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Do As You're Told

Now listen to this very closely,
And follow my lips to the T.
You're possessors of free will (well, mostly)
But be certain to listen to ME.

Have I found your switch? May I work it?
Was that a wee flash in your pan?
Was that a quick surge in your circuit?
I am God. Let me you sell you this plan.

You have to bow down, do devotions,
And memorise hundreds of laws.
It's no use to go through the motions:
I'm the expert whom no-one ignores.

Please. Think of me as an adviser,
Shuffling some paltry amount:
Investing your cash (but no miser),
And wise to your current account.

The monkeys and lions won't hear me,
And nor will the flatfish or fleas –
But you come to light when you're near me.
I'm God. Best get down on your knees.

If I give you my promise, don't quarrel:
Just swell all my coffers with cash.
What, religion? Of course it is moral.
Here are my rules. Don't be rash.

Click here for the Times story about doing what you're told.

Click here for the Times story about the 'God spot' in human brains.

Read Bill's daily 'Bill Posters' blog by clicking here

Do As You're Told
According to no less a person than Gregory Berns, Professor of Neuro-economics and Psychiatry at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, we are more liable to do what we're told if the person giving advice says they're an expert. Meanwhile, Professor Jordan Grafman of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland has found that specific bits of brain light up when aspects of God are mentioned – bits that animals don't have.
April 1 2009

POETRY KIT WEBRING

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