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?