Day 851, Reason, Faith, Love, and Hate
How is our reason overruled?
By these three things: faith, love, and hate,
By one or all, we may be fooled,
An all too common human trait.
Though reasoning may be well-schooled,
Some minds will simply slam the gate.
In some, the lessons learned have cooled;
Some students simply aren’t that great.
Religious faith, learned as a child,
Resides forever in the mind.
Contrary facts may be exiled;
Such early faith makes some eyes blind.
When fundamentally beguiled,
Thoughtful analysis may find
That reason can’t be reconciled
With those beliefs which were divined.
Next, love, not easy to define,
(It often gets confused with lust.)
Sometimes with candlelight and wine,
Our sexual passions may combust.
We all know reason may resign
With hormones flowing, so robust.
So we ignore a red stop sign,
And careful reasoning goes bust.
We all know hate may interfere
With many functions of the brain.
When hate is being stoked by fear,
To try to reason is in vain.
Dictators may start their career
By using a hate-filled campaign.
The hate that makes mobs hoot and jeer
Just flushes reason down the drain.
When reason works with faith and love,
We see when reading history,
All three have helped us rise above
What just emotion might decree.
When hate and fear go hand in glove,
We’re left with just piles of debris,
Debris that’s just the wreckage of
Our ancient tribal rivalry.
Emotions like faith and love and hate,
These ancient human properties,
If reason does not integrate,
It may result in a disease.
Did evolution activate
Our reasoning by small degrees?
Some let emotions govern fate.
But, what if reason disagrees?