Dualism
In The Magic Land of Either/Or

 

Tune:   EITHER/OR  99.99D

Melody: William L. Wallace

Harmony: Wallace Woodley

 

1. In the magic land of either/or

    We are either right or we are wrong.

    If we can’t create a compromise

    We are either weak or we are strong.

    This childhood land is a simple space

    Where complex thought can never be found

    It’s a world of ivory towers and clouds

    Where all feet are six foot off the ground.

 

2. Our beliefs give deep security

    Till we meet with all those other folk

    Who believe their views are always right

    And that ours are stupid or a joke.

    We then retreat or go out to war

    With weapons or with words for the fight

    To establish what is really true

    In the world of either black or white.

 

3. Once the goal to which we all aspired

    Was a scientific certainty

    But the unpredicted can occur

    In the cosmic great diversity.

    When faith relates to the cosmic laws

    With methods Jesus often had taught     * e.g. Mark 4:26-29

    All that is or was will hold as one

    In the ways our longing spirits sought.

 

4. Past the realm of facts that we are taught

    Lies the mystics’ great unknowing cloud.

    It’s a myst’ry past all thought and words,

    Myst’ry found behind the sacred shroud.

    With joy and wonder we now praise God

    And humbly find that there is no wall

    That divides all those of different faiths

    Who with love adore the God of all.

*Our dependence upon nature

        Text and Melody: © William Livingstone Wallace

        Harmony: © Wallace Woodley

 

Click Here for Sheet Music –  Either/Or

Click Here for Sheet MP3 -Either/Or

 

Click Here for Full Index to William L. Wallace’s Series Hymns “Cosmic Mystery”

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William (Bill) Livingstone Wallace is a retired New Zealand Methodist Minister and one of our most prolific contributors. Bill says that his work springs from communicating with the fire in his gut and his observation of both the internal and external aspects of the Cosmos. Since an early age, he has been both sympathetic to and critical of the church, announcing at the age of 13 his belief in evolution. In his youth, he struggled with the disconnection between art and spirituality in his own and other denominations and with the way in which all of the liturgies prior to the sermon were regarded as preliminaries and longer sermons were viewed as superior to more concise ones.

He holds a B.A. in philosophy and a Dip. Ed. and is the author of nine published collections of his hymns as well as other resources on our website. His aim is to help people be empowered by the divine within them and the Cosmos and to work to overthrow the forces of personal and institutional greed which destroy both the ecosystem and human society.

Click Here for a Full Biography of William L. Wallace

Click here for a complete list of his work on ProgressiveChristianity.org