Poetry – Give me wonder – a poem for ISIS and other fanatics.

Posted on by Opher

Give me wonder

I wrote this for ISIS and all religious fundamentalists.

I do not believe that life and joy can be spelt out in a doctrine. Life is sacred in a different way.

We do not have life and worship death. We have life to cavort in the wonder and majesty of a universe of marvel.

I do not believe in any joyless god who demands such mundane worship that it strangles the spirit. My sacred is in the sunset, the gorge, the mountain and tree – the things that raise the spirit and allow the mind to soar.

My wonder does not create hatred. It is not cruel. Neither does it make me virtuous or superior and reduce others to the level of worthless scum.

I want the ecstasy of now not the empty promise of some paradise.

I do not believe in paradise. Neither do I believe that any terror would open up those gates even if one did exist.

Those holy books of dead words betray life. They give the lie to all that lives and rob the world of majesty.

My holy is in life. My holy is real.

 

Give me wonder

Give me wonder –

I do not need your routine.

Do not break things down –

Build them up!

The sum is greater than the parts.

So fill me up

With discovery!

 

Celebrate!

Don’t drown me in hate

Or fill me, moribund,

With dead words

From days gone by.

Give me life;

Let me sing.

 

Fill my eyes with beauty,

Not tears.

I want to cuddle, not kill.

I want to live now,

Not in some fabled future.

Give me love.

 

Burn your books

And live.

They speak not of life but death.

They have no joy.

They reek of ritual

And are obscene.

Give me light

And breath

And hope.

I’ll live now!

I’ll live now!

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Opher 14.1.2016

32 thoughts on “Poetry – Give me wonder – a poem for ISIS and other fanatics.”

    1. Oh no – not just for ISIS – but not for people with faith or beliefs (I do not have a problem with people who have a spiritual belief of their own. It is when they are intolerant, hate-filled and wish to impose it on others that I have a problem). This poem is for the intolerant, hate-filled fundamntalists of all religions – those who believe they are the only ones who are right, who are filled with hatred and the wish to inflict their views on others. Those fanatics are evil whatever faith they believe in. No god, in my view, would demand hatred, violence, death or inflict some absurd dress code or ritual. That is all man made, contrived and absurd. That is about power.

      1. You are quite right, they are such hypocrites in claiming their beliefs. The God I believe in is so tolerant and has always been there for me whether it has been bad or not, I know he is there and I believe there is an afterlife if I did not I would dread Death but I don’t. I dread how death will happen but not the fact that there won’t be something better. Does all that make sense, I don’t always make sense (as you know), but filth like ISIS and many many faiths who use it to dictate to preach hatred, I understand you.

    1. Thank you for that. I do not advocate burning books usually. I merely had a vision of those fanatics realising that what they were putting their faith in had no validity and turning their back on it with some finality. They might symbolically burn their own books. The smoke might make more sense.

      1. Personally, I think they should read books instead. Because most of those people haven’t even understood their religion

  3. So question, oh wondrous guru… You said, “My holy is in life. My holy is real.” Why do people always assume all religion is devoid of that? Seems to me that’s EXACTLY what religion SHOULD be. After all, supposedly Jesus’ first miracle was to make wine for a party — LOTS of wine. And not the cheap stuff!!! 😉

    1. Perhaps it was just house plonk?
      I do believe that religion does produce that holy wonder for many, many people. It is a comfort, a boon and an inspiration. There is something in the human spirit that soars to the tune of wonder and awe and religion does that for many.
      But there is the other side of the coin. The indoctrination, power-madness and fanaticism. That is what I rail against. It produces this dogmatic madness of fundamentalism where people insist that their book is better than everyone elses, that every word is god’s word and has to be taken literally. Instead of being liberating and providing joy it becomes restricting, hate-filled and reductionary.
      Personal religion/belief is good – institutionised religion seems to be more about power, fear and control rather than awe, wonder and joy.

      1. The plain fact is, if it’s institutional, it isn’t true “religion.” I hate that word. Reminds me of republicans. People seem to forget that the religious lot is who Jesus railed against constantly. He didn’t like religious institutions, either.

      3. Well, he called them white-washed sepulchers. I expect that p*ssed some of them off. And he did kick their making-money-arses out of the temple. Guess he believed in the separation of church and state. I think he was more of a rebel than church folk give him credit for being. At least that’s the way he strikes me.

      4. Me too. Shame what they’ve done to him. If he was to come back now I wonder what he’d make of Christianity and I wonder what the establishment would make of him?

      7. I was walking down the street when the wind blew off my hat. A man was walking his dog. The dog grabbed my hat and started ripping it to bits.
        ‘Oi,’ I shouted to the dog’s owner. ‘Stop him.’
        ‘No,’ he said.
        ‘Why not,’ I asked.
        ‘Can’t be bothered,’ he said.
        ‘So that’s your attitude,’ I said angrily looking at the remains of my hat.
        ‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s your hat he chewed.’

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