The Wall; A Sunday morning story
Once upon a time, some people on a road were stopped by a wall.
We didn’t mind. It was a good place to stop for a while, and as more people coming down the road stopped at the wall, a community grew at its foot. Most people enjoyed gathering together, so the wall seemed like a fortuitous event, a good reason to rest and celebrate and work together for a while.
The wall wasn’t impassable, of course. Some could still clamber over the pile and continue on their journey, but the wall was a little daunting, and the happy community was so tempting, and few bothered.
People being people, we couldn’t just leave the wall alone. Some started stacking the rocks, following rules laid down by clever people in the community that created a more stable, stronger wall. They built the wall taller and wider. They faced it with smooth sheets of stone to make it more attractive.
As the wall became more elaborate and more difficult to pass, the community grew. We didn’t consider this a bad result; that wall was most impressive, and if the journey was held up for a time, well, one could admire the wall, and also learn a little masonry. And the community was definitely a wonderful treasure — a little fractious and crowded, perhaps, and prone to crime and other vices of large gatherings of people, but that wasn’t the wall’s fault.
The wall was a dominating feature in the community, always there, always growing, and unsurprisingly, art erupted spontaneously. People expressed themselves on the wall; the wall was glorified and and made ever more beautiful in diverse ways, and in many styles, and for a long time, the only art was wall art.
The art was lovely, but was increasingly constrained—good art must respect the wall, not challenge it. The wall became a funnel for ideas, focusing them all on one subject, the wall itself.
Oddly enough, while the human difficulties of living in a crowded community behind the wall were never blamed on the wall, the human joy and skill and love of beauty that danced across it were entirely credited to the wall. People are funny that way.
The wall was worshipped.
The road was forgotten or ignored, and our community assumed the wall is our destination, not simply a convenient stop on a long journey. The wall is what we are all about.
Some few who managed to get over the wall still called back to the community.
“Come over, the road goes on!”
“Is there another wall over there that we can adore?” asked the people of the wall.
“No, just a long, long road to somewhere else.”
“Is it dangerous? Is it risky? Are there any little walls we can cling to?”
“I don’t know! There are certainly dangers, but there are also wonders! Come on!”
But the wall people refused.
More than refused; we built the wall higher and stronger, we topped it with razors, and we spread stories that the other side was a land of fire and torture, and that the road led only to death. And just to prove it, people who tried to cross the wall were set on fire, and killed, and we frightened everyone in the community so badly that we could even stop killing them and people still cowered in fear before the wall.
The wall was huge and powerful. It had grown to be symbol of art and beauty and hope and unity and terror and oppression and diversity and dreams and cruelty and kindness. It stood in our way, and echoed and amplified and personified the condition of that people camped in the shadow of the wall. Even people who wanted to continue on down the road had to respect the monstrous construction, and some even said we need to revere it, and let all the people in the community know that it’s all right to love a barrier that has loomed over them for thousands of years.
Some of us are looking up and beyond, though. We’re saying it certainly is an impressive piece of work, but … it’s still a wall.
We have a different answer.
I’m sorry, but this story doesn’t have an ending yet, and I don’t know how it will turn out. We’ve only just begun to tear down the wall.
The only way we’ll get past it is if more of us wake up to the fact that it is a wall, and it must be overcome. Some of you may prefer to build ramps over it, or tunnel under it, or find alternative routes around it; some of you may prefer dynamite. I don’t care what your strategy is, as long as more of us stop praising the wall and start treating it as an obstacle.
The jubilee will be held on the other side of the wall. Beyond that, who knows? But it will be exciting.
April 15th, 2007 at 7:42 am
The Wall: A Sunday morning story…
Once upon a time, some people on a road were stopped by a wall. We didn’t mind. It was a good place to stop for a while, and as more people coming down the road stopped at the wall,……
April 15th, 2007 at 11:22 am
A fine metaphor, if you’re given to those sorts of things. And The American Street is an ideal place to put it. Pharyngula, a putative “science” blog, is not. Your metaphor, just like virtually all of your commentary on godlessness is not fit for science. It is ideal for philosophy, attempts to answer those questions of truth that science cannot address.
Your godlessness is well known, Mr. Myers. You have shouted and ranted it from the rooftops for quite awhile now. Your mind is made up. You have faith in faithlessness. Good for you.
And rant and rail about it all you like in forum devoted to philosophy.
Run a science blog as just that. A science blog. You get offended when blogs devoted to theology claim they can then comment intellgently on science. Young earth creationism offends you. as it should. And in terms of it being bad science, go to.
But science cannot disprove God. Neither can it prove He exists.
Move on, for once in your life.
April 15th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Hoody, you are drawing a distinction where none exists. Religion makes claims about reality, and like all such claims they can be examined using the scientific method. To claim otherwise, as you do, is one of the most egregious examples of special pleading I have seen in some time. As someone who understands this, Mr. Myers is far more qualified to discuss religion than most theologians are.
Now, philosophy certainly plays a part. It is philosophy which, for example, tells us that the burden of proof lies with the person making the positive claim, and thus destroys your attempt to draw an equivalence between belief and non-belief with the tired old “cannot be proved or disproved” line. However, far from being some alien discipline which Myers is not qualified to discuss, it lies at the very heart of the science in which he is trained. Indeed, philosophy on its own cannot come to a conclusion regarding religion at all, except in those cases in which it is so poorly constructed as to be logically impossible. To do so one must actually examine reality through observation. When Mr. Myers looks around, notes that there is no evidence for God, and thus tentatively concludes that God does not exist, he is engaging in science, whether you like his conclusions or not.
Of course, this is entirely aside from the fact that ScienceBlogs in no way prohibits its bloggers from commenting on issues outside of science and that doing so is standard practise, making your objection ridiculous to begin with.
April 15th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
I think science is imperfect and, look, it hasn’t given us the answer to everything! Isn’t better to have the answers to everything already? Of course! Why keep looking for trouble beyond the wall?
Now, Mr. Myers, you’ve told us your opinion. Don’t repeat it, especially when you may reach new ears & eyes. Stick to your limited ways, that of the scientific methodology. Admit it, you can’t even disprove that there isn’t a flying wall around our sun. And, for every gap supposedly filled by science, two more gaps are created. Pfff. Enough said.
I see the wall as a necessary boundary, to check human passions and stop those who want to keep going forever without reaching a destination–lost souls really. We all know that once you find the truth there’s no point in looking further. God puts up this wall to show people they’ve arrived.
Humans are imperfect therefore their ways & understanding are imperfect too. It’s human nature to need a divine force for guidance. After all, the Creator couldn’t make perfect beings because then He wouldn’t be needed–that’s blasphemy!
A wall?!!…. I think we should built a second one to prevent those assembled from turning back!
April 16th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Andros…
are you an athiest mole trying to make theists appear stupid? If so you are succeeding.
All I read is: - ignorance is great, let’s go back to the dark ages. Is something more there that I can’t see?
April 16th, 2007 at 3:35 am
reason,
I have a sneaking suspicion that Andros is posting satire…
April 17th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Factician,
good if so, but it doesn’t hurt to make it clear what is being said. Some people may believe what he says.
April 17th, 2007 at 4:03 am
In China, years ago, famous and heroic people were cremated and their ashes place in the Gredat Wall of China. That is what gave us he song, Just Another Chink In the Wall
April 17th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
You know, you pick what ever you like and give it your own meaning. Religion often operates like a cafeteria… I tend to prefer reason and inquiry. I admit, sometimes I employ sarcasm to poke fun at fundies, and I confess that I’d find it even funnier if anyone believed what I said previously here.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:36 am
One great thing about this wall is that, as soon as you realize it’s a fake wall, it ceases to exist and you can continue down the road!
Of course, you’ll encounter incredible opposition from all the other people who can’t see the wall is fake, and who have built other barriers on the road to prevent you from carrying on your journey. But for yourself, at least, you can remove the wall simply by not letting it be in your way.
April 20th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
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