Having Shed Our Animal Skin, We Misperceive the Source of Our Molting

Buddha, Mohammad, Christ—then the mega congregations and their glad-handed ministers.

Newton, Darwin, Einstein—then the research teams and their assorted assistant Dawkins.

Beethoven, Van Gogh, Dostoyevsky—then the fine arts degrees and their preening workshop wonders.

Socrates, Thoreau, Kierkegaard—then the ivory towers and their assorted assistant Graylings.

The outcast, the misunderstood, the one nearly always standing apart—then the huddling, jostling crowds and their crashers to the front.

Whispers of autism—then humanity’s mass confusion.