Poem: Colourblind

My page could very easily become crowded with my own work, so I will try to avoid this. However, this poem was one I would like to share with you. It is my work from 2018 that was published last year in Western Australia's Primo Lux catalogue - which is designed for upper high school students.

For those who might misinterpret, it is essentially a poem about absolute truth. We live in a world of subjective truth or relative truth. This is essentially where your truth is yours and my truth is mine. But all of it is truth. Of course, when put into words, it sounds ridiculous. But post-modernism - the age of relative truth - has allowed this to become a temptation for all of us.

As preached by the media, we must be tolerant of people's beliefs. But notice that this only applies when it is what the world wants to hear. For instance, Christians preaching on the streets have "too much of an agenda", but LGBT parades are a "celebration of love". And all must accept it. And this poem is not against active LGBT people, or against atheists, or pro-choice mothers, who, in my opinion and according to God's word, are doing or believing the wrong thing. It is against the idea that we can hold to multiple "truths". But humans are allowed to have opinions, and whilst we should not be violently intolerant, we should not have to accept other people's beliefs and believe them ourselves.

"Colourblind"

"How do I know when green, I see green, they see green and so forth?

To describe could not be through melody,

Nor taste, nor olfactory - for what

Could encounter such an inanimate sight

And call it a colour

When it could be red to one

And green, truly, to none?

The colourblind can neither see red

Nor green, and thus a spectrum is

Available to all, but a few

We know, and so we turn not a

Blind eye to grass or trees

That everyone sees

So why do some?

Might truth run rampant when it

Breaks loose - might it be visible to

The smallest of minds who choose

Their colour and call it real

When really everyone has chosen?

How do I know I see green, they see green, when everyone has chosen what they have seen?"

An analysis (of my own work)

If you would like a more literal interpretation of this poem it is this. Green is the truth, it is what the "colourblind" - those affected by post-modernist thinking - will easily perceive as something different. And the "colour" they see will be based on their own perspectives. In literary theory, it is quite common to exult the reader and their perspective over the author. If truth is truth, our perspectives have nothing to do with it. Truth is an objective fact.

And to perceive truth is not always common. Especially biblical truth. God's word can be perceived, his salvation plan understood, when the Holy Spirit enlightens us. I think that the truths of God's world and his plan are the "spectrum [that] is/ available to all, but a few". And for those who have been enlightened by the power of his Holy Spirit, we will see truths from the right perspective: from God's perspective. And I suppose from a Christian standpoint, a Biblical worldview will always be true, because it will always be based on God's words in the Bible - words from a God who never lies.

The first three stanzas are simply explaining the idea that colour, in general, is kinda hard to describe. From childhood, I have always wondered if the way that I see blue, is the same blue everyone else sees. Perhaps this can be proven, but I never knew if it could be. I suppose if all our eyeballs are the same, then maybe. But the same goes with "taste" or "olfactory" - the way I taste sour or sweet is probably the same to most people, but it might not be. Essentially I wanted the first three stanzas to introduce this kind of idea. But they also demonstrate my understanding of how people might get lost amongst the various interpretations in this world. How can we know which is the right "truth"?

I suppose I've already expressed what I believe to be the right truth.

The penultimate stanza is this kind of hopeful vision I have of the truth of God's words enlightening the entire world. I suppose that's something I can only see when Jesus comes back - a fearful day. And many have rejected the truth. And whilst God may have revealed himself, many have committed the unforgivable sin of rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit - rejected his sanctification and salvation through Jesus Christ's blood.

And they continue to reject him by making up their own truths - by "choos[ing] / Their colour and call[ing] it real". This is so dangerous, and it is why we as Christians must always turn back to God's word. We must allow his truths to diffuse into our minds and our hearts. We must obtain and utilise a Biblical worldview, because this world has so many paths for us. But all lead to hell, because only one leads to God.

The final stanza is supposed to be a bit haunting. And it once again expresses the problem I can sympathise with. How are we supposed to choose the right path amidst so many "false truths"?

One answer: always look to God's word.