More so than many of their newer song this song seems to have generated alot discussion. I think Mr. Peart would be happier about that than anything else. Having heard the song, seen it perofrmed live, and read and reread the lyrics I don't agree with many of you who see this as a religous attack or an abandonment of spirituality. It is only an attack on dogmatism. Some organized faiths are very dogmatic and in some ways this can stymie independent thinking. I was raised amid such dogmatism and vividly remember the penalties and recriminations for daring to think for myself I will give an example.
I was told a particular version of The Book of Genesis that included the following quote: "...And you shall be called woman because I have taken you from the womb of man." This was in reference to the creation of Eve. I was also told that the this was the very word of God and infallible truth as were all the words in the Bible. At a mere ten years old I dared to ask if the passage quoted above made sense in any other language beside English. Do the words for "Womb" and "man" combine phonetically in other languages to form a word meaning "woman." I already knew that in Spanish and Latin they did not. When asked why I posed the question I answered honestly. English wasn't formed as language until the middle ages. This word of God was the ancient text of more than 3,000 years. Why would such a sentence have been in the bible if didn't make linguistic sense when it was written? Why would it only work in one not-yet-existing language? It seemed to me that the sentence was added after English was formed and therefore so too might other passages. Which ones were original and which ones were "updates"?
Well, rather than rewarding my logic and insight and/or offering me an explanation that would satisfy the question, I was instead punished for bringing it up. Knuckles beaten , stand in the corner, don't pollute the other children type stuff. Such is the fear of exposure that dogma creates. You see once you say that something temporal must be true because our very faith depends upon it being so, it is highly disruptive when that thing you said must be true isn't. (See Galileo, See Copernicus).
My point is this. Religion is a good thing until handcuffs you. Any religious person should embrace our ability as humans to continue to evaluate and observe the universe in which we reside and form new truths as they are revealed to us. If God exists then he or she gave us brains to solve problems, make medicines, and help each other. He or she would not want you to close your mind on his or her behalf. Those who would chose to believe that faith and science are enemies have failed at both. clinging dogmatically to one or the other keeps you from reaching your potential intellectually and spiritually. For further advice from Mr. Peart himself I recommend a thorough listening of the complete song "Hemispheres". Mr. Peart is not faithless, he just refuses to be willfully blind on its behalf.
Finally, please don't think that just because someone writes something that they are promoting it as a position. Poe often wrote in the first person from the perspective of a maniacal killer. No one I can think of has yet to suggest that he was proponent of actual murder. Sometimes writers write just to get the rest of us to think. Perhaps Mr. Peart has succeeded at doing just that.
More so than many of their newer song this song seems to have generated alot discussion. I think Mr. Peart would be happier about that than anything else. Having heard the song, seen it perofrmed live, and read and reread the lyrics I don't agree with many of you who see this as a religous attack or an abandonment of spirituality. It is only an attack on dogmatism. Some organized faiths are very dogmatic and in some ways this can stymie independent thinking. I was raised amid such dogmatism and vividly remember the penalties and recriminations for daring to think for myself I will give an example. I was told a particular version of The Book of Genesis that included the following quote: "...And you shall be called woman because I have taken you from the womb of man." This was in reference to the creation of Eve. I was also told that the this was the very word of God and infallible truth as were all the words in the Bible. At a mere ten years old I dared to ask if the passage quoted above made sense in any other language beside English. Do the words for "Womb" and "man" combine phonetically in other languages to form a word meaning "woman." I already knew that in Spanish and Latin they did not. When asked why I posed the question I answered honestly. English wasn't formed as language until the middle ages. This word of God was the ancient text of more than 3,000 years. Why would such a sentence have been in the bible if didn't make linguistic sense when it was written? Why would it only work in one not-yet-existing language? It seemed to me that the sentence was added after English was formed and therefore so too might other passages. Which ones were original and which ones were "updates"? Well, rather than rewarding my logic and insight and/or offering me an explanation that would satisfy the question, I was instead punished for bringing it up. Knuckles beaten , stand in the corner, don't pollute the other children type stuff. Such is the fear of exposure that dogma creates. You see once you say that something temporal must be true because our very faith depends upon it being so, it is highly disruptive when that thing you said must be true isn't. (See Galileo, See Copernicus). My point is this. Religion is a good thing until handcuffs you. Any religious person should embrace our ability as humans to continue to evaluate and observe the universe in which we reside and form new truths as they are revealed to us. If God exists then he or she gave us brains to solve problems, make medicines, and help each other. He or she would not want you to close your mind on his or her behalf. Those who would chose to believe that faith and science are enemies have failed at both. clinging dogmatically to one or the other keeps you from reaching your potential intellectually and spiritually. For further advice from Mr. Peart himself I recommend a thorough listening of the complete song "Hemispheres". Mr. Peart is not faithless, he just refuses to be willfully blind on its behalf. Finally, please don't think that just because someone writes something that they are promoting it as a position. Poe often wrote in the first person from the perspective of a maniacal killer. No one I can think of has yet to suggest that he was proponent of actual murder. Sometimes writers write just to get the rest of us to think. Perhaps Mr. Peart has succeeded at doing just that.