The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next. The important thing is not the finding, it is the seeking, it is the devotion with which one spins the wheel of prayer and scripture, discovering the truth little by little. If this machine gave you the truth immediately, you would not recognize it, because your heart would not have been purified by the long quest. Love does not just sit there, like a stone; it had to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new. In so far as one denies what is, one is possessed by what is not, the compulsions, the fantasies, the terrors that flock to fill the void. As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope. To oppose something is to maintain it. It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end. It is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception and compassion and hope. Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new. What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? |