Proverbs for the Real World

A wise man visits foreign shores

and foreign thought that he abhors.

So doing, he compounds his stores,

his wealth of life and love and thought.

His prejudice thus well untaught,

he then finds much of what he’s sought.

The wise esteem reality,

do not demand that it agree

with any one philosophy,

but rather set their own world view

to match true facts, from which accrue

vast riches which become their due.

But wisdom knows reality

holds truths that give no guarantee

of evidence that we can see.

Science is only one technique

for knowing some of what we seek.

Faith, as well, can survive critique.

The wise do not reject the claim

that some truths lie beyond the aim

of methods in the physics frame.

Denying what nobody proves

restricts your choice to mindless moves

along your own preprogrammed grooves.

Copyright ©2018, Paul H. Harder II

This poem is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 License.