Poems & Prayers

This short section contains poems and proverbs about faith and doubt. 

“Doubt Faith” contrasts doubt with faith, while “Sometimes” is about the different reasons that McConaughey prays: guidance, change and courage, and other motivations. “Heavyweights” explores the view that faith takes courage. In “Hey God,” the poet is unsure of the conditions under which he may communicate with God. He is neither fully engaged in nor disconnected from religious life, but asks God for help in seeking him out. A proverb follows that states that there are no atheists, because everyone believes in something.

McConaughey offers several proverbs, asking for “skeptics not cynics” (146) encouraging people not to be so concerned with “mortal regard” (147) but to raise their eyes heavenward, and observing that only some people see and hear. 

“Heaven or Not” states that religion gives people who are living in misery some hope of a better life after death. McConaughey does not know whether that is true, but he encourages people to find hope or faith in something.