You could become a Mentat
like Thurfir Hawat of Dune
or you could use an Heir Conditioner
and drive your kid to the moon.
So many Enlightenment thinkers
use reason in absurd ways-
you'd think they'd rationalize their stupidity
but no, Reason is our god.
Notre Dame became the Temple of Reason
and the guillotine Enlightenment's champion.
Absolute reason is absolute folly
it kills the soul.
Too often we find
our reason rationalizes evil
into good:
The white room theory-
we're all good in the beginning;
but those who were confined
went absolutely crazy.
Conditioned to the point of insanity
I balance on the edge of reason:
No! I will not stop
and consider the consequences!!
Devoid of a desire
to figure out the answer
I plunge into Hell
and let reason take the consequences.
Author notes
OK, this is more of hte opposite take, what happens when there's too much reason in one's life. The Mentats of 'Dune', the Heir Conditioner, the French Revolution, and my sock drawer are all examples of reason gone too far.
A contest entry
- Tricky: Reason by bgoub.
520 points, ended February 15, 2007, 8 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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Very interesting, very well penned. Well done for taking the opposite view so well. I find that pure and true reason can never lead to cruelty, as it must always advocate the action which causes the least harm to the least amount of people (a negative way of looking at it, but the important thing is prevention of harm rather than the allowance of pleasure I think). However, what you have here is a very good write about how reason can blind you to realities, and can lead to very unreasonable results (like the French Revolution). Is this however, the fault of reason or human error, as humans are very definitely imperfectly rationaol beings?
Thankyou for this, it promotes thought and is thus far one of the most enjoyable reads I've had. Good luck,
All the best,
Ed
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correct, human are imperfect rational creatures, but doesn't that make our logic flawed and twisted for our own ends? I'm sure Hitler justified his Holocaust with reason, but that doesn't justify the Holocaust, does it? I think that we agree, but I think reason can only get us so far. The Enlightenment proves that: the Heir Conditioner(really, these do exist!!
) was a perfectly logical step in raising a perfect child. But all the survivors of the Conditioner went plumb crazy. So I think that love and emotion are elements rason does not have that are essential to leading a fulfilled life. Thanx for your comment!
~Chibi
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