Camus

At the end of memory a jungle of unresolved threads.  Deaths that complicate and simplify.  Extraordinary circumstances, existing only briefly, apparently disconnected from common cause and effect, which lead nowhere.

That which cannot be explained is a prime indicator of the nature of reality.

Inquiry

From the past:  myth, legend , folklore, fairy tales, theater, ritual, ceremony-- the convergence of culture and community in shared experience.

From the present:  hyperbole, satire, exaggeration, propaganda, scapegoating, contradiction, obsessive ideologies-- convergence of nihilism, depression, narcissism, scientific materialism, repression, failure to thrive.

The former leads to questions; the latter asserts there can be no more questions.

Balance

The Golden Mean.  Temperate attitudes, a sense of order, avoidance of the excessive and irrational, clarity of thought and action, all these things that do not happen naturally, but through reason and free will.

They are contrary to base human nature, must be learned, applied, reflected upon.  But to do so is to apprehend the path to greater vision, deeper perception, and an understanding of reality beyond the given and the mundane.

Timepiece

When it is possible to slow the pace of life it becomes possible to increase perceptual awareness and expand the limits of consciousness.

To live more fully, let time pass in the way of nature, experienced as a continuum.

Consider all we are capable of doing when we are not rushed, when it is within our power to pursue our interests and focus our efforts unhurriedly.  Fine craftsmanship, artistic vision, reason, contemplation and reflection are within realization, as they may not always be otherwise.

Abstract, Concrete

Certainly the things of the spirit are of greater value than those of the merely material.  Why?

The spiritual things are permanent.  Honor, love, wisdom, reason, justice, and so forth-- these things which are good.  They are not limited by material nature.  They may be inspired and made manifest by their representations through the arts, yet their existence is beyond containment and measure.

Forces of History

--what individuals made possible in the past, often by virtue of persistence and arduous labor, makes mastery of such things possible more quickly-- or at a young age-- for people of the present day.

Things do not remain undone or unfinished; ideas continue to unfold in a variety of ways, and unforeseen connections are made in the collision of concepts and events.

Sometimes they come back to haunt you.

Insight

Strange, disconnected fragments of texts from a time called the Dark Ages.  Yet they are linked by marvells, physical appearances of the known dead, apparently traveling great distances together in the night.  Witnesses show little or no fear and approach, make contact with wary courage.

The earth, not the ego, was once believed to be the center of the universe.