The Agnostic

the agnostic is neither

a watered-down atheist

or a sexed-up theist

 

the person is likely

the most honest

theologian to tread

the earthen surface

neither really conforming

toward or succumbing to

the whims or religion

or irreligion

 

the agnostic really does

exist in a place of neutrality,

a middle excluded and sadly

neglected by the positional extremes

 

the acceptance of ignorance

about the external is truth

 

the absolute truth in fact

 

competing claims of

absolute knowledge

and dust-ups over

definitions about

the pro and the con

show the falsity of

either side's position

 

and so the agnostic

is relegated to the

of fence-sitter,

lukewarm bathwater

in need of drainage,

but that's the price

for honesty, which is

a form of hubris

in and of itself

 

either way, we are all

agnostics unitl the

mortal coil is shuffled

loose from us

Reviews

[Robin]

You know what you know , I know what I know ... wisdom is in the unlearning

[Kenneth The Poet]

That is so true, Robin. Thank you.

[Michael Kevin Spencer]

You are perhaps my favorite philosophical poet on here and this is right up my alley. It was sculpted by contemplation and that to me, is what true verse is all about.

I wonder though if the agnostic isn't just sometimes spiritually apathetic? In much the same way that we are politically apathetic in an age where democracy is corrupt and religion is too.

It is difficult to believe in beliefs, when all of human society seems a very fictive thing/ evidence our belief in imaginary money...the supposed new God of our materialism - fictive and fragile, much to our incomprehension.

[Kenneth The Poet]

I think you hit it on the head. I think humans have either neglected the spirituality they once had in favor of materalism, or they are materialists that cannot understand anything that is spiritual. They are many humans that practice religion in a day and age where the existence of a God could be prove correct or incorrect. I wrote from a fictive perspective on this, the one where agnosticism is it own perspective free of conflict from both theism and atheism. Thank you as always, Michael.

[TLK]

The agnostic is a confusing thing. An agnostic can be a very committed theist, who believes in faith as proof of God, while accepting that this is not proof. I recall that Kierkegaard coined, or at least popularised, the term 'leap of faith'. This blind belief in God is clearly a true sign that you have given yourself over to Him.

However, I would assume that most agnostics are atheists. And being agnostic makes them almost wholly incapable of adopting fundamentalist/evangelical atheism. The problem with this kind of atheist is that they somehow assume that atheism, being a lack/renunciation of spiritual belief, cannot be anything like a religion, and therefore cannot be as hectoring and demanding. Yet atheism involves an unprovable ideology to do with religious and spiritual positions, so of course it can adopt the forms of fundamentalism and evangelism.

It is clear that, in the modern world, ideology is the one thing that everyone has but does not wish to admit.

I am an agnostic first, and atheist second.



In terms of this poem, I found the last stanza had the most impact; but I also very much enjoyed the metaphor of 'lukewarm bathwater / in need of drainage'.

[Kenneth The Poet]

I am quite familiar with the debate of agnosticism vs atheism vs theism. It's a knowledge-belief dichotomy. I have many books on my shelf that are atheistic in nature so I have read about this very conflict. I was writing about the agnostic from the fictional perspective I guess, the one that suggests that agnosticism is its own perspective because our knowledge and experience of absolute externalities (read god and afterlife) is zero until we depart from life. Thank as always, TLK.

[.]

~ superbly written, monsieur kenneth... philosophically speaking, i have a slightly different perspective... but i cannot deny that this was an extremely compelling read... your take on honesty and hubris is particularly thought-provoking...

[Kenneth The Poet]

Thank you, serah. I am glad for that.

[.]

~ you're very welcome, monsieur kenneth...