A Prayer for Apophenia Apophenia - the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data from the Oracle of All Contemporary Knowledge, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia Lord, replace my eyes with seeing orbs that perceive the breadth of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, from cosmic rays to radio waves, then, in addition, grant me the sight to discern ideas, intentions, qualms, and inference with clarity equal to that with which I detect solid objects. Seeing everything, Lord, grant me the processing power to assemble all of this information into a single, coherent description of existence. Most importantly, O Lord, do not neglect that portion of the ocular nerve responsible for detecting Your Presence acting among us. Lord, let me see You everywhere. Let it be Your strength that carries the day, Your compassion that offers succor to the vulnerable, Your might that is unfathomably held in check as the ignoble plans of the short- sighted sweep through our communities, industries and governments to ill gain. Lord, let me see mystery in all things. Let me glimpse Your intervention when cooler heads prevail. Let me hear Your voice when forbearance is extolled. Let me feel the warmth of Your being when one of Your servants places a steadying hand on my shoulder and, over the surrounding roar, whispers to me a garbled message that these old ears cannot decipher, but, Lord, let me make sense of it all the same and let that sense give rise to joy. |
A Prayer for Apophenia David Keffer Knoxville, TN October 27, 2014 |