Page 41 - Big Idea

The Big Idea – Act 2

The effects of this tragic hypnosis
Manifest in multifarious ways:
From those whose belief is nonexistent,
To those who seize upon some passing craze,

To others involved in locking their minds
In some ultimate holy construction,
Riddled with errors and gross illogic
But promising escape from destruction.

Those who seek power and those who refrain;
Those who fear dying and those who crave death;
Those who find justice and those who lose faith:
None of them know they’ve been wasting their breath.

In our expressions of joy and sorrow,
Perhaps we differ from other creatures:
But those are just animal emotions
One often sees upon a dog’s features.

No, the hallmark of humanity lies
In our strange ability to abstract
A general rule from experience,
Which in the mind becomes as real as fact.

And there begins the story of mankind:
Cycles of belief and expectation
Followed by disillusionment and pain,
Fueled by the flaws in our cerebration.

Wisdom consists in applying knowledge.
This truth can even be observed in birds:
The sparrow flees from every shadow;
It wisely fears hawks but doesn’t need words.

But give that sparrow the mind of a man,
And it would forestall the predator’s wrath
By refusing to go out in the light.
Why? Because no shadow could cross its path.

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