song for theme #5B: Vitalism

                                                            “I’m Not Alone” by Stephen P. Cook

to be sung to the tune of “With God on Our Side” by Bob Dylan

You say life’s no mystery: it’s proteins and DNA

And there’s no Creator, just random forces at play

Life has no purpose¹, I know you hypothesize

And if God is out there, why does He hide?

How life did begin² —your theories can’t explain

Nor complex living structures, evolution it strains³

And what is consciousness⁴? You haven’t a clue

You miss what holds it together: God is the glue.

Your mechanistic atheism—makes me see red

I will pray for your soul before going to bed

To find meaning in emptiness, surely you’ve tried

But I’m not alone: with the Holy Spirit inside

In India it’s called prana, in China it’s ch’i⁵

Whatever you call it, this energy’s in me

My soul and astral body⁶, my spirit is alive

I’m not alone: with God’s⁷ spark I thrive

Without vital life force my body won’t tread

When it gives up the ghost, then it’ll be dead

But my spirit will soar up into the sky

Merging with God, tears of joy it will cry⁸

SONG—NOTES / COMMENTS

1—The term associated with belief in design or purpose inherent in everything, and that events unfold toward some divinely

     specified ultimate end or to fulfill some purpose, is called teleology.

2—There is general agreement among scientists that life began on Earth around 3.8 billion years ago.

3—Seemingly the classic evolutionary natural selection mechanism needs help from complexity theory, epigenetic inheritance,

     and perhaps quantum mechanics.

4—Consciousness has many definitions: 1) as a process not a thing, traditionally thought to reside in the soul and identified with

      self awareness, 2) an inward sensibility or knowledge of one’s own existence, sensations, thoughts, etc–and comprising the

      sum total of mental processes occurring at any moment, 3) the non-algorithmic, judgment-forming ability to separate truth

      from falsity, beauty from ugliness, etc, 4) what merely passively accompanies a sufficiently elaborate control system (based

      on algorithms)–but doesn’t do anything,  5) self knowledge (including the ability to recognize one’s self in a mirror),

      6) sentience (knowing “what is it like” to be someone), and 7) others based on information, quantum physics processes, etc.     

5— Ch’i (or Qi)–an ancient term from China referring to the vital breath or energy that animates the Cosmos. The goal of

      acupuncture is to stimulate the flow of ch’i through the human body.

6—Astral body refers to a duplicate of a person’s physical body, but one that is nonphysical in nature. It is what supposedly

      leaves the body in out of body experiences.    

7—See note 8 for the previous theme (#5A).

8—This refers to the ecstasy of mystical experience some have described.

 Comment: this theme has value as emotional armor.  Armed with a belief that souls leave the body upon death and (even more unusually) in ghosts, both of which suggest that part of us can survive death, your fear of death perhaps lessens. Likewise the pain of losing loved ones to death can be lessened if you believe their spirits are alive and nearby (or even in some distant Heaven where you can someday be reunited.) Likewise, if you believe you’ve got a “guardian angel” looking out for you, may feel better protected against unknown bad things that might befall you.