This is going to seem a little radical, especially from someone like me — the neurology person. But perhaps it’s not. I am religious. I am an anthropologist. And though I may regret even writing down this thought, it remains something that has bothered me all day. I have kept my personal and professional lives and thoughts fairly separate so far, but where’s the fun if they don’t mix even a little as long as they mix in an anonymous space.
Let’s take, for example, HIV/AIDS. We are taught, at a fairly global level, that the initial HIV infection occurs through sexual contact or transmission of bodily fluids. In Cape Town, South Africa, some people (key word: some) are made to believe that a diagnosis of HIV reveals affectation by the devil.
You, hearing of this, may be incredulous, frustrated, angry, confused, or perhaps accepting of this point of view. Whatever works to stop the spread of an, if not always deadly, epidemic.
But my question is this: How do we know that the biology of disease and illness itself is not a creation by some higher (or lower, more evil) power? Why is it that the biology itself is not spiritual? Is it not possible that the virus itself can be a product of an all-encompassing being, whether that being is punishing us or teaching us a lesson?
Now, you can reject this thought immediately or actually think about it. You do not need to be religious at all, or even spiritual. But just for a minute, toy around with the idea. Don’t agree with creationism — I certainly don’t. Just think about the idea that even if something is scientifically proven, the science, the evolution, the chemistry, the biology — they themselves may be products of the gods.
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