[hippee-lee]

I don't know a Clojure. Why should knowing understanding one language imply that you automagically know another? If you know Spanish, Portuguese May look familiar but it won't be exactly the same. Does that mean you should understand Korean or Japanese?

From the little bits of dabbling with various lisps in have done a functional language is different enough from my bill paying regular languages (JS, php, Java) that without a focused study on a project that hits several layers of a typical stack, I fully expect the language to be foreign to me. Until I know the 350 core language operations by heart I'll not be able to play with them. If I cannot play I'll never be able explore the language and use and misuse it until I can make it do what I want it to do.

So the fact that it looks encrypted to you is a good thing. It's a code waiting for you to break it. It's a problem waiting. A small group of extremely intelligent people are responsible for the family of lisps. That tells me that if/when I do dedicate the time and effort to understanding the lisp tools it will be worth the effort.