Thus I Wrote

I thought that we lived by God’s law,
Then Nietzsche said He was dead.
“We’ve been alone since the Big Bang”,
Stephen Hawking said.

Without a guiding supernatural law,
Man worked out how to survive.
He created his own morals and laws,
To control instinctual drives.

Indeed man may have invented God,
To enforce change and social control.
Societies use Him when He’s useful
But leave Him when He has no role

Man created a way to live,
Using virtue for co-operation.
Being good brings society acceptance,
Being bad brings isolation.

But good and bad are not universal,
They’re determined by what’s effective.
For the growth and the survival,
Of the individual and the collective.

Man is a calculating animal,
Judging punishment and reward.
He learns what’s effective,
For success in his own regard

Society hides the calculation,
It sounds too selfish and raw.
But balance is achieved in the collective,
Reciprocity is good for us all

So the collective knowledge of man,
Created by years of sacrifice and pain.
Is the true light of the world,
To ensure darkness never reigns.

It’s more than a brain full
What we experience as real
So we cut it up in pieces
And consume it piecemeal

We can lose sight of the wood
As we focus on a tree
So the head can be a prisoner
But the heart can still be free

Picasso painted the problem
Of looking from one side
His picture puts together
All the pieces as a guide

With reality taken piecemenal
Your destination may surprise
You’re blind to the whole picture
And blind driving is not advised

So we must be humble as individuals
And in the societies we create
We need to recognise our limitations
And have someone to question us in place

I saw a cat poised to fight
A singing bird in June
With total focus and muscles tight
His form and function in tune

He was living in each moment
A perfect, effective being
At one with the earth & firmament
At one with his role in his scene

As perfect… as a child’s love
As perfect …as the morning dew
As perfect …as the light above
As perfect… as the earth when new

He had no reason to worry
He had no reason to ask
He had no reason to be sorry
His meaning was in his task

They walk to a different beat,
They are feared & misunderstood,
They are lonely & brave.

They know the needs of the many
Outweigh the needs of the few…
So they give everything of themselves
As their parting gift,
Their only ticket to connect.

They are the light in the darkness
Seen best from a distance,
And shining unconciously as a guide
For the sheep on the road less travelled.

Life is a procession of choices –
Until eventually there are none.
But the best of us live life
….In every breath.

There is always tension –
Between meaning and survival –
Between we and I –
Between service and control.
Until we lose control completely –
As we return everything –
…..Alone.

Mankind is a procession of lives –
That spark for an unknown purpose –
And together create a fire
That lights the darkness
That we hope, serves something –
Greater than ourselves.

When I am in the light….
I hear the lark sing –
I see the dawn break –
I look in your eyes –
I forget the end –
I live –
In every breath….

But when I’m in darkness….
I run in circles –
Computing intellectually.
But nothing works –
Nothing turns the light on –
Or opens the door.
I am not wanted or needed –
Alone…
In the noise of the world.

Then I’m the prodigal son.
I’m lost and I wish to be found.
To reconnect and to serve –
To be needed and loved
To live again…
In every breath….