbing You Blind
  • On The Road To El Donaldo
  • Dear Mark: About Donald Trump
  • Identifying the Enemy
  • Why I Will Vote For Trump
  • I Totally Agree With Myself
  • Teaching Americans Where to Pee
  • Goodbye Lonnie Mack
  • Bernie Wants You To Pay His Fair Share
  • Bruce Springsteen vs. North Carolina
  • Mr. Smiley Is an Idiot
  • Why Does College Cost So Much?
  • Black Power and Bad Vibes At Whiteness History Month
  • How Facebook Showed Me That We're Doomed
  • Muslims kill Muslims by means of White People
  • The Slap
  • America Wants a 3rd Party Candidate
  • Jesus Loved Everybody
  • Call it what it is.
  • Belgium vs. Turkey. Which One is Worse?
  • Barack, Fidel and Che
  • How He Gonna Get His Money pt. 2
  • How He Gonna Get His Money
  • The Turn of The Screw
  • Dear America: Now, about Trump....
  • The Attack of the Anti Trumpers
  • Did You Know that America is Socialism....and boy, ain't it Swell
  • Trump - Prophet or Blowhard?
  • Black Lies Matter, All Lies Matter
  • The Donald and the Debate
  • Leonardo and The Bear
  • The Thunder Rolled and the "Trump" Blows em all to Hell
  • Fragmented Fairytails
  • Cars That Never Were but Should've Been, Part 6
  • Building The Perfect Beast
  • America: A Tale of Two Cities, Part 1
  • Uncle Bernie in New Hampshire
  • The Big L
  • The Diary of a Former Leftist
  • Free Speech not Hate Speech?
  • State of the Union
  • Losing My Religion
  • Don't Take Our Guns Away Until We Kill Those Honky Bastards
  • Bye Bye Europe
  • "Trump is a Racist!"
  • "Hell Yeah! I've Got Obama Care!
  • Trumponomics
  • Woman of the Year
  • Malicious Intent and the Art of the Microaggression
  • Muslim No-Go Zones - Myth or Reality?
  • Donald J. Trump and the Muslim Migration to America
  • There Is No God But Allah?
  • Roadhouse - The Reboot
  • Sometimes You Just Can't Win
  • A Few Thoughts Regarding Trump
  • Cars That Never Were But Should've Been, Part 5
  • You Can Have My Steering Wheel When You Pry It From Cold, Daed Hands
  • The Great Debate
  • Al, Thomas and Paul - Malthusians Then and Now
  • A Prophet Debates Global Warming and other retated Dogma
  • Memes, Scapegoats, Propaganda
  • Little Hillary and Her Monsters
  • A Prophecy for America
  • The Basketball Metaphor
  • Vladimir Putin: An American Hero
  • Little Things
  • The Democrats Debate
  • It's All Ablout da Benjamins
  • Remember When?
  • Mass Shooter
  • Cars That Never Were But Should've Been: Part 4
  • Should A Muslim Be President in America?
  • The Strange Case of Ahmed Mohamed
  • Debt and Other Devious Angels
  • Bernie Sanders is Caesar not Jesus
  • An inconvenient Truth
  • Who's really a Native American?
  • The Rebirth of the Silent Majority
  • Money That's What I Want!
  • The Syrian Crisis and the Memeing of America
  • Why Societies Have Generally Valued Men More than Women
  • The Problem of Evil
  • A few Thoughts on a Few Things
  • The Authentic pose of a Black White Man
  • Sweden: Socialist Utopia or Progressive Madhouse?
  • Why Dogs Matter
  • Guilty Until Proven Innocent
  • Was Jesus a Socialist?
  • "The Donald" A Man for the Ages
  • Harvesting the Wheat - or - Karma's a Real Bitch
  • Cecil The Lion
  • Cars That Never Were but Should’ve Been, Part 3
  • Secrets and Lies
  • Can Minorities Be Racist?
  • I Was Just Thinking....Hmm?
  • Iran Deal - Good or Bad?
  • Jihad or Not Jihad? That is the Question.
  • "Let's Do Lunch" with Planned Parenthood
  • America The Contemptible
  • Marriage, Bigotry and Cooties
  • The Things We Care About
  • The Simplicity of it All
  • A Dissenting Opinion
  • Cars That Should've Been, But Never Were: part II
  • Live Now, Pay Later
  • I Am, Whatever I Say I Am!
  • Bernie Sanders is the Dumbest Bastard on Earth
  • Cars That Never Were But Should've Been
  • Bruce Jenner
  • The Good Society
  • A Personal Jesus For My Own
  • Take a Ride on a Hell Bound Train
  • Requiem For a Car Show
  • Obama Channels Neville Chamberlain in Dealing with Iran
  • The Short Life of a Political Lemming
  • The Strongman
  • The Broken Window
  • The Selective Outrage of The Anti Israel Left
  • When the Blind Lead the Blind
  • Top Brass With Class
  • Living In A world On Fire
  • Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell
  • What The Hell Is Esotericism?
  • Unicorns, Free Healthcare and other Mythological Creatures
  • Heroes and Dunces
  • A Few Thoughts On a Few Things
  • The Return Of Super Fly
  • Should You Ever Bet On A dead Horse?
  • Money For Nothing
  • Across The Great Divide
  • Tom, Jerry, Eddie & Sydney
  • The Folly of Foibles
  • Who really killed Eric Garner?
  • The Art of The Sale
  • Political Bullshit and All That Jazz
  • Oh, The Horror of It All
  • To Torture or Not To Torture, That is The Question
  • Selective Justice
  • Executive Action
  • Give Us Your Tired, Poor and Ambitious
  • Johnny Winter, Ahhh-Yeahh!
  • Homeless and Transgender "Let My People Pee!"
  • Are We Insane? You Betcha!
  • Ebola and Racism
  • You're a Racist, Just Admit It!
  • To Discriminate or Not to Discriminate, That is the Question
  • The Life of an Imaginary Historian
  • Why Most Debates About The Minimum Wage are Bullshit
  • The Return of the Infinite Monkeys
  • Politically Correct Genocide
  • Language and the illusion of Meaning
  • Obama vs. Reagan
  • Is Barack Obama our Most Successful President Ever?
  • White Racism Black Racism
  • The Race
  • Should People Be Free to Discriminate?
  • Science, Religion and Brother Neil
  • Welcome To America
  • The Reincarnation of Jimmy Carter and the Return of Scarface
  • SCOTUS, Condoms and Collateral Damage
  • The American Dream
  • Attack of the Bloated Leeches or "Why Does the Economy Suck pt. II"
  • Why Does the Economy Suck?
  • Jaco Pastorius - A Passage in Time
  • How can we save the world, from people who want to save the world?
  • A Short Political rant: pt I
  • Jerry Reed, Tom Jones and the Original Guitar Heroes
  • Part Two: The Politics of the Eloi and the Morlock
  • Angel: part 7
  • Wayne Cochran "Going Back to Miami"
  • Matt Damon & the Teachers Union vs. the Capitalist Pigs
  • The Last Damned Healthcare Article You'll Ever Need
  • The Gospel According to Mark
  • Angel: part VI
  • Ted Bundy & The Hunt For The Devil
  • Charlie & Clint: Dead & Deader
  • Trayvon & George : An American Hate Story
  • Jury Duty
  • Little Tommy & The Blues Kings
  • Kayaking "The Big Cypress" with Crocodlies
  • The Birth of The Jazz Guitarist
  • Gay Marriage
  • Garage Band - The 1960's
  • King Arthur, Pelagius and Original Sin
  • The Story of Ricky
  • In the News and on the Web
  • When is a Horse not a Horse
  • Hidden Miami
  • I Hate the 60's: A Personal Rock Odyssey
  • Crocodiles and Alligators in Florida: Monsters in our Backyard
  • The Legend of Robert Pete Williams
  • Saturday Night At Big Tinys
  • The Mad Hatter and the Tea Party
  • The Case Of The Infinite Monkeys
  • The American Heritage Series
  • Here Comes the Sun
  • The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
  • Blue And Green
  • Mundi's, a Love Story

Ego and Super-Ego  Debate God, Evolution and Science, plus other Important Stuff

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The Ego and Super Ego Debate God, Evolution and Science

Exposition - The Narrator speaks 

Narrator - Everyone has an opinion! It doesn’t matter whether we know what we’re talking about or not. We still offer up our point of view with the absolute assurance of someone operating with divinely guided wisdom. It’s simply human nature. I suppose it’s possible that some folk don’t do this, but we seldom hear from them, so how do we know they actually exist? This seems perfectly logical to me. 


In fact, I hate other people’s opinions, especially if their opinions are sufficiently different from mine, so as to make me uncomfortable. This is the surest evidence of the wrongness of their thinking. 

"Who says?" 

Me!  That’s who! And when I say something, I'm always right!  So let’s dispense with the niceties and get down to the egregious offenses that have caused me discomfort. 


A while back, I was reading a debate about entropy, on Facebook, of all places. It was a rip snorting debate that made me tingle with excitement. Especially when you consider the subject matter, which was; “Could the second law of thermodynamics be harmonized with evolution?” As I began to salivate with the possibilities, I found myself typing furiously in response. I needed to set the record straight, about this entropy business.  So I could get back to feeling comfortable, about my personal worldview and all. 

"What is entropy?" you ask.  Here’s a simple, easy to understand definition. One devoid of the overly complex, blow-hard-infested definitions offered by scientific types trying to muddy the water for us average folk.

Living things are filled with energy or heat.  Not like the Human Torch kind, but enough energy to keep us going.  
Let’s say you’re hit by a truck and die, your body immediately begins to lose heat and decay, rotting like fruit left in the sun. Entropy is the loss of heat and energy, which is then transferred into a different state, Cleveland for instance (Just Kidding.) As it decays it can be consumed by other animals or insects, which in turn, becomes their fuel as they consume it. It can also become gaseous and feed the soil or atmosphere. But it’s never simply lost, dissipating into nothingness. 

For me, the debate was more than an exchange of ideas by differing parties, however. It became an internal debate. In other words, I began to talk to myself (Without moving my lips, of course) furiously debating myself in an effort to restore some form of cerebral harmony. In the end, I believe I won, which is good! (It’s always bad when you lose a debate with yourself.)

Having said all that, absent some Freudian analysis and the casting out of demons, I think I came out on top. I've kept a record of the event, completely unedited (except for the parts that made me look bad!) Here it is, the unvarnished truth (More or less) for your consumption and edification. I call it: “The battle between the ego and the super ego!”

I leave it up to you to define who won. 


But first, the set-up: Id, Ego and Super Ego are terms developed by Freud that reflect the various levels of consciousness. The “Id” is that slobbering iriot you can’t take to parties, which is why he was left out of the debate. He’s prone to primal outbursts, a glutton, loves porn, and has bad table manners. The “Ego” is your everyday guy, making his way through life with some reasonable awareness of others, does his job, goes home and pays the bills. The “Super Ego” is the artist, poet and intellectual of the group. He’s concerned about philosophy, religion, politics and art—and sometimes, he’s a jerk. 

What evidence is there that such a diverse cast of characters occupies your body? Not a lot. But it makes a convenient metaphor for the complexity of human nature. To say nothing of a good excuse for bad behavior when all else fails. 

The super ego began the discussion by asking a question, knowing full and well that the son of bitch ego would have something to say about it.


                                             Act one:  The Conversation Begins

Super Ego – So, what evidence is there that matter and energy combined, could create a nearly infinite range of living and nonliving things out of a microscopic chunk of incredibly dense, nonliving matter, absent an external cause. The second law of thermodynamics suggests that as energy or heat passes from an object it begins to decay. Why wouldn’t the matter that existed a millisecond after the Big Bang begin to decay?  Like...immediately!


Narrator - As usual, the Super Ego, having a super ego started with a lot of big words. Surprisingly, the Ego held his own, at least for the time being, offering up some seismic profundities of his own.


Ego – Because the universe was really, really hot, for a really long time and there was no atmosphere to accelerate the rate of decay, that would be one answer, or is that two?


Super Ego – After it cooled down why didn’t it begin to decay?


Ego – Because, by that time, other things were starting to happen. Fast forward many billions of years, after all of the nearly incalculable number of things that needed to happen, happened, or “Evolved” making a sustainable universe possible—then you get to the earth.


​Super Ego - A good question might be; what caused life to begin on earth, and, apparently, nowhere else?


​Narrator - It was at this point that the Ego started having a bit of trouble.


Ego – Wait a minute! I’ve seen lots of episodes of Star Trek, and believe me, there’s all kinds of thinly disguised, racist human archetypes flying around in outer space! Are you really trying to tell me that in the whole universe, life only evolved here?


​Super Ego – Well, if evolution is correct, the probability that life should have randomly evolved at all, is statistically non-existent. I mean, numbers like one to twenty billionth power—or some other such ridiculously large number—and make no mistake, that’s a lot of power! All those episodes of Star Trek aside, there’s no reason why a habitable universe should exist at all, if purely random, unguided, material processes are the sole creative power at work.


Narrator - This should cause a red flag to be raised for any reasonable person. Exactly what kind of creative power do nonliving matter and energy have, throw in the necessary “Space” which you need for material objects to exist in—and, then you have the problem of Time. Where’d that come from? “Time” apparently, automatically comes along for the ride.”


Ego –So, why did life evolve here, why not everywhere or nowhere? What makes the earth unique?


Super Ego – The earth isn’t a closed system, like a science experiment in a lab where you’re trying to eliminate contamination from some outside source. In this instance an open system is our friend. Why? Because you can have something outside of the earth that adds that special sauce that makes life possible—from a meteor, or maybe the sun. 

On the other hand, if that thing is the sun, can the sun or gravity, electromagnetism, or some combination of these forces be considered reasonable causes? If not, what would be? Before you can have a simple bowl of soup for a meal you have to have the ingredients for the soup. Those ingredients must be combined in the correct order. This is a clumsy metaphor, of course, but only because it’s far too simple. In reality, the universe is infinitely more complex, as is the “soup” that’s necessary to create life. In fact, the term “infinitely,” may be too small to convey the sheer complexity of it all. And yet, scientists talk, at least in public, with an air of certainty, much like theologians speaking to the great unwashed.  "Keep it simple stupid!  But always speak with great authority—at least, if you want the prestige and the money to continue to flow.”


​Narrator - The Super Ego appears to be on a roll, which pisses the ego off. Who does that Super Ego think he is, asking and answering all the questions, sounds suspiciously like he’s speechifying to me.


Ego - Hey!  Wait a minute!  I’m the one that’s asking the questions!


Super Ego – Don’t worry about it. Not only does this method save space, but, it means that my alter ego has to come up with fewer jokes. So, if you don’t mind I’ll continue. This represents not only incredibly complex and diverse life forms, but their corresponding environments, as well, both of which would have to evolve simultaneously in order for them to be sustainable. What you have are a staggering range of remarkably complex living organism, inhabiting a diverse and finely tuned eco system, existing in an even more finely tuned universe. This fine tuning enables the universe to exist in some habitable form. All of which are governed by exquisitely elaborate laws of nature. Unfortunately, prior to the big bang, none of these laws that govern nature existed. They, like nature itself, seemed to emerge (scientist would say evolved) after the big bang. Why? No one knows—and contrary to all the lofty, self-flagellating rhetoric, we aren’t close to knowing. But few scientists are willing to say this publicly. Grants and all the money and prestige that come with being a genius, aren’t likely to continue if you throw up your hands and say “How did all this happen? How the-hell should I know?


Ego - Man…that sounds like science…or math…or some other equally boring subject.


Super Ego – Maybe you/I need to ask ourselves some tougher questions. What kinds of changes would be required at the microscopic level to get to the point where nature has anything to select—to say nothing of the macroscopic level where you have big things; planets, solar systems and galaxies? If you can answer that question, you still have other problems, both big and small. If you’re going to grow a wing that’s functional and not merely an appendage flopping in the wind you’ll need a hell of a lot more than something shaped like a wing. A half a wing would provide no evolutionary advantage. In fact, it would likely be a serious disadvantage. There would have to be literally thousands of small changes to enable a radical change in the body plan of animal to make it possible for it to fly. This is equally true of every individual part of any complex living being or system. 

What evidence is there that nature has the capacity to create radically different body plans, representing the full range of living species by a process of selection, acting on random variation. Which is, of course, an anthropomorphic use of language, since nature doesn’t really select anything. (Apparently, science can use anthropomorphic language, but not religion.)  Make no mistake, "Dumb," works both ways, though. It isn’t a one way street. It’s more like a super-highway with people traveling in random directions.

But I digress!

A slight variation within a species; changes in sparrows or finch beaks, for instance, does not, a compelling case make, at least not from a "Macro-Intellectual" point of view. (Hey, I think I just made up a new term.)



Ego – Maybe you should form a theory, get a grant, attract some followers who’ll defend your ideas to the death and then begin killing all the infidels!


Super Ego – Could nonliving matter produce high levels of complexity and order through purely random, unguided processes? The answer is obvious. There is no such evidence (relatively speaking, that is) only inference taken well beyond the existing evidence.


Ego - Hey, this is getting boring. How about some humor, a bit of levity? I got one! A Jew walks into a bar with an alligator…....


Super Ego - All right, shut your pie hole, I’m rolling now, don’t interrupt again or you’re out here, subsumed into my higher consciousness! Now, let me continue.


Ego – What an asshole!


Super Ego - That’s why Stephan Hawking, Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawkins agree that there appears to be an intelligibility to the universe. Dawkins is willing to except deism or space aliens as reasonable causes for creation—just not a personal god—one who demands some form of moral or social accountability. On the other hand, if the universe is governed by highly specific laws; gravity, electromagnetism, the nuclear strong and weak forces, as well as dozens of other preexisting forces, then, intelligible moral or legal codes that govern human behavior would seem a perfectly reasonable expression of the Laws of nature, since humans are obviously a part of nature. To put it another way “Natural Law” as defined by enlightenment philosophers like John Locke and Thomas Hobbes or the Mosaic Law and other modern and ancient legal codes were/are attempts to find social order within the natural world. Each appeals to a higher power than human righteousness as a standard.” 

The Founding Fathers encoded this as part of our constitution. If human rights were given by man-made government, the government could just as easily take them away. But, if these rights were inalienable, because they were god given and an intrinsic part of human nature, then no government or king could violate them”.


Ego - Moral codes, the Constitution, what the hell are you talking about? Did you say something about aliens? Now you’re talking! Did you see “Alien” vs. Predator?” That was awesome!


Super Ego – I warned you! From here on out it’s just me, no more stupid jokes. I command you to return to my unconscious, where you’ll only occasionally be annoying.”

​One of the biggest problems for atheists is the simple minded way in which religion demands allegiance to a particular idea of god—or death and eternal punishment for the infidel. I’m solidly with the atheists on that one. But the notion that human beings are nothing more than matter in motion, when in fact, they are complex beyond anything that science can begin to make sense of, is arrogance personified. It is, likewise, inherently nihilistic. Perhaps, if we thought of god as the great eternal biologist/benevolent farmer, we’d get better traction. 

The laws of nature can’t be responsible for the creation of nature, since all of nature, including time, matter, space and energy came into being at the moment of creation. Or to put it another way, after the singularity that caused the ‘Big Bang.” If there is no nature, neither could there be a preexistent law of nature as its cause—not without a “Supernatural” source of law—a lawgiver that supersedes nature, as it were. Is this anthropomorphic? Sure! Do we have any other choice but to see the world in terms of our own experience? At least initially, I don’t think so. Eventually, however, as our knowledge and experience grows we are forced to evaluate our self-delusional world-view, seeking something greater than ourselves as a reasonable arbiter of truth. Reason being the operative word. 

Oftentimes, atheists are arguing with televangelists and evangelical, political activists who are eagerly pushing an evangelical worldview on the rest of us. Hypocritical preachers who preach the love of money and power as the beginning of all good, instead of the root of all evil. Send women back to the kitchen, gays back to the closet, and oust the infidel from America’s sacred shores and all will be well with the world. They teach a growing disdain for knowledge with dinosaurs and humans living in a six thousand year old universe, and evil spirits as the cause of human suffering. But that would be like having Thomas Aquinas debate “Mister Wizard” as a proof religions authority over science. 

Another prime issue is suffering. Would a benevolent god allow untold suffering if he could intervene, but didn’t? This same question is asked constantly in our political debates. If we could alleviate the suffering of the poor by elevating their standard of living, but don’t, can we really be thought of as civilized? This is a loaded question, since no one is suggesting that the poor shouldn’t be helped. The only real question, is how? Do you give a man a fish, or do you teach him to fish? Is god the great enabler, eager to intervene on our behalf every time we get into trouble, generally as the result of our choices? Or, is god the great teacher, enabling man through his considerable and innate gifts to be self-reliant—necessarily tempered by mercy, love and self-sacrifice? Which story is the bible telling, or science, or politicos, for that matter, and does it matter?

To be continued......

Mark Magula