The Domestication of Suffering

Emile-Edouard Mouchy, Vivisection of a dog (1832). Wellcome Library, London.

Cogito, ergo sum / I think, therefore I am.—René Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637)

Patior, ergo sum / I suffer—hence, I am,

the soft answer to the "hard problem,"

so-called, of sapients' consciousness,

vivisecting dogs, Descartes missed,

shutting his ears to howls of agony—

himself a blindfold hurter, see?

He tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,

Isaiah opines. Well, ditto, evolution can!

It’s not as bad as you suppose,

and plainer than a pikestaff's nose:

Our reasoning will never turn

to answers we don’t wish to learn!

Domesticating dogs and wheat,

we cozened, too, wild suffering’s suite.

Torment today's of a higher grade,

sold in barrels—refined—well-paid.

So if you fill up at the source

remember, Mother has recourse.

Thus it was always meant to be:

“Think universal GDP.”

Shakyamuni knew that well,

as do other saints of stars 'round hell.

“It goes to feed the moon,” said Mr. G.

Smart-ass kidder he loved to be—

Still, in the salience of his joke

there’s more, I fear, than mirror smoke.

Saturday, March 21, 2026