Miscellany

September 11, 2011

I still don't have an answer to my question whether there is such a thing as unrequited hate.

The sound of one hand clapping is almost impossible to hear.
October 24, 2011: I did say "almost." Listen.

July 19, 2011

A politician is somebody who campaigns hard for the job, claiming he can do it better, but then when he's in office and things don't go as promised, says it's the other guy's fault.

Achieving "balance" in life is chancy and often short-lived -- like the see-saw at the perfect moment of balance when neither side is moving; like the carnival "Loop" ride hanging you motionless upside down for a deathly long instant.

The hardest thing about writing is actually writing.

Passion co-existing with equanimity is a challenge for me. Good news. Just a few years ago I didn't know or care about this. Today I can make it a goal and get better at it.

I have known believers in God whose lack of imagination was shown in their belief (i.e., belief in a "small" God), and I have known atheists whose lack of imagination was revealed in their unwillingness or inability to conceive even dimly of a vast unimaginable power in creation beyond their own ability to perceive and understand. In fact, I have to say that these two groups of people have more in common than not.

Once, out under the stars on a sweet dark night with someone special, a moonless clear night in the country, stars breathtakingly brilliant, Milky Way galaxy vivid, soft not-too-warm-just-right breeze, no doubt an ineffable romantic moment -- the absurd hyena of a thought came to me, "Almost as beautiful as Las Vegas at night." I kept my mouth shut. I did not laugh out loud. That time I did not spoil the moment.