THE VIEW FROM A HOLE IN THE WALL
Sometimes, along with other mice, I bite off more than I can chew. Not often, but it happened when I was traveling through The Magician's Twin, edited by John G. West. Once inside this book, my journey became longer than planned. The reason? Each chapter contains ideas, not scenes or actions. To experience an idea always takes extra thought and time.
On this book journey I learned that C.S. Lewis believed "serious magical endeavor and the serious scientific endeavor are twins." That idea alone is enough to make a mouse stop chewing.
Science and magic are similar? In one way, it is pointed out that they have the ability to function as an alternative religion or belief. In another way, there is encouragement for a stunning lack of skepticism and a willingness to believe on slight evidence or sleight of hand.
Also is a similarity for a quest of power. This quest is not like the one of Don Quixote's or mine. Ours is based on a search for truth, not power that results in control. One evolutionary biologist urges his fellow scientists to be "... actively engaged in changing society and shaping the world's future." Sounds like mighty powerful control to me.
It appears that the wizards of biology, neuroscience, and some other disciplines would agree that "DNA" is everything. Humans are assured that their thoughts and decisions are no more than effects of electro-chemical events in the brain. It makes this mouse hope that my relatives, the ones caged in science laboratories, can somehow enlighten those experimenters to the difference between science and scientism.
Scientism climbs onto the bulldozer of science and attempts to tear down and cover all other worldviews.
To think that empirical science is the only worldview that a person, or mouse, should consider authoritative is enough to make me head for my hole in the wall and bar the door (if I had one).
C.S. Lewis was not anti-science, only anti-scientism. It is birthed when wizards, because of their expertise, start to dictate about religious beliefs, society's morals, and government policies.
Deep into this three-hundred page volume is the controversial discussion of materialism versus the existence of an intelligent agent. If a material universe is all there is, it seems that there is no reason to trust human or mouse minds, since they are just a product of chance and necessity. My electro-chemical process informs me that would also include the minds of scientific experts.
On the other hand, as the book continues, an intelligent agent does not necessarily lead to the Christian God. It only opens the door to transcendent alternatives and honest discussion. Challenges and conversations occur when there is freedom to think. Even scientific ideas, which are in a constant state of flux, need freedom to update. Too often peer acceptance constructs the trap and political correctness becomes the bait.
If any thinker wants to examine further topics like evolution, common descent, the Fall, natural selection, Adam and Eve, plus meet authors like G.K. Chesterton, Phillip Johnson and many others, then journey into The Magician's Twin.
As for this mouse, due to the abundance of information and mental nourishment overload, I have developed indigestion and a headache. For now, my electro-chemical event tells me to find a medicine cabinet.
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