The Either/Or War

It is in the air...

Can you feel it??

There’s a fight for meaning going on.

Two different belief systems going to war.

On one side,

We have the people that believe that this life has meaning.

And on the other side,

There stands those that believes life is meaningless.

It’s a war zone,

And it's been going on for thousands of years.

Kierkegaard drew a line in the sand for us,

With his ‘Either/Or’.

We stand on one side,

sometimes, unknowingly-

and that side influences how we see reality.

These nihilist slowly walk forward

Unflinching

Like zombies

And the arrows from the other side

Pass right through them

Their stride never hesitates

For if life is meaningless

Then so is their death

Or so they think

They aren’t really fighters

They just are

And

They aren’t

It’s a black and white world for them

No room for the light

No room for the mystical

They rage against the mystical

And with their dead eyes

They stare straight through to the other side.

And across that line

Stand the believers

With their war drums

And their chants

With their flags

And their faces painted

They rage against the ‘Either’

The army of the ‘Or’

They find the meaning in life itself

With every breath

They believe

They are proud fighters

The rational and the objective bullets

Don't phase them

They press on.

But sadly...

The line stays in the middle

But with every era

It moves an inch

One way

Or

The other

Only little battles are won,

In this war of all wars.

It’s the war over the soul

The war over life

The war over death

It’s the war for meaning

And for thinking

It’s the objective versus the mystical.

Do you know what side you stand on?

Like Kierkegaard declared

You cannot stand with one leg on either side

You either

believe this life is meaningless

That we are just animals

With no special importance

And when we die

We die

And that’s it

Or

You can believe that the mystical does exist

And our lives do have meaning

If you believe

In anything

Bigger than yourself

Then you stand on the side of the mystics

This isn’t a war fought with our guns and our bombs

But with our brains and souls

I think I'll try to move that line an inch

With the time I’ve been given

For

I cannot ignore this war

If I do

Then the fight will kick down my door

And I will be another pointless causality

Of the forever war.

-C.H.