Chapter 4

In the article "A Word From Pastor Dan" we are introduced to that very fine line between religion and science. There have been exhaustive debates between the two sides, most recently the debates captured by both Time and Newsweek magazines pitting the agnostic against the "scientific" believer. With both the article we read and the articles in both Time and Newsweek, we are given the principles of both sides while also being given the not so rare look at the scientists who do believe in faith. As with the article we read, it was interesting to see that gradual opening of Pandora's Box and then the gradual closing of it on a question raised to us readers. The final question is an all too valid one, asking us as an audience of not believers or non-believers but as a collective group of intellectuals to address the greater needs of humanity through science...not the trivial. By going from the drug induced paths of Burroughs to modern takes on what it means to be alive raised the valid question of, "Is there really only one true path to discovering the answer?" Maybe it is through mind altering drugs, maybe it is through a responsible use of faith, maybe through the responsible use of science or maybe it is a combination of all three. Maybe we are being asked, by either a higher power or some natural force, to alter our naturalized ways of thinking in order to embrace all facets of thinking in the attempt of righting a sinking ship. I believe that this is our true paths as human beings, to embrace the manners in which we think and finding ways of combining that way of thinking with our opposites in order to secure a better future for humanity.