Inside the walls where smart men dwell
Brilliant scholars sought to find
The things that others could not see
To dazzle those with lesser minds.
They wish to shape our faulty world,
To make their genius known to all
And show themselves of highest worth
To gain the power they deserve.
They lack clear meaning in their lives
So they fashion it through others’ eyes
By opposing life they thought they knew,
And belittling the good and true.
These brilliant men absorbed the books
Of other smart and brilliant men,
To quote a phrase or cheap cliché
To sound like they’re profoundly read.
They have a gifted way with words
To convince the other folks around
That they are brighter than the rest
They do not want the world to end
Or have a lot of people die
But a tragedy for other folks
Is a trifling thing for them to buy.
Outside their walls are other men
Who merely want the happiness
That families, jobs, and G‑d can bring
And purpose to the lives they led.
These decent men could not care less
To see their names aflame in lights.
They live their lives with little shame
With little need for outsized fame.
Their greatest interest is to live,
To find some love with those nearby,
And learn some skills which they can use
To earn a wage which gives them pride.
But that’s not enough for brilliant men
Who always wonder what might be,
And never stop to question if
Their thoughts reflect reality.
Experts know a lot of facts.
But wisdom needs humility
And experience to caution us
Against our gross stupidities.
They brandish studies that they read
Of terrors of what perhaps might be
And put them into spreadsheet form
To convince a blind fraternity.
Algorithms they create,
Picking values randomly,
To conjure up a data set
To prove some new catastrophe.
Secure in boring tenured jobs,
They spin their theories out of naught
Without a view of what might come
From their latest brilliant thought.
But brilliant men seem not to sense
What can be lost if all is burned -
Including loss of happiness
Which other men have had to earn.
Lucky for the decent men
Most of them will still survive
As time continues on its way
Ignoring arcs of history.
The simple men all know the worth
Of laughter in a child’s eyes,
The value in protecting life,
To see their children grow and thrive.
They merely want to live their lives
In pleasure of just being free
And spend their time as they see fit
Without a brilliant noble scheme.
But the gravest problem of them all,
Despite the stories that they tell,
Is that brilliant men are often wrong;
And instead of doing what might help,
They open up the gates of Hell.
- Finding the Light of G‑d, pages 100-102