September 2012, Cameron Smith, Hotel Books

I believe that intelligence is relative
But wisdom is universal
I believe that life is not a performance
No one gets a rehearsal
I accept that nature is our environment
And deserves to be well-kept
But nurture is our calling
And is the reason we were ever made to exist

I believe that answers are scarce
And that's what makes them worth it
Universalism is fraud
Just like the matchbook we use called religion
Feeble attempts at running a match on sandpaper
Hoping it lights
When the flame starts with passion
Not an understanding of all things in life

Philosophy was made to dissolve
Our natural comfort of ignorance
God existed long before us
And that's where we find our solutions
Heads in the sand shuts out our demons
But also shuts out a light to see visions
I believe you were made to be alive
And your life is your mission
Incisions and visions, small holes to let truth seek through
And dilute the water we let our hearts dive into
Looking for monetary incentives but lack the repentance
To seek love despite our apprehension
Like a prison sentence, we all fear Heaven

Like the unknown ocean that happens
Most of our world's convention
Our own conviction is resistant
Because we fear being misrepresented
Or misinterpreted with no real grounding
And base our relations
We take a vacation from the truth
We used to subscribe to called revelations
A nation of prescriptions and solutions
And narcotics found abusive

Relying on conclusions before asking the right questions
Skip a section, skip a sequence, and find yourself bleeding
Forfeit a destination to avoid temporary mistreatment
Our remedies feel like potions and our leaders practice hypnosis
To garnish the abortion of passion from our devotion
Stricken with foreign motives, we have lost our footing
And are falling to this ocean

Convincing our children to compromise with depression
And to practice being an activist
To poison our opinions of God's presence
Sometimes, I try to look back and figure out what happened
We were made to be one nation under God
Not one nation under personal advancement
And this modern fight for temporary happiness
Instead of joy is poison and regression
But in the kingdom of Heaven, we are free from this oppression
But in the kingdom of Heaven, we are free from this oppression
We were given a choice, we were given a voice
No longer do we have to inject this poison
'Cause in the kingdom of Heaven, we are free from this oppression

We were made to be one nation under God
Not one nation under religion
We were made to be one nation under God
Not one nation under personal advancements