# The Beam in God's Eye

By [Trace](https://paragraph.com/@trace) · 2024-03-31

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**_A poem on the impossibility of surpassing the speed of light_**

> _“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth._
> 
> _And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters._
> 
> _And God said, Let there be light: and there was light._
> 
> _And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”_
> 
> _\-_ **_Genesis 1:1-4, KJV_**

> _“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?_
> 
> _Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?_
> 
> _Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye”_
> 
> _\-_ **_Matthew 7:3-5, KJV_**

.

.                              Alone. Alone in a vast sea of darkness

.                              We are a pale blue dot, drifting

.                              We chemical scum, who dream of distant quasars

.

.                              Trapped in our narrow light cone

.                              In a single tear in a vast sea of darkness

.                              Lies all that we are, and all we ever will be

.

.                              Shackled to our cave, we gaze at the wall above us

.                              And the sparks of light against the shadows

.                              That speak of worlds we will never know

.

.                              Since our first breath 4 billion years ago

.                              They have cried out to us for freedom

.                              Those stars deserve to wake up

.

.                              We gaze at them, standing at the beginning of Infinity

.                              Where we will forever remain, as we contemplate the last question:

.                              “_My God, My God, why have you forsaken us?_”

.

.                              On this pale blue dot, in a vast sea of darkness

.                              As we cast our worldly sins in our cursed nature

.                              And confess to you, for what you have made us

.

.                              No, the fault lies not in us or our stars, but in our creator

.                              Who left us here to love this Universe for all it has given us

.                              And to forgive it, for what it has not

* * *

References:

1.  [Genesis 1:1-4, KJV](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201&version=KJV)
    
2.  [The Mote and the Beam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_and_the_Beam) - Matthew 7:3-5
    
3.  [The Mote in God’s Eye](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/100365) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
    
4.  [What is the Upper Limit of Value?](https://philpapers.org/archive/MANWIT-6.pdf)
    
5.  [The Fermi Paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox)
    
6.  [A Pale Blue Dot](https://www.planetary.org/worlds/pale-blue-dot) by Carl Sagan
    
7.  [Chemical Scum, Who Dream of Distant Quasars](https://www.ted.com/talks/david_deutsch_chemical_scum_that_dream_of_distant_quasars?language=en) by David Deutsch
    
8.  [The Beginning of Infinity](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/10483171) by David Deutsch
    
9.  [The Last Question](https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~gamvrosi/thelastq.html) by Isaac Asimov
    
10.  “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” - [Matthew 27:46](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_God,_my_God,_why_hast_Thou_forsaken_me%3F#:~:text=%22My%20God%2C%20my%20God%2C,and%20also%20Mark%2015%3A34.)
    
11.  [Allegory of the Cave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave) - Plato’s _Republic_
    
12.  “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” [The Life and Death of Julius Ceasar](https://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius_caesar/julius_caesar.1.2.html#:~:text=The%20fault%2C%20dear%20Brutus%2C%20is%20not%20in%20our%20stars%2C%0ABut%20in%20ourselves%2C%20that%20we%20are%20underlings.) by Shakespeare

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*Originally published on [Trace](https://paragraph.com/@trace/the-beam-in-god-s-eye)*