Science & Faith

This song is a portrayal of an argument between the rationalist, logical and scientific thinker with a more spiritual thinker, who is often referred to as 'her,' indicating the likelihood that this person is the singer's lover. The rationalist confesses that he enjoyed 'pulling apart her theories,' by stating that calling love an illusion was all 'for my own amusement.' He almost enjoys watching his lover's ideas becoming nullified and she seems to concede to many of his points as she 'grows weary.' But with what seems as a last throw of the dice she makes a more personal statement and says that reducing everything to chemicals and physical laws will not necessarily lead to happiness. She draws upon four points: first, she claims faith and hope cannot be found by simply looking at the laws of nature, here implied by 'down a telescope.' The effect of this is clear on the singer and the reason for this is that within his lover's claim it is first implied that faith and hope are irrespective of scientific discovery as they are not tangeable concepts. Indeed, faith is belief without evidence by definition. When the term faith is used it is likely to have been referring to a god, as the more spiritual thinker in this interchange is likely to be a believer in god, while the scientific thinker does not believe in ideas without them being backed up by evidence. The singer's lover adds in the idea that without faith (with the implication being faith in a god) there is no hope. Hope in this sense is possibly used to mean hope in an afterlife or reward for having lived a good life. By saying this she raises the question 'if there is no god, why do we bother?' The last straw which makes the singer crumble is the idea that if everything is simply chemicals and laws of physics, how does he 'explain this love' between them. She plays upon his emotions as he feels as though his scientific explanations are not adequate enough to explain their love.

Just a disclaimer: I am merely trying to portray the views of the two parties, mainly the woman, in this song. I disagree with the woman on many levels because as it happens I do find faith and hope in the beauty of science and I also find heart and soul in the wonders that are the stars. Also, it is actually possible to break love down to chemicals, but why does that make it any less special? Regards.