73
Why don’t you drink milk?
It’s not satisfying.
74
People seem concerned about their future. You’ve always been more of one day at a time kind of guy.
I live in the past.
75
You left for Egypt when famine struck. What of the ones you left behind?
They were invited to come along. They refused. They did not believe the famine would be too severe and by the time they realized it, it was too late to leave.
Did you think of them?
I think of all God’s creatures. I wish them no harm.
What did you think of the pyramids?
Like another famine, but a famine of the spirit, where ideas are fossilized.
But there’s nothing new under the sun.
Maybe nothing is but there can be.
76
Do grasshoppers fly?
They hop.
77
Can there be both freedom and peace?
No, as long as people use their freedom to think.
78
Has the Great American Novel been written?
It can’t be until America is no longer America.
It shouldn’t be too long.
79
What is mankind’s greatest invention?
The ability to aggrandize itself.
It also has a knack for self-flagellation.
But that is apt.
80
You don’t speak much about self-deception.
Because it is a rarity. Most people know exactly who they are and what they are doing. The problem is they can’t change even if they want to.
81
Can you be a victim of fate?
If an ant is a victim of fate when you step on it, then I suppose so.
82
What are we hiding?
Suppressed desires.
Are they good or bad?
They are our good ones.
83
If you could change something, what would it be?
I would change nothing.
Surely there are things you don’t agree with or would like to see gone.
My opinion doesn’t count. Once it did, but now it’s too late.
84
I can remember the time when it didn’t rain but water came up from the earth. There was dust, but it was light, and the air was soft. There were no seasons and people did not live in fear.
What happened?
Some wanted for themselves what others had. To get what they wanted they turned to violence. They discovered a taste for blood.
Why didn’t someone put a stop to it?
You might as well have tried to stop day changing into night. But to live is to try. So the people got what they wanted. Blood. Only too often it was their own.
85
Twilight.
In between the darkness and the light.
Who sees us?
We are watched by celestial consorts.
What do they see?
They see us stumbling, falling into the night.
86
Why would anyone leave so comfortable a place?
To follow orders.
But to interrupt a vacation?
One day you will be ordered to leave. Will you disobey?
No.
87
How can you be disappointed when you’ve always expected the worst?
But when you pay this much for a steak you expect it to be tender.
You mistakenly equate price with quality.
Shouldn’t things of higher price be of greater quality?
Sometimes the cost is too high and the price is too dear for the results. Sometimes we die in vain.
88
Our loneliness comes from under-utilizing our minds.
If we were willing to create and play mental games we would never be lonely.
89
Those who live by the ocean are in danger of hurricanes.
But they can see the storms coming and can flee.
Some do not flee. They believe they are strong enough to withstand the fury of the storms.
GO to UNIt V
