Our Civilization’s Dark Age

The Earth is going through a dark age at the moment. Material possessions count more than a persons soul. Like children, humans are preoccupied with technological toys, which they believe will bring them riches and happinness. This shows the superficiality of human culture and a careless disregard for nature. In their greedy quest for more complex machines, humans are prepared to sacrifice almost anything – the natural environment, animals even other humans. The dreadful spectre of blowing up the world hardly makes humans falter in this headlong rush.

Natural Science

[1. Tide Pools]

When the ebbing tide retreats
Along the rocky shoreline
It leaves a trail of tidal pools
In a short-lived galaxy
Each microcosmic planet
A complete society
A simple kind of mirror
To reflect upon our own
All the busy little creatures
Chasing out their destinies
Living in their pools
They soon forget about the sea…

Wheels within wheels in a spiral array
A pattern so grand and complex
Time after time
We lose sight of the way
Our causes can’t see their effects

[2. Hyperspace]

A quantum leap forward
In time and in space
The universe learned to expand
The mess and the magic
Triumphant and tragic
A mechanized world out of hand
Computerized clinic
For superior cynics
Who dance to a synthetic band
In their own image
Their world is fashioned
No wonder they don’t understand

[3. Permanent Waves]

Science, like nature
Must also be tamed
With a view towards
Its preservation
Given the same
State of integrity
It will surely serve us well
Art as expression
Not as market campaigns
Will still capture our imaginations
Given the same
State of integrity
It will surely help us along
The most endangered species
The honest man
Will still survive annihilation
Forming a world
State of integrity
Sensitive, open and strong
Wave after wave will flow with the tide
And bury the world as it does
Tide after tide will flow and recede
Leaving life to go on as it was…

Lyrics: Neil Peart
Music: Rush
From the album:
Permanent Waves

Our Civilization’s Dark Age

The Earth is going through a dark age at the moment. Material possessions count more than a persons soul. Like children, humans are preoccupied with technological toys, which they believe will bring them riches and happinness. This shows the superficiality of human culture and a careless disregard for nature. In their greedy quest for more complex machines, humans are prepared to sacrifice almost anything – the natural environment, animals even other humans. The dreadful spectre of blowing up the world hardly makes humans falter in this headlong rush.