It was Darwin’s birthday this week, and I should have thought to post this on the day. Not to worry. Here’s a wee bit edification for you from C.S. Lewis. (No, he isn’t talked about the Tax-the-Future bill on the verge of becoming law when he says, “Lead us nobody knows where,” though it would apply.)<\/p>\n
Lead us, Evolution, lead us
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Up the future’s endless stair;
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Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us.
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For stagnation is despair:
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Groping, guessing, yet progressing,
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Lead us nobody knows where.<\/p>\n
Wrong or justice, joy or sorrow,
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In the present what are they
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while there’s always jam-tomorrow,
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While we tread the onward way?
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Never knowing where we’re going,
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We can never go astray. <\/p>\n
To whatever variation
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Our posterity may turn
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Hairy, squashy, or crustacean,
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Bulbous-eyed or square of stern,
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Tusked or toothless, mild or ruthless,
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Towards that unknown god we yearn.<\/p>\n
Ask not if it’s god or devil,
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Brethren, lest your words imply
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Static norms of good and evil
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(As in Plato) throned on high;
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Such scholastic, inelastic,
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Abstract yardsticks we deny.<\/p>\n
Far too long have sages vainly
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Glossed great Nature’s simple text;
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He who runs can read it plainly,
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‘Goodness = what comes next.’
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By evolving, Life is solving
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All the questions we perplexed.<\/p>\n
Oh then! Value means survival-
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Value. If our progeny
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Spreads and spawns and licks each rival,
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That will prove its deity
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(Far from pleasant, by our present,
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Standards, though it may well be). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was Darwin’s birthday this week, and I should have thought to post this on the day. Not to worry. Here’s a wee bit edification for you from C.S. Lewis. (No, he isn’t talked about the Tax-the-Future bill on the verge of becoming law when he says, “Lead us nobody knows where,” though it would … Continue reading Lead us, Evolution, Nobody Knows Where<\/span>