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I was brought up to believe
The universe has a plan
We are only human
It's not ours to understand
The universe has a plan
All is for the best
Some will be rewarded
And the devil will take the rest
All is for the best
Believe in what we're told
Blind man in the market
Buying what we're sold
Believe in what we're told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death
In a world of cut and thrust
I was always taught to trust
In a world where all must fail
Heaven's justice will prevail
The joy and pain that we receive
Each comes with its own cost
The price of what we're winning
Is the same as what we've lost
Until our final breath
The joy and pain that we receive
Must be what we deserve
I was brought up to believe
The universe has a plan
We are only human
It's not ours to understand
The universe has a plan
All is for the best
Some will be rewarded
And the devil will take the rest
All is for the best
Believe in what we're told
Blind man in the market
Buying what we're sold
Believe in what we're told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death
In a world of cut and thrust
I was always taught to trust
In a world where all must fail
Heaven's justice will prevail
The joy and pain that we receive
Each comes with its own cost
The price of what we're winning
Is the same as what we've lost
Until our final breath
The joy and pain that we receive
Must be what we deserve
I was brought up to believe
Lyrics submitted by priest_of_syrinx
Track duration: 04:22
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I was told a particular version of The Book of Genesis that included the following quote: "...And you shall be called woman because I have taken you from the womb of man." This was in reference to the creation of Eve. I was also told that the this was the very word of God and infallible truth as were all the words in the Bible. At a mere ten years old I dared to ask if the passage quoted above made sense in any other language beside English. Do the words for "Womb" and "man" combine phonetically in other languages to form a word meaning "woman." I already knew that in Spanish and Latin they did not. When asked why I posed the question I answered honestly. English wasn't formed as language until the middle ages. This word of God was the ancient text of more than 3,000 years. Why would such a sentence have been in the bible if didn't make linguistic sense when it was written? Why would it only work in one not-yet-existing language? It seemed to me that the sentence was added after English was formed and therefore so too might other passages. Which ones were original and which ones were "updates"?
Well, rather than rewarding my logic and insight and/or offering me an explanation that would satisfy the question, I was instead punished for bringing it up. Knuckles beaten , stand in the corner, don't pollute the other children type stuff. Such is the fear of exposure that dogma creates. You see once you say that something temporal must be true because our very faith depends upon it being so, it is highly disruptive when that thing you said must be true isn't. (See Galileo, See Copernicus).
My point is this. Religion is a good thing until handcuffs you. Any religious person should embrace our ability as humans to continue to evaluate and observe the universe in which we reside and form new truths as they are revealed to us. If God exists then he or she gave us brains to solve problems, make medicines, and help each other. He or she would not want you to close your mind on his or her behalf. Those who would chose to believe that faith and science are enemies have failed at both. clinging dogmatically to one or the other keeps you from reaching your potential intellectually and spiritually. For further advice from Mr. Peart himself I recommend a thorough listening of the complete song "Hemispheres". Mr. Peart is not faithless, he just refuses to be willfully blind on its behalf.
Finally, please don't think that just because someone writes something that they are promoting it as a position. Poe often wrote in the first person from the perspective of a maniacal killer. No one I can think of has yet to suggest that he was proponent of actual murder. Sometimes writers write just to get the rest of us to think. Perhaps Mr. Peart has succeeded at doing just that.
When I played Clockwork Angels and read along with the lyrics I was gasping at what I heard....
I couldn't believe hearing:
" All is for the best
Believe in what we're told
Blind man in the market
Buying what we're sold
Believe in what we're told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death"
After researching this further on the internet, I come to find out Neil Peart is heavily influenced by an atheist (name escapes me) who wrote books that the only form of God is "Time". You live your, life, you love, you die...and zap. thats it. you dont exist and anymore. No heaven, no hell. That there is no God of the Bible.
My soul just HURT after researching this as I'm a true believer in God of the Bible.
Like Neil, I have suffered great pain and suffering in my life. To the point, where I had daily panic attacks. Such panic and anxiety that it led me to lose my job and become a hermit in my own house full of depression.
I understand Neil's pain of losing his daughter in an auto-crash and his wife to cancer within months of each other in the late 1990s. But Neil ran in one direction away from God.
I personally have run the other way TOWARDS God.....and God is rebuilding me from the inside out. God is changing my life in so many ways.
I'm very disappointed reading into the lyrics in songs like BU2B.... and the title song, Clockwork Angels.....where Neil pretty much makes fun of people who raise their hands to the skies to praise and be thankful to God for all their blessings:
You promise every treasure, to the foolish and the wise
Goddesses of mystery, spirits in disguise
Every pleasure, we bow and close our eyes
Clockwork angels, promise every prize
Clockwork angels, spread their arms and sing
Synchronized and graceful, they move like living things
Goddesses of Light, of Sea and Sky and Land
Clockwork angels, the people raise their hands
As if to fly
.....in these lyrics I interupt the meaning that those who believe and raise their hands to the skies in belief of God and his Angels are FOOLS.
I was also very very disappointed when Geddy Lee was asked a question about God and his answer was, "the only time I've ever prayed was on the tennis court."
All very disappointing gentleman of Rush. I will pray for each of you to find the TRUE answers in your lives.
As for my 37th concert of Rush, who is schedule to appear at Riverbend July 2nd, 2013 in Cincinnati, Ohio...... my concert streak ends right here and now.....as I have to make a stand for what I believe in: the God of the Bible.
Wishing all of you reading this to seek out your own answers to yoru own life. For me, it's God.
Neil Peart has never said a single time what his personal beliefs are. People are trying to assume what his beliefs are through the music he writes. Neil is a very private man, and he's entitled to his privacy. His personal beliefs doesn't matter. Canada and the United States both have religious freedom. If he's personally an atheist who cares? Geddy Lee is Jewish for Christ's sake! Are you going to ridicule him for not accepting Christ as his savior?
Clockwork Angels is a rock opera that takes place in an imaginary world that catalogues the journey of a young man who goes on an adventure instead of doing what he was told to do. The world he lives in is controlled by an omnipotent Watchmaker who maintains order through a strict caste-like system. He meets an Anarchist who has an opposing view of valuing personal freedom above all and that humans aren't meant to be treated like that. The story in short catalogues the boy's struggle with these opposing viewpoints, and it concludes with his choice.
There's nothing in the entire album about Neil Peart's personal beliefs. It's an album that tells a story, nothing less -- nothing more. There is an accompanying novel called Clockwork Angels by Kevin Anderson. It's a short novel, but it's quite good. This isn't the first time Rush has done a concept album. Cygnus X-1 catalogues a man's journey through space into a black hole and eventually meeting the Greek Gods. Where was your outrage with that? In 2112 he wrote a story of Earth in 2112 controlled by the Priests of Syrinx who control the entire world's population through their religion and beliefs. Where was your outrage with that?
Maybe you should stop being a Rush fan because the music seems to be above your intelligence level.
"Well I know they've always told you selfishness was wrong-
yet it was for me, not you, I came to write this song."
Sometimes, art it a complete expression from within. It's not always meant to preach or to explain upon another, but as a streak of blood created from your own proverbial slit wrist- unapologetically authentic and true, without censorship or rose colored lenses.
That being said...
I'm a devoted Rush fan and an insatiable fan of Neil Peart. I can never get enough of his writings, his ideas and ramblings... His style is remarkable. He can tune in his listener or reader exactly how he intends and it's incredible. I've read all of his books and of course, like many, know of his tragedies.
Neil has always intertwined a wonderful dose of skepticism about religion and the like and he did so far before coming back after his hiatus to produce Vapor Trail.
As an atheist, I am very attuned to religious references. I must say, although Neil has directly referenced 'atheism' in his blog, he's never outright said he's an atheist. (And as an atheist, you don't have a dislike or hatred for god, you simply don't believe.) He may very well not be an atheist. Perhaps he doesn't prefer the term, or maybe he doesn't want to define himself with title. Maybe he doesn't know. In any shape or form, this song is not directly against religion.
In a much larger sense, it's about indoctrination and challenging things you've been told and have accepted without your own careful, rational thought. It no doubt can be viewed through a religious lens, which of course I do. In that case, you would arrive at a viewpoint that sheds light on the false pretenses lended to our youth by way of theism.
For a theist struggling with acceptance of the lyrics, in fevor to connect (like I always am with lyrics), try to think of it purely as challenging what you believe without outright acceptance of the ways of others. This does not have to be religion. This can simply be anything someone has told you was true that you have come to revisit.
I've seen them quite a few times over the last few years and cannot wait to see them again this weekend. This song I hold close to my heart. Too bad they aren't ripping it up with BU2B on this tour.
Love and respect,
A Geddycorn
To me Neil’s lyrics in this song are pointing out just that kind of attitude. “Believe what we tell you or suffer the confusion of not understanding why you have to suffer while others live the high life.”
In the late 1990s I asked my Creator to teach me a lesson in ‘detachment’. Back then I was gainfully employed and had a bright future . . . until certain criminal elements high up in the company I was working for decided they had the right to steal billions of $$ from the company and the stockholders. Two years later I was cast out of my well paying job because the company had to ‘Downsize’ as a result of the scandal. To make a long story short I found myself homeless for 5 years while trying to win a disability claim with the Social Security Administration because certain ailments I’d lived with while I was working became bad enough to render me unemployable. I finally won my case and am living comfortably in a rented house . . . but for how long? The imbecilic nonsense I’ve heard out of these corrupt politicians lately has driven my stress levels up after I thought I could finally relax. Am I supposed to think this is truly what I deserve? HELL NO!
I’ll tell you all what my past has taught me. I’m no angel and I’ve done things I was never punished for. What I’ve lost over the years I consider payback for what I’ve stolen. In total I’ve lost more than I owe but that fact only emphasizes the seriousness of my own crimes and I fully accept that. I’ve also learned the most important lesson, the one that I originally asked my Creator for, and that is that I could never actually own anything in this physical realm we call reality because I can’t take any of it with me when I pass from this life. How many of the people who live like kings will just be able to easily let go of all they have, whether it be honestly earned or dishonestly stolen (which I see as the more probable of the two situations for most of the filthy rich hypocrites in this world), when they lie on their death beds breathing their last breaths. Who will suffer the most fear in that situation, the ‘Well To Do’ who have so much to lose or a guy like me who’s already lost more than I ever wanted to and realizes that what I have left isn’t really mine to begin with? It’s all on loan for all of us and anyone who feels otherwise is a fool.
Don’t look at these lyrics as something Neil is telling you to believe. I believe Neil is employing more than a little sarcasm in these lyrics trying to tell you to embrace your individuality and make up your own damn mind what your life is all about. Believe me when I say this, if you can’t figure it out on your own then no one else can figure it out for you.
We were all born with the freedom to choose our own actions and beliefs. Don’t give up those freedoms because others tell you to. Instead tell them to go find themselves because they are lost in the cloud of conformity. If they don’t want to do that then tell them to go BUZZ OFF!
Peace!
Spek
Its against the preaching and indoctrination of young people who haven't had the option to make their own decisions yet.. and imposing the types of morales and philosophies on them that compel them to just comply, and not really ask any of the difficult questions in life.
I'll concede that he's being more blunt and confrontational, but that sort of thing comes with age for most people. The basic message is the same as it was 30 years ago, just filtered through the lens of experience (and probably far more interactions with people who still don't get what he's been saying for most of his life).
The thing that I will say is that I can't judge Neil, I haven't walked in his shoes. I have no idea how I would react, feel or lash out if my son and wife were taken from me. I'm sure I would be devastated. Knowing how my life has gone though, I tend to include God more in my life when the chips are down.
All this aside, I really like the album but I really hate being preached at. In fact when someone jams their faith down my throat it turns me off. Conversely, when someone tells me I'm an idiot for believing in God, it tends to turn me off just as much. I'm turned off by the lyrics on this album unfortunately. I love the bass line, the guitar work and the percussion is amazing again as always. I wish Pye Dubois (from Max Webster songs, Kim Mitchell and the writer of Tom Sawyer) would write the song lyrics for Rush though. I appreciate Neil's lyrics more when he's not trying to convince me God doesn't exist. We're all big boys and girls, let us decide on our own.
One thing I will say, Neil knows the bible much better than I ever will. If you go to his website, constant bible references. To me, this doesn't make sense. I like to think of myself as open minded but if I didn't believe in God, I wouldn't spend a minute of my time reading the bible. For example, I don't believe in socialism, I've taken classes on it in college to understand it and it pretty much reinforced my initial take. So why would I cozy up to the Communist Manifesto and make references to it in my work everyday, my writings, my website, my blog, etc.?
It's like one of those crappy TV evangelists that screams from the top of his lungs about God and the proper way to believe in God, how to interpret the bible, live your life according to God and then later he's in bed with a hooker or stealing money from the congregation, etc.
Feel free to disagree, I'm open minded (I think) and opinions vary. Caravan is my favorite song on the album though, just can't get enough of it, and BU2B (musically) is fantastic as well, lyrics are just too much for my taste though.
I have respect for people who have reached religious convictions on their own (while i may not agree with them) but when people my age and younger go around talking like they know all the answers to the world and can't begin to really justify why.. thats just creepy