Papal Orders

One man spends his life

believing

what everyone says

to believe:

round earth,

evolution from apes,

the earth is four-and-a-half billion years old,

the solar system is heliocentric, 

and on and on and on.

Then there is a second man

who spends his life

raging back:

hollow earth,

ancient astronaut alien breeding experiment,

the earth is ten billion years old and

the moon is a fragment of a long-destroyed super planet.

Both men believe what they believe,

and both men believe the other to be a fool.

Neither knows if he’s right,

neither knows if he’s wrong.

Neither man has a clue

and both might be called crazy at some point in their lives.

Crazy enough to believe.

Crazy enough to disbelieve.

Crazy enough to let it all out.

And believing is a funny thing

because these things can switch

around in a blink.

There was a time when

the earth was the centre of it all.

Belief can land you in hot water,

can burn your soles,

can turn you from a laughingstock to a king.

It’s also a funny thing

to think about 

how a life spent

holding on

to something with everything you've got can come

crashing down

with the slightest change.

What happens when confronted with a new truth?
What happens when life’s belief becomes falsehood?

What happens when it all collapses?

Is there a safety net for a crisis of faith?