An epic philosophical progressive rock suite that explores the inadequacy of naturalistic origin narratives to provide a satisfactory explanation of the human experience.
lyrics
What is Man
[I. All the same to wind and flame]
I am told, smugly assured
Science has won, victory secured
Mysteries explained, no gaps remain
Where a "god" is required.
I am told, "Lay down your religion
No angels or devils, no holy restrictions;
Facts make imperative an end to the narrative
of Creation inspired."
Still, you fight wrong for right,
Quest for truth, demand the proof,
Seek for beauty, speak of duty,
So I do not understand:
What is Man
in your eyes that it makes any difference?
What is Man?
Truth or lies? death or continued existence?
What is Man?
To wind or flame these things are all but the same.
What is life? What is truth? What is Man?
All Love and joy, life's wonder and mystery?
"Just deterministic organic chemistry:
Corrupt information caused a random mutation
That helped an ancestor survive."
All consciousness, all sense of self?
"Electric impulses passed between cells"
Every human caught in the delusion
That we're truly alive.
Yet you despise shameless lies,
Demanding facts to the exact
Probing the expanses, hungry for answers
But tell me, tell me, to what end?
What is Man
in your eyes that it makes any difference?
What is Man?
Truth or lies? death or continued existence?
What is Man?
To wind or flame these things are all but the same.
What is life? What is truth? What is Man?
[II. Of clouds and words]
A hundred million miles away a helium atom splits
As do a trillion trillion others and each one of them emits a tiny
Photon, speeding out across the airless expanse
to strike the atmosphere and make its molecules dance.
And so the wind blows, and the seas vaporize
White shapes on the blue forming pictures in the skies
What do they mean? They don't mean anything at all.
A Photon strikes the retina and excites the optic nerve,
Sends a cascade through the cortex and throughout the whole webwork
And from the neurons to the muscles of the lungs and throat and mouth,
"Shape vibrations in the air", and so the words come pouring out.
And so the wind blows, for are they not one?
Merely complex transductions of the light of the sun?
What do they mean? Ha! They can't mean anything at all!
[III. Will and Meaning]
For meaning requires a will,
requires a choice, a but choice can never be
if I am but the sum of
all my atoms and my energy.
Particles that move obediantly to
unbendable scientific laws.
From the Big Bang in an unbroken chain
of determinate outcomes of cause.
If this be reality, then how can I ever hope to be
anything but exactly what I am?
Yet this is the task that we pursue unto the last
so I must ask; no, I must demand!
What is man? What is man?
[IV. Creature of Thought]
Take a step back now, have a solid look at mankind
You ain't never seen a creature that lived its life so much in its mind.
Philosophers and poets, artistic and heroic;
And all around the world, everybody's talking 'bout GOD.
A human ain't a body, a human is a creature of thought.
Talking good and evil, justice, truth, right and wrong.
Creating universes in storytelling, art, and song.
Historians and Futurists, pundits, priests, and humorists
You tell me it's just chemistry but I can surely see it is NOT.
A human ain't a body, a human is a creature of thought.
A song is more than sound, a book is more than paper and ink.
So is a man a brain, or is he all the thoughts that it thinks?
What part of our surviving is all of this contriving
'Cause in what you're describing, that's the only maker we've got?
A human ain't a body, a human is a creature of thought.
[V. Cosmic dust]
I cannot believe that we are just
Swirling eddies in the cosmic dust
That there's no intelligent design
behind a body driven by a mind.
Honestly, it seems like such a joke:
"A puddle of soup and a lucky lightning bolt"
Mysteries completely wrapped up in
Spans of time no mind can comprehend
Tell me, What is man? What is man? What is man?
[VI. Here I stand]
I am man. Here I stand:
My life is mine and not determinate
I am free, for I can see
Possibilities to actuate
I'm alive, but to survive
Is not the only driving force in me.
There is truth, it is not moot
It is the crux of our reality.
Can nature alone result in a being that can defy her?
I do believe it seems a Creator is required.
With the will, and the power, and the love and the desire
To be the Meaning to which all of us aspire.
To be free,
To be alive,
To have choice,
To choose right.
To have meaning,
To seek light,
To find truth,
To evidence the Creator's hand
This is Man
credits
released March 10, 2020
Alan D Moore: Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, cajon, cymbals, mixing.
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