Page 42 - Big Idea

The Big Idea – Act 2

The joker and the pessimist have found
Reason and reality out of joint;
One may laugh at life while the other frowns,
But I am certain they both miss the point.

The pessimist knows hope is illusion:
Symbols never fit the world from the first;
However, his need to believe remains,
So he consistently expects the worst.

The joker grants no merit to symbols,
As they can be made to self-contradict;
But, his need to talk being compulsive,
His behavior is easy to predict.

Both these types have gotten just a piece
Of the truth concerning the words they use;
But they haven’t managed to go further
To understand the meanings they confuse.

Examination of the parts of speech
As objects acting in substitution,
Reveals how limited in scope they are
And liable to misattribution.

Then nonsense and absolute sense appear
As human errors equally wasteful:
One exposing contradictions as droll,
The other hiding them as distasteful.

But nobody else here appreciates
All the freedom this analysis brings;
Language has become taken for granted,
Just one more part of some great scheme of things.

All I can do is hover on the edge
Of debates when they look like completing,
And point out illogic as it comes forth;
That is why I have come to this meeting.

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