Art over science: A good old fashioned rant

I know clinical research is the backboard of the scientific community, but sometimes it just doesn’t quite jive with my personal reality. The human experience is so very unique, subjective and tailored to each individual’s unparalleled existence that I just don’t think it possible to narrow phenomena down to likelihoods.

Hypothetically speaking, perhaps some particular event does happen repeatedly in a certain circumstance and that particular thing is shown through a well-controlled study. For example, let’s say a scientific study says that statistically, second marriages are more likely to end in divorce than first marriages. Perhaps this well-controlled study is repeatable and valid. So what? What does this mean for people who are on their second marriage? Do they give up? Does it mean that every second marriage is doomed? Does it mean any one who happens to have made a wrong turn in life should go through doubting the existence of happiness because a scientific study says it is likely to not happen the second time around? This is just one example of many, but I think it stands to say that empiricism is so very limited.

Call me crazy, but I just don’t think scientific findings hold the credibility to direct our life actions. I think when we start allowing scientific findings to direct our choices we give up a certain essence of living- we become dependent on the guessing game of science. Scientific findings change with the wind and I would rather base my life on a rock than a breeze. I respect scientists for better trying to understand our world, but sometimes I just want to tell them to stop. There are things we will never understand and things we were never meant to understand. Well-designed scientific studies that can be replicated might offer a tiny glimpse in the direction of truth, but only the One True Artist of our universe can define life. I’m content to trust His brush strokes over the American Psychological Association any day.

Being miserable (re-posted from 2010)

E. Stanley Jones writes:

"The most miserable people in this world are the people who are self-centered, who don't do anything for anyone except themselves. They are centers of misery with no exception...on the contrary, the happiest people are those that deliberately take on sorrows and troubles of others. Their hearts sing with a strange, wild joy, automatically and with no exceptions" (Disciplines of the Holy Spirit, p. 117).

Shane Claiborne writes:

"There are times I have been very frustrated with wealthy folks for hoarding their stuff. But now I know enough rich folks to know the loneliness that is all too familiar to many of them. I read a study comparing the health of a society with its economics, and one of the things it revealed is that wealthy countries like ours have the highest rates of depression, suicide, and loneliness. We are the richest and most miserable people in the world" (The Irresistible Revolution, p. 56).

How to go red in 4 easy steps

Step 1: Examine your front door and take note if it is ugly, plain, and white.

Step 2: Test a (preferably loud) color on the front of your door. Be sure and paint a big square right smack in the middle of your door just to be safe. This way there is no changing your mind; you are going to have to paint this door.



Step 3: If you start to feel dizzy from the oil based fumes, put on a pretty blue mask. Fight the urge to act out a scene from ER or House and continue painting.



Step 4: Stand back and look at what an amazing job you did painting your front door. Give yourself a pat on the back and drink a glass of wine to celebrate.