An Essay On Man 6/14/14

         Mankind has been trying to understand the nature and state of man for just about as long as those concepts have been able to process through the human intellect. Since the 1700’s, when Alexander Pope was wrestling with these issues, we have advanced exponentially. It’s no longer accurate to say that we are “ignorant of the relations of systems and things,” as Pope observed in “An Essay on Man” (Pope 90). For all of our scientific advances, however, mankind has yet to conceive of a rational and ordered way to reconcile some of its deepest rifts in understanding. No concept has been more difficult for society to fully understand than the existence of evil and disorder in what is supposedly a divinely ordered universe.

            In the realm of juxtaposed realities, Pope’s observations are just as valid as anyone tacking the issue in modern society. In this case, Pope seeks not to understand the methods or the reasoning behind the order of the universe, but rather charges his readers to simply accept that there is a higher purpose that cannot be understood. “Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate,” writes Pope. “All but the page prescribed, their present state / From brutes what men, from what spirits know” (92). He goes on to say that mankind should simply wait until God reveals all at death, saying “Hope humbly, then; with trembling pinions soar; / Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore. / What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,” (92). Instead of wrestling with that which cannot be known, Pope suggests, simply live in peace like the Native Americans lived and await God’s revelation in due course.

            There is a certain appeal to the idea of just setting aside questions that seem to have unknowable answers. Pope’s approach certainly suggests a peaceful, worry-free existence. The problem with his approach, however, is that there humans are also imbued with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, including knowledge of the nature of the universe. That thirst is highly unlikely to allow humanity to simply choose not to question the nature of the universe any time soon.

Work Cited

Pope, Alexander. "An Essay On Man." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Third ed. Vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. 90-97. Print.