20160125 (decisions)

Sometimes science is very far

Away as when Brian Greene

Speculates on eleven-dimensional

Strings wobbling on an unevisionable

Membrane adjacent to an infinite

Number of other equally unimagineable

Planes which periodically crash into

Each other birthing big bangs as 

They go. Sometimes it’s so close

As the matter of deciding who is

Really deciding when we decide

Something. To wit, a Cherokee 

Elder told his grandson:

“My son, two wolves battle

Inside us. One is evil—anger, 

Jealousy, greed, resentment,

Lies, and pride. The other is 

Good—Joy, peace, love, 

Hope, humility, kindness, and 

Truth.” The boy asked, “Which 

Wolf wins?” The old man replied,

“The one you feed.” Sounds

Eminently reasonable if not

Just so pat and cute, but no

More explicative than the

Story we got in childhood

About a devil in our left ear

And an angel on our right.

Comedian Flip Wilson built

His national fame with his

Outrageous cry, “The DEVIL

Made me do it,” shoving

Responsibility onto his left

Shoulder to avoid blame. 

Yet, however widely this

Decision model was adopted,

No one ever shouted, “The

ANGEL made me do it,” when

It came to good deeds. Just

Keep pouring that honor on!

It was me, just little ol’ me.

What it all comes down to

Is whether our thinking is

A physical process, solely

Dependent on how those

Brainy molecules are 

Knocking about like billiard

Balls or whether thinking

Is free of cause and effect.

Whether we, independent

Of bodily processes, can

Manipulate images and

Intentions to use reason’s

Rules and select a course

To enact. Determinism

Certainly ends the squabble,

But it hasn’t the feeling we

Experience in our deciding

Of being free to elect another

Choice. Wisdom granted from

Above, “. . . moved by the 

Spirit,” is as much artifice as

“Moved by the spirits,” bespeaks

Control by substance. I’d

Prefer if God were speak to

Me He’d use the full monty

And like Paul, knock me flat

On my ass so there’d be no

Confusion as to Who was 

Telling whom to do what.

Lacking the flash and the 

Thunder I’ll have to assume

The responsibility’s mine,

Or for the determinist’s

Sake, that recent dinner of

General Tso’s Chicken

Extra spicy.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016