OMGCD

This is such an incredible song. It's a source of faith for those who have lost faith in everything. It's a thoroughly agnostic hymnal, and a perfect follow-up to the song Charlie Darwin, where the subject is (among other things) the realization that the world isn't guided by any greater good, that no caring creator crafted our forms for any discernible higher purpose. Charles Darwin, originally a devout man, underwent this realization through a process of research and reason, and ultimately he came out the other end with a new wonder for life in all its myriad forms and a humanist optimism that others adrift in a sea of disillusionment can cling to.

So we don't know anything about any heaven or hell or afterlife, and we can search forever but we'll be deluded if we ever think we've found an answer. But we're alive now, so the best we can do is focus on making our world better in any way we can. Just keep focused on holding the line. And though it's terrifying to think of, we will all die, just as Darwin did, and more than likely there will be nothing left of us, except for the good we did in life. It's sad that we die, but we're alive now and we can make a legacy in this world that will far out live us or even the memory of us.

Stepping out of the warm embrace of religion can be traumatic. Some of us do so gladly, but others of us are painfully pried loose when we can no longer ignore the contrary evidence that abounds everywhere we look in the world. Or we may not even realize what religion or faith in a higher power meant for us, until the morning we wake up and can't piece together any rational argument for getting out of bed, or going to work, or stepping outside to face in an inherently purposeless world.

Whatever may be the case, for an agnostic or atheist coming to grips with a godless existence, this song offers an option for faith in one thing we know exists, and that is life--our own, while it lasts, and everyone else's, while they last.