Loss is the stuff of life. It's also the stuff of drama. Maybe you'd be better off thinking of your loss as one more thread in an unfolding tapestry of epic struggle. Then what seemed pointless becomes destiny. It will still hurt, but your suffering will be given context.
Despite defensive quibbling's, Eugenics is brutally simple: kill all the ugly ducklings to allow the handsome ducklings to breed themselves into a more perfect flock.
The principal holds whether with ducks, or people.
Complicated explanations typically signal something's wrong with the explanation.
Trusting toddlers become cunning adults. They lose the innocence they were fated to lose. Cubs become lions. Baby rhinoceros turn into massive tanks. Puppies become wolves. Kids become teenagers. Those once cute are no longer cute.
The truth is no individual fits perfectly into the matrix of any group. We are each as unique as our fingerprints. We are all groups of one.
Miss Isabella Bird traveled the globe writing story after story of far-away people and places. There would be nothing like her nineteenth-century travel books until James Michener started writing his twentieth-century travel books.
You are author of you own narrative". Every life is a narrative. Even though most of the plot will be written by forces beyond your control - you still have editorial influence.
Truth is a big word. Seeking, "The Truth", is an abstract adventure. It's an adventure that usually leads to grandiose theorizing resulting in little usable information.
Seeking, "The Truth", isn't a rewarding use of time. Seeking what's true in a particular case is more practical, though it's no easier.
Poverty, tragedy, and injustice may only veil a better, larger reality hidden to ordinary reality. The romantic view mightn't be true, but it should be.
Serious artists open themselves to inspiration by seriously intending to do the best work they can. Unseen providence is attracted to those who seriously want to do the best they can.
No one seems troubled that so much of the News is devoted to trivialities rather than information useful to decision-making by citizens who give a damn.
Playing and daydreaming are seriously underappreciated. When your mind is off-duty you are
free to notice what seemed unimportant when you were working.
I wonder about these re-connections with people from my past. Are they unusual, or are they common? I don't think they only happen to me. Are certain people woven together in an unseen fabric for some purpose unknown? I suspect so.
When played by world-shakers, King of the Hill, is a very serious game. Horseracing is often said to be the sport of Kings. The true sport of Kings is war. Some say that that might doesn't make right, but it can't be proved by the evidence.
The figures on the wall flow with energy and grace. They move like living animals. I can't believe the artists who created these pictures intended them as no more than totem caricatures useful only for making magic.
A lot of people, from far back in time, have believed numbers to be mystically significant. They don't always agree which number signifies what. They do agree that numbers account for more than just counting.
The example of closing time is easy to understand. Whatever barroom need or hope you have has to get done before closing time. Life has its own closing time. Keeping that limitation in mind focuses attention on what really needs doing.
Life is hard to chew. Sometimes you need a knife. Sugar and spice makes it tast better.