Poem - Agnostic is the Only Reasonable Choice
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About
Agnostic as the Only Reasonable Choice / Love is Admitting you Don't Know Who Is Right on Religion
On the topic of religion,
why do we all insist we are right?
It's caused more hatred, war, death and bloodshed,
then any other reason men fight.
The answer to peace is simple,
it is love and acceptance of alternate belief.
But since we're too flawed to get there yet,
I have an answer to help alive some of that grief.
It's he only honest answer to the question:
"who runs this big show".
The best answer I can give,
is simply "I don't know".
Is it a white man with a white beard,
who once flooded the world?
It is a being with eight arms.
or maybe even a girl?
Is it a being called Allah,
Or a smiling bald man who loves to smile.
Is it a animal spirit or group of flawed sandal wearing immortals,
who live in the sky.
It any person knows actually know the answer,
as a one hundred percent proven and certain conclusion.
Without using the word "faith" or "because",
or without grand "I'm just right" delusion.
If you've met someone immortal,
and it wasn't just a dream or a vision.
I'll convert to your belief,
and give you my provision.
But for now I love those who answer:
"hey, I honestly don't know".
Because they alone are keeping their minds open,
they are willing to accept, live and grow.
If I was to present a colored chart,
of all the religions over time.
It would be a intricate tapestry of color,
like a smeared bar of fire.
Starting with pagans and numerous early religions,
based on a woman as mother earth.
All the way to modern religions,
scientology, mormonism and thousands you've never heard.
If I asked you to point to your religion correctly,
and say "everyone else on this chart is wrong from their moment of birth".
Well to this majority of people over time you just look arrogant,
And your conclusion seems quite absurd.
People who say "I am definitely right",
"join us or our rightful religion will condemn you in the end".
I don't have much time for them,
I won't even pretend.
People who say "there is no god",
"to believe in one is just stupidity".
Well I think that's arrogant and rude too,
and
I drew that conclusion based on research backed by PhDs.
We've mathematically shows dimensions,
that we can't actually see.
And on some level I do think,
there's an unseen energy between every being.
Is it an old white dude,
who look like Santa Clause in a robe?
Well I feel it's maybe unlikely,
but I don't honestly know.
Maybe we're a mere simulation,
Or experiment by intelligent mice,
Or simple four dimensional mold,
on the back of a six grain of rice.
We might not know we're being watched,
Any more than the bacteria in a dish can know their full narrative.
Since can't fully explain our consciousness,
it seems a miracle we even live.
For every fantastic miracle that happens,
there are a million billion fantastic outcomes that do not.
These miracles are a statistic certainty,
Luck is the main decider of what beliefs we've each got.
If your beliefs give you strength,
then more power to you!
But don't get all righteous on your friends,
Whatever you do.
We have far more in common,
than we have differences as human kind.
We breathe the same air,
we share the same earth.
we have the same feelings.
we all love.
we all want peace.
we all want acceptance for who we are.
If someone asks if there is a god.
and you don't know for sure.
Be human and just say:
"I don't know, but I've thought on it and I believe there may be something more".
I believe what I believe,
As a way to guide myself to becoming a better person.
And part of that endeavor is celebrating difference.
The only wrong way of being is narrow mindedness.
So I'm here to say that even if you worship a god of a different shape.
Or no god at all.
I know that I celebrate your belief.
I know that I love you.
-- by Andrew Noske
Inspiration
I wrote this poem in Dec 2019 while on a plane from Atlanta back to San Francisco. I was in Atlanta to visit an amazing girl, and I met some of her awesome friends. Spenser is a aerospace engineer - smart guy.... and although my PhD is something different, it was kind of fun we came to similar conclusions. Agnogist is the only way to go. He kind of inspired me to turn some of these thoughts into a poem to explain why we think that "I don't know"... although it sound flaky - is the most honest answer. I used to be purely atheist and anyone who said "I am right" sounded arrogant to me. Yet I was insisting that I was right, and that there is not god. So I was being arrogant too!
Seems like a very, very basic hypocrisy for me to miss. We're a very narcissistic species. We seem to believe that if we ever discover aliens they'll have arms and legs. In fact, I believe if we discover life it might be so different, and non-carbon based... we might not even recognize is. It is really a shock that the Greeks believed their gods looked like Greeks, and white people often think the true god is white. Who's to say this is wrong though?! When we pay a game of sims, we create people who look like... well us. Flawed like us. Probably even more flawed. We create beings in our image, but simpler. So maybe there is a god. Maybe one particular religion got it right... maybe the visions were real, maybe the ideologies and stores from their books are all real.
Or maybe there is no god, or maybe we can't even wrap our heads around what a superior being looks like, any more than ants in a ant farm don't understand that at any reason an angry little giant toddler might decide to shake what they know to be the entire planet and seal their fate without breaking a sweat.
This poem is definitely too long. I'd welcome any suggestions to make it shorter, because I know that sometimes what you don't say is more powerful that what you do say. I don't need to spell it out in great detail, but in this first draft I've spelt it out as clearly as I can. It's never weak to say "I don't know". In a world full of arrogant people who insist their way is the best way - I'm always drawn to people who are open minded and willing to hear and see the value in every bizarre crazy variation of belief.
