What One Man Calls God, Another Call Science And Technology

May 19, 2023

The Interesting Story of Greg F. — Described by the Neuroscientist Oliver Sacks as “The Last Hippie.”

Let me start with a disclaimer the original thought leader of my title is Nikola Tesla, and how he said it was, “What one man calls God, another calls the laws of physics.”

Now that you know this information, I also must inform you that I am a religious man who believes there is a supreme power that supernaturally created and controls everything. I am a Christian, to be precise.

At least my mother will not be too dismayed reading this if, by any chance, she gets to. And similarly, so that you, my reader, do not think that this is another science nerd that has been consumed with a lot of science fiction, materials, and experiments to the point of doubting the existence of a creator, GOD!

By the way, this is stated without any form of disrespect to those, whether scientists or not, who do not believe in God or His or Her/Their existence.

Now that I have cleared the air, let me quickly take you on the interesting story of Greg F., — Described by the Neuroscientist Oliver Sacks as “The Last Hippie.”

Anyway, the world contains thousands of Greg’s stories of many unfortunate cases of various scientific curable illnesses that ended up damaging a person’s life profoundly due to religious clusters and beliefs.

As a teenager, Greg was troublesome and rebellious. Later dropped out of school and became a Hare Krishna, then moved to a temple in New Orleans. However, after some time there, the spiritual leader became impressed with Greg, calling him a Holy Man.

Then Greg slowly began to go blind, which was seen not as something to be treated but as a spiritual occurrence.

The spiritual leader posited that he was “an illuminated,” and so it was his “inner light” growing… And indeed, he seemed to be becoming more spiritual as the day passed — because an amazing new serenity had taken hold of him.

He no longer showed his previous impatience or appetites, and he was sometimes found in a sort of daze, with a strange (many in the temple said “transcendental”) smile on his face. His ‘Swami’ described this as a beatitude and proclaimed that he was becoming a saint.

After four years, the temple graciously permitted his parents to visit Greg, and when they did, they were terrified: their lean, hairy son had become fat and hairless; and wore a continual “stupid” smile on his face (according to his father’s description of this); and kept bursting into bits of song and verse, and making “idiotic” comments, while showing little deep emotion of any kind (“like he was scooped out, hollow inside,” again, by his father’s description); he had lost interest in everything “current”; he was disoriented — and he has become totally blind.

Sadly, it turned out that Greg had a tumour in his brain that grew to the size of an orange before it was discovered. It destroyed most parts of his brain devoted to vision and extended into his frontal lobes (upfront) and temporal lobes (on the sides).

The tumour was removed, but the damage was irreversible. He was not only blind; he had lost most of his memory for decades and could not form new memories. He was docile and, without feeling, unable to survive independently.

An interesting story like this has long been associated with many controversies over the details of what happened to Greg F..

His story has become more and more exaggerated and extravagant as time has passed— thus, the account above is as accurate as I could make it as I traced one of the story’s original sources — outlining the reference below for anyone interested.

Reference — Oliver Sacks, “The Last Hippie,” New York Review of Books, March 26, 1992, 53–62.

I picked interest in this story because of a cousin sister of mine who has been down with a stroke (I am even careful to declare this as it has not been confirmed by any specialist yet) for up to a year.

I had always advised from the beginning for her to be taken to the hospital, but the family have been moving her from one pastor/church to another in search of a miracle.

Finally, there is now a consensus to take her to the hospital, but I am afraid the sickness may have eaten deep and worsened.

So I ask, “At what point should we draw a straight line between what religion can handle and when science and technology should be given the chance it deserves — especially in developing countries?”

Personally, everything is a miracle. And yeah, that includes science and technology!

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

― Albert Einstein

Photo by Maximalfocus on Unsplash

Many thanks for reading my perspective and giving feedback.

My fervent wish is for the personal growth of everyone and the success of all young professionals who put their hearts and souls into finding their purpose in life.

Connect with me on LinkedIn…