PRAYERS FOR DISTRESSED EMPIRICISTS


ANNA M. FURDYNA
 
1

THERE IS A BLACK-BOX
OF THE MIND--
CONTACT WITH EVERY NOW
AND WHERE
CONTINGENT ON
THE INNER FACE OF IS,
A MEDIUM WHEREIN
ALL EFFECTS
ARE NEGOTIATED:
 
DARK
AS THE SOFT DEPTHS OF NIGHT,
INEXORABLE,
WARMER THAN THE LOVING SPUME
OF WATER
ON SUN-FLECKED SAND.
 
THERE ALL QUESTION
STRIPPED OF ITS BARK-SKIN
DISSOLVES WITHIN
THE GENTLE SWELL.
 
THERE RESPONSIBILITY
DRAWS BREATH
IN ITS RIGHT PORTION,
AND CAUSALITY
BEARS NO MENACE
TO THAT FRAIL CONSTRUCT,
BEING…
 
VOICELESS, THE BLACK-BOX
OF THE MIND,
CONTACT WITH EVERY NOW
AND WHERE,
CONFLUENT WITH
THE INNER FACE OF IS--
 
AND YOU ,
IMPLICITE,
 
ARE THE KEEPER AND THE KEY.


2

I WOULD PRAISE YOU
WITH THE BRILLIANCE
OF DEW-DROPS,
WITH THE HUSHED CHILL
AT SUNRISE
TREMBLING ON THE FRAILTY
OF TWIGS.
I WOULD SING TO YOU
HIGH INTO THE BLUEST ARCHES
OF MIDSUMMER GOLD,
LIKE TO THE RAPTURED THRUSH.
 
BUT NOW MY VISION IS STRAINED
THROUGH SURFACES
BURNISHED DARKLY,
 
AND IT IS ONLY
EVERY JAGGED MOLECULE OF ME
THAT CRIES OUT TO YOU

WHOSE GEHENNA

WAS THE PRICE
OF MAN'S ENGENDERING.

3

Science is not a system of certain, or well-established statements: nor is it a system which steadily advances toward a state of finality...We do not know: we can only guess. And our guesses are guided by the unscientific... faith in laws, in regularities which we can uncover-discover. Like Bacon, we might describe our own contemporary science--“ the method of reasoning which men now ordinarily apply to nature “-- as consisting of “ anticipations, rash and premature”.... Karl R. Popper

NOTHING, NOTHING MAKES SENSE
AND IT IS HOPELESS--
THERE IS NO CORRESPONDENCE
BETWEEN ALL THAT
AND HIM.

WHERE DID I GET
THE FOOL'S OWN NOTION
THAT YOU CAN INTEGRATE
A CHIMERA, A DREAM,
INTO THE WORKINGS OF THE
EMPIRICAL-EXPLICIT?

AND YET,
AND YET, AGAIN,
THERE IS THE PAIN OF DOUBT
TO BE INCLUDED.

I BELIEVE IN IT, THE PAIN
AS I BELIEVE
IN SCIENTIFIC TRUTH.

AH, THAT IS IT.
I DO BELIEVE IN KNOWING:

I BELIEVE;
HELP MY UNBELIEF.

4

TODAY THE SUN SHINES HARD
UPON THE CONSOLE
AND THE HUM OF THE RECORDER
IS SIBILANT WITH TRIUMPH.

TODAY BLOOD COURSES FASTER
IN MY LIMBS
FOR I TAKE TRUTH
AS MY DUE.

GENERATIONS OF JAVA-MEN
AND CROMAGNONS
CACKLE AND POUND
THE BURSTING SWELL OF EARTH.

MAGS, SAGES AND ARCHIMANDRITES
LEAN FROM ALABASTER STOOLS,
INTENT.

AND THEY, MY TEACHERS AND MY DONS,
PLATO TO PLANCK,
DESCARTES TO DIRAC,
TAMERS OF REASON,
HARBINGERS OF WILL:

NOTHING CAN STAY
THE UNRELENTING POWER
OF OUR DETACHMENT……

...BUT FOR THE ACHING VOID OF SPACE,

AND SOMETIMES, IN THE NIGHT,

THE DREADFUL CLEARNESS
OF ONE LONE, LILTING BIRD…

AND FOR THE EYES, HALF-CLOSED,
UNRULY HAIR-FRONDS,

SWEET CURLING OF THE HAND
TOO CLOSE TO BEAR,

...THE WOUNDING, MORTAL BLOW
OF ITS CARNALITY...

...BREATHE WITH ME, STAY WITH ME,
HIDDEN MASTER
OF MOLECULES AND META-GALAXIES,

FOR THE COLD SNAKE OF PRESUMPTION
SHIMMERS GOLD AND ALL-KNOWING
AMID THE WIRE BRANCHES
OF MY APPARATUS.

5

FOR WEEKS I'VE WORKED,
JAMMING THE CIRCUITS
OF MY BRAIN.
FOR WEEKS I'VE SWEATED
LIKE A WOMAN
IN TRANCE OF BIRTH.

STILL NOTHING COMES.

IF I WERE JOVE,
BY JOVE I'D RAGE--
HURL LIGHTNING-BOLTS AND PLANETS
THROUGH THE CHASM,
ENOUGH TO SHAKE THE FIRMAMENT
OUT OF ITS MOORINGS.

BUT BEING LESS THAN GODLY
I AM SICKENED:
DUN WAVES OF WASTELAND
RISE AND SWIRL
UP TO THE LIMITS OF MY GAZE.

AND YET I KNOW, I KNOW THAT SOMEWHERE,
BENEATH THE BARREN REACHES OF DEPRESSION,
THE ANSWER LIES LIKE SEED THAT WAITS FOR RAIN.

FATHER, WHO LABORED TO CREATE SUCH UNTOLD VASTNESS
DID YOU KNOW THE VIOLENCE OF EXHAUSTION?

I FORGET:

YOU ARE THE SOWER AND THE RAIN,
THE FERTILE FIELD OF SOIL AND FULL-GROWN PLANT,
THE FARMER, LAND AND CROP.

--O, GIVE ME STRENGTH TO WAIT IN PATIENCE
FOR THE TIME TO REAP,

AND LET ME REST
UPON THE SEVENTH DAY.


6

THE GIFT OF TURNING TO THE OTHER
AS TO A MIRROR PLIED WITH PROMISE
BRINGS SELF TO ITS OWN UNDERSTANDING
OF NATURE OFFERED FROM THE SOURCE.

THUS WE DISCERN WHAT WE AS CREATURES
ADORNED WITH SAPIENCE MIGHT DIVINE
OF THE SIGNIFICANCE IN OUR YEARNING
TO BE WITHIN MAN'S ELEMENT.

7

: SOMETIMES ALL WORLD-LINES SEEM TO LEAD TO A
CONVERGENCE WHERE THEY TWIST INTO A KNOT SO
INVOLUTE THAT IT BECOMES A TRAP.

: HIDDEN INSIDE THE NEXUS PAIN IS A SMALL ROUNDED
WAITING DOOR TO HIGHER PATHWAYS IN THE CONTINUUM
OF SPACE-TIME.

: IT TAKES THE HAND OF LOVE-IMMANENCE
BROUGHT DOWN
TO GENTLY FORCE THE TIME-WARP OF THE LOCK.


8

TIME AND AGAIN
YOUR GREATNESS FOLLOWS ME,
A SILENT FALL
WHEN I EXPECT IT LEAST.

TIME AFTER TIME
YOUR LOVINGKINDNESS PURSUES ME
INTO UNLIKELY JUNCTURES
SURROUNDING ME ON EVERY SIDE
WITH GLITTERING HIGH-POINTS
OF CONGRUITY.

YET I LACK TRUST.

I AM TOO MINISCULE
TO GRASP AND TO RETAIN:

FROM YOUR WILL EMERGE
UNCOUNTABLE INFINITIES
OF ELEMENTS ORDERED
TO THIS, OUR COUNTABLE REALITY.

ONLY THE MERENESS OF MY MIND COULD THINK
THAT IT PERCEIVES
THE FULL CAUSAL STRAIN.

ONLY THE MEANNESS OF MY MIND COULD DOUBT
THE ABSOLUTE
OF YOUR SURPASSING CARE.


9

THERE IS AN ESSENCE WHICH ABOUNDS,
AN AMBIENT KINDNESS PERMEATING
TO THE MOST INTIMATE
PLASM OF BEING.

THERE IS A FLUX
OF BENEVOLENT WILL
THAT PROPAGATES
IN WAVES OF UTMOST TENDERNESS TO REACH
THE TISSUES OF THE BUDDING PLANT,
THE HATCHING-PARRY OF THE MITE,
THE SHYEST, MOST UNSPOKEN WISH.

THERE IS AN ENERGY WHICH SPURS
EACH RESTLESS COSMIC INCREMENT OF GROWTH,
POWERS STILL SPACES THAT CONVEY
CREATURES MORE RADIANT, MORE SUBLIME
THAN HUMAN MIND CAN HOLD.

ONLY ITS SOURCE
OBEYS NO LAW
OF CONSERVATION.

ONLY CREATION IS THE EDIFICE
OF LOVE.


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STEVEN HILLER

1

I AM NOT A WELL MAN.
I AM NOT EMPOWERED
TO UNDERSTAND THE DETAIL
OF THE PRISTINE YET TENUOUS DESIGN
THAT WE ABSORB AND PROCESS AS CREATION.
YET IT IS GIVEN TO ME
TO KNOW
THAT THIS DESIGN IS THE EXPRESSION
OF A TRIUMPHANT LOVE
AND INSUPERABLE INTELLECT--
THAT SPACE-TIME NETS,
NASCENT QUARKS,
AND EVEN THE ARTFUL CONSTRUCTS
WE CALL ”STRINGS”
ARE MEANT TO SERVE OUR GOOD
IF WE BUT RESPOND
AS LOVING BEINGS
TO THE HIGHEST COMPASSION
THAT WAITS ABOVE.


2

MAY WE HALLOW WHAT IS PRESENT
TO OUR BEING,
GROWING IN ITS IMAGE AND LIKENESS
INTO GLORY,
YET KNOWING THAT THERE MIGHT BE
OTHER REALMS OF SAPIENT EXISTENCE
MORE EXPERIENCED AND NOBLE
THAN OUR OWN.


3

IN THE TRUTH OF BEING SAPIENT
ABOVE ALL THAT'S HOMINID
WE ARE REALLY NOT ALONE
AND REMOVED FROM LOWER CREATURES.
YET WE LIVE IN OUR OWN WORLD
THINKING THAT THERE IS NO JOINING
OF OURSELVES WITH THEM IN SEEKING
THE COMMUNION WITH THE HIGHEST
THAT DOES BLESS US IN OUR STATE.


4

THE SPIRIT THAT ARISES IN EVOLVING MEN
WHEN THEY BECOME RECOGNIZANT
OF EACH OTHER
AS CEREBRAL ENTITIES,
MAKING THEMSELVES WHOLE
AND SEEKING OF TRUTH,
IS THEIR GREAT TRIUMPH
AND HOMAGE TO THE
EVERLASTING GLORY
THAT IS GOD.


5

THE LANGUAGE OF A CHILD
EMERGING AT SUCH A TENDER AGE
IS A MIRACULOUS WONDER
TO BE MARVELED AT
AND CHERISHED AS A SIGN
THAT WE ARE INDEED
BLESSED AND ELEVATED
TO A STATE THAT IS
BEYOND RECKONING
TRANSCENDENT
AND SINGULAR.

6

THE PLETHORA OF LIFE ON EARTH
SO RICH AND VARIEGATED
GIVES US TO UNDERSTAND
THAT WE ARE SCIONS
OF A GREAT ASCENDANCY
THAT IS NOBLE AND
ABOVE ALL THINGS
A HEY-DAY OF BEING
PROGRESSING IN TIME.


7

MAY THE ESSENTIAL TRUTH
OF OUR EXISTENCE
HOLD US IN ITS SAFEKEEPING
IMBUING US WITH THE JOY
THAT IS PARAMOUNT
AND ETERNAL.
MAY WE ADHERE TO IT
WHENEVER WE CAN MANAGE
TO MAKE IT OUR GREATEST,
COMPELLING AWARENESS.

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