Ignorance Is Large

words and music by Howard Ashby Kranz

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Intro: Sometimes I look into the stars, and it makes me feel so small.

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Then I look at budding flowers, and feel big and clumsy after all.

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Some say this world belongs to humankind; some say we are in charge.

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And while we ourselves are very small, at least our ignorance is large.

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1. Stick that stirs this pile of bones, tell me where the man has gone. O ignorance is large!

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Head is north, hand is south, we are the voice but who’s the mouth? O ignorance is large!

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Hear me, seekers, ignorance is large! Hear me, teachers, ignorance is large!

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2. Leafy green, catch the sun; make the mighty engines run. O ignorance is large!

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Reach the planets, split the quark, close your eyes to light the dark, O ignorance is large!

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Hear me, preachers, ignorance is large! We are small but our ignorance is so large!

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Bridge: I’m in awe of those true believers who yet steadfastly maintain

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that chance and mechanistic law are the root of everything.

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Who can conceive themselves as finite, and think that all is so.

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But one thing we know is boundless, and that is: what we do not know.

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3. Sun and moon, sea and earth, getting on, giving birth, O ignorance is large!

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A billion souls beneath the sky, each one thinks itself is “I.” O ignorance is large!

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Hear me, creatures, ignorance is large! we are small but our ignorance is so large!