Page 66 - The Irony Board

Into the World

Explainers
Of order
Must account
For themselves
Within it;

Which explains
Why they just
Give accounts
Of themselves
Without it.

A common thread runs through grand theories of human history
and cosmic destiny; pulling on it unravels them. This fatal flaw has
been identified in our era as the paradox of self-reference: how can
the seer see without seeing himself? The irrationalities of human
nature re-assert themselves in world-views otherwise logically
constructed, spoiling the final picture. Theological designs (of which
more later) are certainly imbued with anthropocentric, ethnocentric,
and egocentric distortions; but the same criticism applies to
universal ideologies of a purely political or psychological character.
The epigram is a word shuffle, using “account” and “explain” as
both verbs and nouns. “Order” appears three times, the last two as
pronouns in the final twist lines of each stanza. I have intentionally
placed this piece between Freud and Marx; it applies to them both.
Read on.

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