Eppur si muove
==============

* Daniel S Barron

*   Humanities
*   philosophy
*   theology
*   religious philosophies
*   poetry and prose
*   philosophy of science

> Should there be one view to govern us,
> 
> To bind all thinking things?
> 
> Does Science or God hold the torch,
> 
> Do we have academic or celestial kings?

> If science shows itself to be the way
> 
> How do we know we know at all?
> 
> Is knowledge precision born of chaos
> 
> Reality's sensorium-shaped spall?

> The thread that ties my premises
> 
> Is no thread at all I could protest
> 
> Simply proof that random perceptions and ideas
> 
> Can seem threaded at reason's request

> And just what is reason then my friend
> 
> If all is due to random chance
> 
> A chance itself most unreasonable
> 
> Based on uncertain facts you advance

> Uncertain because I know quite well
> 
> To know I must first buy into
> 
> The tools and theories and methods
> 
> That fodder what is ‘true’

> For no fact ever stands alone
> 
> All relies on knowledge past
> 
> Whether in measure or interpretation
> 
> Data fit the die that has been cast

> And God who are you to speak so strongly
> 
> I stab questions through your books
> 
> If to be saved men must think like you
> 
> You are naught but a crook

> For your thoughts surely are many
> 
> And legion the ways that you extol
> 
> You say all religions can't all be right
> 
> Is all then but fool's gold or coal?

> Your faithful think they have found the prize
> 
> And work to see your face
> 
> In fervent desire they honour your word
> 
> They proselyte, conquer, haze

> Warring on your other followers
> 
> With weapons of money, word and sword
> 
> Because these books you have given them
> 
> Each describe a different lord

> And thus humanity's cauldron simmers
> 
> With science and god to add spice
> 
> In this myth pistou of personalities
> 
> Truth seems judged by neuronal dice

> For perhaps each idea is justified
> 
> As judged by each man's mind
> 
> Perhaps the profession of, ‘I believe’.
> 
> Is all the truth that we can find

> And concepts of the absolute
> 
> Are naught but man-made things
> 
> Born of a lust for certainty
> 
> The natter of truth-mongering

> Alas, where can a heart like mine turn
> 
> To make sense of this place
> 
> Whether religion of science or of god
> 
> Both are built on boundless faith

> If freedom is found in belief's pursuit
> 
> Then I starve to be free
> 
> Yet faith shan't be freed from reason's grasp
> 
> And my reason comes only from me.

## Footnotes

*   Competing interests None to declare.

*   Provenance and peer review Not commisioned; not externally peer reviewed.