by Doug Westberg
Member since:
January 4, 2007

An Exercise In Dephlogistication: Mindful Poetry Contest #16 Fibonacci Poem MP2012

April 23, 2012 03:31 PM UTC
views: 0 | 9 people recommend this | comments: 28

 



?...
What
are
numbers
made out of?
Do we think them up?
Do they exist if we don’t count?
Or do we exist only because there are numbers?
Are we mathematical formulas in the mind of God?  What, then, is God made of?

 

prompt here

© 2012 Douglas J. Westberg. All Rights Reserved.  Please share this on Gather.com, and elsewhere on the web by means of a link back to this page, but please do not copy.   Doug's latest book is The Depressed Guy's Book of Wisdom from Chipmunka Publishing.

Doug's Gather Group is Depression and Creativity, devoted to creative writing about depression and related illnesses, and creative writing as therapy.  Please consider joining.  You can read more of Doug's posts there, or here.

 

Comments: 28

JOHN BECK Apr 23, 2012, 4:30pm UTC
Early lines remind me of the question of sound of a tree falling in a forest when no one is there to hear. It ends with something similar to the chicken or the egg question. Well done.
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 8:24pm UTC
Thanks, John!
J. Reid Apr 23, 2012, 5:41pm UTC
Smiles...

Thank you for submitting to: Not Gathering Dust!
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 8:24pm UTC
Thanks!
A. F. Stewart Apr 23, 2012, 5:55pm UTC
I now have the sudden urge to say, "snips and snails and puppy dogs tails", but a fabulous poem nonetheless.
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 8:24pm UTC
Tee hee. There are worse theories...
Alison H. Apr 23, 2012, 7:26pm UTC
Numbers have a significance that goes beyond just counting...they have been considered the bridge between the spiritual and physical worlds. It's very interesting to look up the symbolic significance of numbers that appear in our dreams.
Alison H. Apr 23, 2012, 7:57pm UTC
Thought-provoking poem! Well-penned.
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 8:28pm UTC
I love them, myself, almost as much as I love words.
Alison H. Apr 23, 2012, 9:52pm UTC
:-)
Angie O. Apr 23, 2012, 8:21pm UTC
For every question leads to a question. Nice.
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 8:24pm UTC
Thanks, Angie!
elizabeth evans Apr 23, 2012, 9:53pm UTC
Questions without answers
March into eternity.


Thanks for sharing with Triple Name Club.
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 11:12pm UTC
It's enough to make your head explode
stephen berwaldt Apr 23, 2012, 10:24pm UTC
you give us another "what came first, the chicken or the egg?" conundrums...
Food for thought...I'm thinking...

Thank you submitting to Gathers Luminous Writers and Artists.
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 11:15pm UTC
I don't know what gets into me...
Richard Thuss Apr 23, 2012, 10:37pm UTC
Great one, Doug, and when you solve that question, I have a few more for you.
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 11:13pm UTC
Bring it on!
Richard Thuss Apr 24, 2012, 9:25am UTC
No, you need to give me the answer to "What is God Made Of?" before you get another hard question. lol
Doug Westberg Apr 24, 2012, 11:39am UTC
Imagine every atom and subatomic particle in the multiverse is a brain cell. That's God. Or it's too small...
Susan Budig - Mindful Poet Apr 23, 2012, 10:57pm UTC
Just like a two-year old, always asking the Big Questions.

You
have
earned a
snazzy spot:
Mindful Poetry.
Doug Westberg Apr 23, 2012, 11:15pm UTC
Hey! I resemble that remark!
Alice G. Apr 24, 2012, 1:13am UTC
Well , since man is made in the image of God perhaps God is the Ultimate Infinite Number 1/0. He's been called worse you know. DNA is pretty mathematically precise don't you think?
Doug Westberg Apr 24, 2012, 3:30am UTC
With all due respect, Alice, "man is made in the image of God" is a terrible axiom. It's balderdash, and it doesn't make a case for anything except mankind's conceit. Then in your last sentence, you bring in the "argument from complexity", which says nothing about anything except how small and limited our minds are.

Having said that, what my poem will suggest to many people is that God is the Ultimate Cause. My purpose was to provoke a sense of wonder, not to put God or anyone else down. Thanks for reading and weighing in!
Ann Marcaida Apr 24, 2012, 1:32pm UTC
You sound like a neo-Pythagorean. They believe that since all of creation can be reduced to math, then math and God are the same.
Doug Westberg Apr 24, 2012, 2:32pm UTC
YES!! Exactly! What a great observation! Fascinatingly, 2500 years after Pythagoras, cosmologist Max Tegmark of MIT, among others, is saying the same thing.
Pam Brittain Apr 24, 2012, 5:41pm UTC
A lot to think about.
Sandy Moore May 28, 2012, 3:23am UTC
I agree with Pam.

Thank you for sharing with Watching The Watching The Wind Blow By

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