That's the sticking point here.

When religions make statements about the physical universe, science quite rightly calls them on it. As they should.

But as Joseph Campbell once said, the fight isn't between science & religion. It's between contemporary science & the science of 4000 years ago, which many people conflate with religion.

In a word, literalism.

Religion is about myth, metaphor, poetry, psyche. It's about the universe within each & every mind. And there are demons, gods, resurrections, ghosts, heavens & hells a-plenty hard at work there ... or, if you prefer, call them complexes, or neuroses, or some other more contemporary label.

No, I don't believe in a literal god, or afterlife, or soul. But I don't deny that there are mysterious, powerful, irrational forces constantly at play beneath the surface of my conscious, reasonably rational mind. And even the most brilliant & logical among us are not immune to them.

I'd never use poetry or prayer to measure or rationally explain the physical universe. But I'd never use science to explain love or anguish, either.

We're talking about two very different fields of meaning here. One is the physical meaning of the universe, how it works, what laws define & control it. That's the realm of science, and there's plenty of awe & wonder in it. It tells us what the universe is.

The other is the realm of religion -- or myth, or poetry, or personal meaning, or psychology, if you will. That tells us what the universe is to us, individually, viscerally. Not the meaning of life in vaguely general, generic terms, but the specific meaning of our individual lives.

We should never confuse the two.

LW, I've got a good idea of how you feel right now. 6 years ago, with no sign of symptoms, I had a heart attack right on the stress test treadmill. 17 cardiologists agreed that the blockage was so severe that I should have dropped dead without any warning at least a year before. They weren't sure if I'd even live through the few hours they needed to prepare me for emergency bypass surgery.

Yet here I am today.

When I survived surgery, I felt astonished to be alive, as if I'd been granted a second chance. And I still feel that way today. I have made major changes in my life, and put it into better perspective. I do focus on things that truly matter to me now.

But I also made a lot of crazy, totally absurd plans during those first few months of recovery. And I think that's natural. You've come thisclose to Death. It's no wonder that you want to run in the opposite direction as quickly as possible, without looking back. Surviving doesn't mean you lose your fear of dying; if anything, it may be even stronger, just more subtle. And you'll do damn near anything not to face it again.

So it's not a matter of deciding whether or not to change your life. It IS changed. And it'll continue to change. You'll do things you never thought of doing before. Some you'll regret in time, some you won't. And there's nothing wrong with that, either. You HAVE gotten a second life.

Just make some time & some room for contemplation. Sooner or later, you'll have to stop & sit down with the fear that remains, with the presence of Death. If you're willing to do that, you'll learn a great deal about yourself, and gain a deeper perspective on your life. Now that you've got this new life, you'll want to make the most of it

Mind you, I'm not suggesting that you second-guess every little thing, or let fear prevent you from stretching those new wings. Just don't be so enthused & frightened & exhilarated that you fly too close to the sun at first.

The best of luck to you, LW!

I agree yhat the important thing is her horribly right-wing stance on so many issues. But let's face it, what this whole motherhood story has done is shift the MSM narrative. Friday it was Spunky Maverick Mom Can Do It All. Which is exacly what the McCain people wanted. Now it's become Ongoing Soap Opera - What Next?

Which narrative will the MSM want to pursue? Which has more legs?

I think Britney, Lindsay, etc., can answer that one.

Somewhere, Tom Eagleton is smiling ...

I see more of this eternal fratboy mentality everywhere these days, both at work & in public. And I see more of these kiddults (great phrase) in their 40s & 50s, too. They are terrified of growing up, terrified of taking anything seirously, terrified of creating whole lives for themselves. And they're so filled with anger & resentment & (most of all) fear that the potential for explosive violence constantly pours off them like sweat.

Given my own attitudes, which would undoubtedly be attacked as gay these days, I'm grateful to have been a teenager in the 1960s, when the cultural models for manhood included such things as love, compassion, empathy, beauty, art, learning -- all feared, scorned & dismissed by too many young men today. So much easier to boast of one's deliberate ignorance & crassness! The "culture" created by such an attitude is shallow, sterile, and both grotesque & frightening to witness.