Monday, March 5, 2012

Vice and Vice Versa

What's inside us  we so desperately crave
To understand, to know, to overcome?
What yearning deep within do we seek to
Silence, what meaning do we seek to grasp?
Does the concern, the misunderstanding, hate,
Anger, and mistrust we feel all come from
A, failure, to understand what which is?
Such was Plato's view, he thought it must be
That men were incapable of such acts,
That they must surely not know their own crimes;
Else how could they live with themselves? How quaint.
For his own pupil, Aristotle, said
Of men that they would surely have their fill
Of what was good in this life. For no choice
Made is done with regard to negative
Consequence; though there may very well be
Something to that effect in store for all
Who make a choice. Such is life for us all.
Two kinds of goods must then be recognized,
Two kinds of hopes, of dreams, of desire;
For choices made are made with such thoughts,
That they will satisfy some hidden will,
A craving for some good, or ill turned good
By the conditions of the one choosing.
And none but he, or she, may deign to know
The fullness of that choice, made in earnest,
Out of desire, desperation, or
Out of the kindness of his or her heart.
None save for the one above who knows all.

Such is philosophy. Now apply it,
If you will, to those that populate earth. 
Knowledge is not enough, for circumstance
Prevents a choice, suggests another, and
With all it's power pressures men and women
Into the straight and narrow path they take.
To understand man or woman's plight is,
What I have come to believe and still do,
A difficult trade that breaks a man's mind;
It requires more than knowledge of man;
Intuition, empathy, sympathy,
Everything that makes man a man must
Be at the interpreters disposal
In order to Judge his fellow man wrong.
Or men are but images of He, true. 
Slight of hand, tricks of the trade, we
Make show of what we know and then expect
Others to bow down to our knowledge
Regardless of their circumstance. Tell me,
Does force of any sort appeal man
That he should use it on his own kind so
Keenly as if he were the exception?
No man may claim exception to rules,
For if God imposes upon himself
Such restrictions as to prevent himself
From meddling in our free will, what then
Of us who impend upon others thoughts
When we seek to legislate binding truth,
Our ways, our beliefs, our truth, and our life
Upon theirs? Vice versa, in fear f this,
They will intern inter us with their own
Beliefs through the very same law. As such,
Like a see saw, each side shall take his turn,
And none shall see peace so long as the law
Is required to settle them. For God
Is one who seeks the well being of all
His children, and his law every binding
Cannot but be followed. But Caeser's law
Must appease those that do not believe God
Exists, in his mercy, in his wrath, in
All of his splendor and truth; they do not
Share our thoughts on the matter, our ill goods
They would say, though we know better. How quaint.

Do I know what is right from what is wrong?
Not by a long shot, but I do know that
When I rely on Caeser to fix things
I know I am delusional. He seeks
To Appease the world, and the world is full
Of all sorts of men and women. Their thoughts
As different as the Pacific ocean
Is from the Atlantic. And though there are
Ocean's that blend quite nicely, such as the
Indian and Pacific, these are few
And far between our point.  Man cannot force
His fellow man to hold his beliefs. Nor
May Caeser persecute another to
Appease the populace at large. Such times
Make me angry and violent; my mouth
A thin line, my hand holds a reed, my face
Contorted with rage, and all I can do,
All anyone can do for that matter,
is pray; and that is my conclusion folks.

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