The difference between things we do not understand and deep mysteries of the universe
is that the first exist in abundance
and the second are the product of our own woolly thinking and lack of imagination.
Show me a mystery and I will show you a poorly formulated question.
Splosh…
Terry Pratchett said that all evil begins with seeing people as things.
I can add that quite a lot of stupidity begins with seeing things as people.
We see the sky above and call it majestic.
We see the sky underfoot and call it a dirty puddle.
The picture is the same.
If you look directly at the sun, for a while things around become dull and washed out;
but gradually the shadows return and subtle shades reassert themselves
and you see the transparent lights of daffodils,
the shimmering lights of the evening mist,
the flickering lights on the hair of children, playing,
the quiet lights on the faces of a couple, facing each other silently on a hill…
So many lights, so rich, so subtle –
all reflecting the sunlight and making it so much more.
We live in the spaces defined by our cultures.
Some of us expand inherited houses to palaces,
some – narrow them to defensive forts,
which then have to be lit by funeral pyres.
The closer you approach a source of light above,
the deeper you plunge into the dark.
In relationships you are paid in kind.
You invest emotionally – you get love or hate.
You invest time and effort – you get attention.
You invest formally – you get a proper spouse.
You invest financially – you get an expensive divorce.
Ideas permeate cultures like rings on the water;
the stone someone threw is gone, submerged,
but the ripples go on and on,
slowing down where the water is thick and marshy,
amplified by resonance and creating new patterns where they meet waves from other stones…
There is almost nothing more powerful;
while there is water the ripples will go on,
where there is water – the ripples will get there,
sooner or later…
