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Switchfoot – Living Is Simple Lyrics 15 years ago
These are just my thoughts :)

"Living is simple
It's gravity
Gravity isn't so hard"

Gravity is a natural law. It keeps us from floating off to space. It also keeps us down. Literally, gravity isn't so hard because everyday we are affected by it, yet we don't notice until our Science class discussion of it. Gravity here, can also represent the moral laws that are imposed on us. It can also refer to the things we face that bring us down, make us fall, like Newton's apple. These laws and these problems kind of become too hard for us as we live life. But gravity makes life simple by keeping us from making wrong decisions (moral laws), and keeping us down-to-earth (in the form of adversity, problems).

"Living is simple
It's entropy, entropy
Falling apart
I'm falling apart again"

Entropy, in science, is a measure of the degree of disorder of a system. The higher the entropy, the more irreversible the system is, the more disorganized. Chaos, you may call it. Entropy is a simple truth of life. Just look at the world. It started out very simple, and now it's a labyrinth of relativism, of new technology, of diverse cultures and norms. The people are very much in a state of disorder, and it seems like this is irreversible. The system is falling apart. Even our bodies, as we get older, fall apart. It's complex to see all of these, but entropy is simple.

"Living is simple
And breathing is easy, it's easy to do
Living is simple
And losing is easy; I'm losing my cool
I'm losing my cool again"

Breathing is almost as simple as gravity. We don't notice but we breathe continuously. Losing is easy because the truth is, we don't make efforts to lose. Who would ever fight to lose? If you knew you'd lose, you wouldn't invest in something at all. Success or victory comes with difficulty. Looking at life, there are more losers than winners. Losing one's cool may mean how easier it is to lose your temper than practice patience, how easier it is to lose your sanity than keep it together. It's similar to entropy.

"All will be made well
Will be made well
Will be made well
Will be well"

This, I believe, is from Julian of Norwich. In the face of gravity, entropy, breathing, and losing, there's a hope that everything will be made well, that entropy and losing may turn out as good things after all, that we don't have to be weary of gravity and breathing.

"Is this fiction?
Is this fiction?
Hope has given himself to the worst"

Fiction is something not thought to be true. Something thought of as made up, unusual, odd. We are used to good things, like hope, being reserved for the good. The good things, like forgiveness and second chances, given to the worst of people is something unusual, odd, even irrational. So the question.

"Is this fiction or divine comedy?
Where the last of the last finish first"

Here, divine comedy may mean "God, are you kidding? How could the last of the last finish first?" How could someone so evil be forgiven and given hope, but someone who had lived right since childhood fall short?" Again, our notion of 'who strives the longest and who fights the hardest wins' is opposed. It's why grace defies the law and is above it.

"Living is dying
Your mercy, Your mercy is how I believe
Living is dying
I can't understand it
I'm down on my knees confessing my needs again"

This is my favorite part. Living is dying. To me it means that the only way to truly live is to die. It's not literally to die, like right now. It means choosing to give up our lives for something we can't lose even after we die. And what is that? Our souls (don't be scared). Another illustration of this is the requirement that a seed 'dies' when it is buried in the ground before it germinates and really produces life. God's mercy is this: He made a Way for us to die to the gravity and entropy of our lives, and to live again to 'real breathing', by means of losing. Embracing His grace through Christ, despite of all the mess and disorder in our lives, brings us real life. Our old selfish selves die, and we become new people. We are those at the end of the line in good deeds, but in His divine comedy called grace, we finish first. It's why grace is like life. It's both simple and complex. It's something we don't deserve but is given to us for free. The real funny thing is, most of us don't want it. We don't see how life (gravity, entropy, breathing, losing) can turn around with grace making things well. Personally, at times I don't understand it, but all I did was go down on my knees (literally) and confess that I'm in dire need of it. (I told you this is my favorite part).

"I've had my choices
I've chosen today
I've had my choices
Choices remain"

This is the simplicity of living. It's about the choices we make. We can't blame the stars, our parents, our neighbors, the government, and even nature, for the choices we make. Choices remain because our choices directly affect our lives. So it's down to how we choose to live our lives. Living is as simple as the choices we make.

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