| David Bazan – Bearing Witness Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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Seems to be about a personal realization that God can not be a reality for him upon analysis of the world around. Some apprehension is again expressed ("I'm still tempted, I must admit"), but he seems to be saying that he simply cannot believe in God after seeing the world for what it is. He must confess his unbelief and "bear witness" to what he now sees to be true. Further, it seems to be a message to future generations (including his own children?) to be honest with themselves about it. Bazan's songwriting of late appears to provide a unique view of the crumbling of one's ideology. Social psychologists could study these words and learn something. If I may comment further, Bazan's loss of faith seems to be based upon a revision of his worldview. He appears to have developed a more realistic and thus more negative perspective (as we all do with age and experience). Theodicy is the name of the game. To balance his perspective, the words of Thomas Merton may help. Merton reminds us that the real phenomenon of interest is not that bad things happen to decent people, but that there are any decent people at all in such a bad world. That is the thing at which I have come to marvel. Of course, the New Atheists may chime in here with evolutionary explanations for altruistic behavior and with memes and such, but as a scientist (seriously) I think Dawkins, et al. make a lot of assumptions with little data. Unfortunately, some colleagues are not comfortable with abstract thought and feel a need to limit everything to the mechanics of the very finite space of the universe that we humans occupy. That is perfect for the things that exist within this space, but for those that purportedly do not we encounter deep problems when we try to apply those limits. I digress... |
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| David Bazan – The Stitches Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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The recipient of this letter, so to speak, is clearly God ("...full of questions about you" and "when Job asked you the question..."). It really sounds like it is about Bazan leaving God. There is this sort of bitter apprehension expressed in the lyrics "all this lethal drinking is to hopefully forget about you," and "the crew have killed the captain, but they still can hear his voice." I think it illustrates a truly painful end to a deep and committed relationship. Maybe this is all obvious, but I am moved enough by it (due to some personal experience) that I felt an urge to comment. |
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