HOW IT ALL BEGAN

At some time or other, most thinking humans

Are confronted with questions like:

How did it all come to pass?

How did the world begin,?

How and when did life start?

And for what reason, if at all?

      The question of origins is  quite old,

A human obsession, one might say,

Perhaps as ancient as  thought itself.

Many of us reflect on such questions,

But perhaps wisely discard them

Since there are more satisfying ways

Of spending the time we have.

But a few somehow persist in this.

Such ones  have existed in all cultures.

And also at all times in history.

These are the scientists of the ages.

They have come up in different ways

With many fascinating views

On these puzzling  questions.

All lives from plants and insects

To birds and beasts and humans

Begin,  grow and sooner or later die.

If this be so, thought some,

Could this be equally true

For rivers and rocks and hills,

Even for the sun and stars

And for the world at large?

So it was that the idea arose

That at some point in time,

There was perhaps nothing in at all.

And that  out of that silent void

Emerged the complexity we see now.

      Aside from questions like this

Relating to how the world began

And how all life came to be,

We may also inquire into the origins

Of culture and civilization,

Of  thoughts and languages too.

Ancient thinkers had answers for these

But with the rise of modern science,

New answers were offered.

Based less on pure speculation and

More on analyses of data.

Yet, scientific theories on these

Have not stood the test of time.

They are periodically modified

Or replaced by newer views.

This so because every generation

Is collecting  more and more info

Pertaining to these questions.

Thus, it must be recognized

That scientific explanations on origins

Are invariably  tentative, but they are also

The best answers one can give

In the framework of current data,

And of reason, and consistency.