Within the working room, I usually discover myself marveling—not simply on the complexity of the human physique, however at its intelligence. The best way tissues adapt, how cells talk, how the physique heals—all of it feels much less like equipment and extra like music. There’s rhythm. Responsiveness. A form of attunement.
That phrase—attunement—has turn into central to how I take into consideration not solely medication, however life, perception, and even the character of the universe itself.
As a surgeon, I’m skilled to depend on proof. However over time, I’ve turn into equally interested by questions that lie exterior the scope of the scalpel: What’s intelligence? What’s consciousness? Is there such a factor as God—and if that’s the case, the place does that concept slot in a contemporary, evolving world?
For me, intelligence isn’t restricted to IQ scores or neural complexity. I outline it merely as the power to vary conduct primarily based on the surroundings to attain a purpose. Beneath that definition, intelligence is all over the place. Not simply in people, however in animals, crops, ecosystems—and even perhaps within the universe itself.
The cosmos evolves. It adapts. It creates complexity, life, and self-awareness. That sounds quite a bit like intelligence to me. If that’s true, may we name the universe itself a form of residing intelligence? If that’s the case, which may be the closest definition of God I can settle for—not as a separate creator, however as an embedded, unfolding consciousness that we’re a part of.
Which means I’m not aside from this intelligence. I’m in it. Simply as a single cell belongs to a bigger organism, maybe my consciousness is a fraction of a larger entire. A wave in a cosmic ocean. A great cell within the physique of the universe.
This concept has sensible penalties.
If I’m half of a bigger residing system, then my accountability is to not management it or rise above it—however to be a wholesome a part of it. Identical to cells in a physique, people can contribute to the well-being of the entire—or they will turn into poisonous, hoarding assets, attacking their neighbors, forgetting the system that sustains them. We now have a reputation for that in medication: most cancers.
So I ask myself, not in a non secular sense, however in an moral, existential one: Am I being a superb cell?
Am I making the universe extra coherent, extra compassionate, extra adaptive by way of my actions? Or am I extracting, hoarding, inflaming?
Even perception methods, which declare to be mounted, are consistently adapting. Religions usually say their doctrines have by no means modified—however historical past exhibits in any other case. The Catholic Church as soon as banned interest-bearing loans, forbade engaged on the Sabbath, and handled same-sex love as unforgivable. These views have shifted. That’s not an indication of weak spot—it’s an indication of life.
What strikes me as odd is that non secular leaders hardly ever have fun this adaptability. They don’t say, “Look how properly we’ve advanced.” As a substitute, they insist nothing has modified. However every part alive modifications. This contains us—and the frameworks we use to grasp ourselves.
In music, being in tune doesn’t imply holding one be aware perpetually. It means adjusting in actual time—responding to context, concord, and circulation. A jazz musician doesn’t cling to the unique melody. They hear, they adapt. Their intelligence just isn’t in memorization, however in attunement.
Life is like that too.
Whether or not it’s a plant bending towards gentle, a surgeon adjusting to bleeding, or a perception system reshaping itself to replicate new truths, intelligence is at all times about responsiveness.
I’m not interested by creating a brand new dogma or metaphysical idea. I’m merely sharing the angle that’s helped me make sense of what I see within the OR, in nature, and within the deep quiet moments after I replicate.
We don’t want excellent solutions. We want sincere ones. Versatile ones. Residing ones.
I don’t declare to know the ultimate fact. I solely wish to keep in tune. To hear. To adapt. To serve the entire, not simply myself.
In that sense, I suppose my religious purpose is easy:
To be a superb cell.
Fateh Entabi is a surgeon.
