The Contradictory Man

Duration

3:51

Genres

Spoken Word/Perf. Poetry

Description

Lyrics

Picturesque rolling hills and pastures stretch out in all directions. Tucked away within these hills is a small, simple house with a garden... and in that garden kneels an elderly man, pressing down the earth at the base of a recently planted sapling. An apple tree that most likely will not flourish until his time has passed. A few feet away, standing at the fence is another man... a passerby engaged in conversation. He is the first of many in a long line of 99 intellectuals... one for each volume of the elderly man's work. Man: Good afternoon sir. Voltaire: Where have you come from? Man: From Mr. Haller's house. Voltaire: He is a great man, a great poet, a great naturalist, a great philosopher, almost a universal genius. Man: What you say, sir, is the more admirable, as Mr. Haller does not do you the same justice. Voltaire: Ah... perhaps we are both mistaken. The man walks on, a smile on his face as he considers the witty exchange. The next man steps forward. Man #2: Why do you continue to work in the garden at your age? Voltaire: Nature has always had more force than education. Not to be occupied, and not to exist, amount to the same thing. Man #2: And all these people... you answer every inquiry without prejudice. Voltaire: Prejudices are what fools use for reason. Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. Satisfied, the man moves on. A priest steps to the fence. Priest: Kind sir... I look for guidance, for I am suspect of the church's true motivations. Voltaire: Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. In all nations, history is disfigured by fable, till at last philosophy comes to enlighten man; and when it does finally arrive in the midst of this darkness, it finds the human mind so blinded by centuries of error, that it can hardly undeceive it; it finds ceremonies, facts and monuments, heaped up to prove lies. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. History proves that anything can be proved by history. But, it is to him who masters our mind by the force of truth, and not to those who enslave us by violence, that we owe our reverence. The priest looks disheartened... he has more questions but knows he must be content with what he's been given. The priest moves on. The elderly man looks up at the parade of people still patiently waiting. Always 99. Voltaire: Once a nation begins to think, it is impossible to stop it.