NOVEMBER 2011

3551. “I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these things”

and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other
mortals, pagans and what not, because of their half-crazy
conceits. … Heaven have mercy on us all—Presbyterians
and Pagans alike—for we are all somehow dreadfully
cracked about the head, and sadly need mending.

Melville, Moby-Dick

Right? I mean, one way or another, we’re all so many ship-wrecks, right? I remember not that long ago clinging to the feeling of being Right, like a piece of one of those wrecks. What made me let go? I don’t know exactly. Maybe the realization that the sea I was afraid would swallow me up was more likely a sign of all the tears that have ever been shed. We learn to deal with tides like that, right?

Note: Lacrimae rerum.

3570. “There are only two things: Truth and lies”

Kafka

Another thing: facing the fact that one will sometimes turn into the other. Oh, and forgiving them both sometimes when, try as you might, you really can’t tell them apart.

Note: “I believe in truth though I lie a lot. I feel the pain from the push and shove” (Human League, “Love Action”).