LYRICS


ENLIGHTENMENT IS DEAD
(written 2023/recorded 2024)
contains the last part of the second movement of the Wanderer Fantasy in C major (D760)
by Franz Schubert/1797-1828

---

this world has become
much too complex for us all
to tell truth from guile from gall

enlightenment is dead
when even a specialist
despairs of twist after twist

everything and nothing
can be true at the same time
and can turn false on a dime

in a world so opaque
search for truth turns out to be
entertaining clownery

our search for truth goes on and on
but does not get any better
one step forward and two steps back
one body blow after another

oh this is the age of the clowns
some of them searching for trueness
some of them just do the pomo
and invent elegant bullshit

truth or lie is merely
a question of your worldview
truth or lie is merely
a question of your worldview
and your own perceptions
and your own convictions

can you prove the non-existence
of something or the absence of
the non-existence of something
i have a stat for everything

or can you still follow every
ramification in all the
special fields up to the point when
everything boils down to beliefs
of some contradicting experts

this world has become
much too complex for us all
to tell truth from guile from gall

enlightenment is dead
when even a specialist
despairs of twist after twist

everything and nothing
can be true at the same time
and can turn false on a dime

in a world so opaque
search for truth turns out to be
entertaining clownery

these are the days of
glib relativism
you cannot prove or
disprove a thing
these are the days of
glib relativism
you can assert
everything you want
and this will be
the centre of your world

enlightenment
presupposes
that there is some truth
that can be found in
a rational way

in the absence of
canonical truth
enlightenment
does not make any
sense any more

common sense is merely
a question of one's bias
common sense is merely
a question of one's bias
cognitive biases
are murder on reason

this world has become
much too complex for us all
to tell truth from guile from gall

enlightenment is dead
when even a specialist
despairs of twist after twist

everything and nothing
can be true at the same time
and can turn false on a dime

in a world so opaque
search for truth turns out to be
entertaining clownery

hence you can't accuse
anyone of not using
one's cognitive faculties
to uncover the unique truth
because there are too many
truths each of which is just
arbitrary, arbitrary

truth or lie is merely
a question of perspective
truth or lie is merely
a question of perspective
and your own attitude
and your own position

---

BACK