The Reductionist’s Lament

 September 3, 2019

Have I become so dull, that I cannot delight in the mystery?

Have I become a vacuum, releasing neither light nor love?

Have I become so deaf as to no longer weep from the flute or lyre? 

The earth can be reduced to atoms and quarks, but can the suffering soul?

Can one who only sees revolving gears, speak of time and eternity?

If love is only a biological device, why should one die for it?

If nature does not share its song, of what value are the swaying trees?

If I am not humbled by the stars, have I not gone mad?

In my search for understanding have not the words drowned the meaning of their union?

If the horizon beyond beckons me not, of what use is my exploration? 

If I cannot hear the question, have not my thoughts become stale?

Indeed it has been said, “an answer is always a form of death.”