139
You move so quickly. Some say you can be two places at one time.
Not quite, but when necessary I can cover quite a bit of ground.
What’s the farthest you’ve traveled in one day?
By day, if you mean twenty-four hours, I can make it to the center of the universe and back.
Have you done it more than once?
I do it every day.
140
What if someone was so good that they never missed a shot while playing basketball?
It would revolutionize the game.
Would the game survive?
Probably not.
141
Where have all the thinkers failed?
They all succeeded admirably. They didn’t know how to measure success.
Has religion failed us?
Every religion has some good in it. But everything organized fails to recognize the non-organization of the universe. If religion controlled the universe, the stars would be equidistant and would burn at the same intensity.
Is religion necessary?
No, but what luxury is?
142
The innocent die the same as the guilty.
Yes, and they are born the same way too.
143
Everything is a prelude.
Are we counting the days?
Sometimes we are lost in the moment, but oftentimes we look ahead.
Whose future is brightest?
You think I’ll say the ones whose present are dimmest. But it doesn’t work that way.
Ah, ‘to those whom much is given, much is expected’.
It seems as if equality is nothing but an abstraction.
I think of it more as a distraction.
Can we lay claim to truth absolute?
Only if it makes some kind of difference to do so.
Who decides truth?
The truth is prologue. It’s there, it’s just beyond our reach.
Do we base our lives on truth?
We try.
144
Where are the hippies when you need them?
Did they actually exist?
Carbon dating proves it.
Were their bones found alongside the dinosaurs?
Yes, but they weren’t in quite as good condition.
What caused their extinction?
The same as the dinosaurs. Their brains were too small for their bodies.
145
We seem to be in the midst of an ephemeral but recurring revolution.
Transitory, yes, but how do we know if it will repeat itself?
We think it will because it has always done so.
Did an angel tell you this?
Angels are too busy elsewhere to be spending time with me.
Then how do you know what you profess to know?
I first sense it then I verbalize it.
Is this what you call a prophetic vision?
I do not have a name for it other than the name it invokes in others. I am not writing a book.
Then what are you writing?
An overture.
146
What existed before the world?
Patterns of pre-existence.
Were there living entities?
There were many but they have changed over the eons.
How?
They have seen the suffering, and though they were not a part of it, it has changed them greatly.
Is this good?
Yes, because mankind’s sufferings are known throughout the universe.
147
What is the value of an eggshell?
It protects the life within.
But it’s not very strong.
If it were too strong, the life within would never see the light of day.
148
I understand you missed the big game yesterday.
I was busy searching for the meaning of life.
Did you find it?
I couldn’t even find the clues.
149
Why do you keep going back to the same place?
It does seem fruitless, but where else am I to go?
Can’t you try something new?
That may mean really changing.
150
Why is there six inches between the bottom of your feet and the ground?
I feel lighter than air today.
What will happen after the feast tomorrow?
I will sink back to the earth.
Could you choose not to eat?
I must eat or I will be eaten.
151
Dictatorships aren’t what they used to be.
You’re right. I think it has to do with lack of respect. Parents just aren’t raising their children right.
A dictator is only as good as his subjects. He likes to mold them, shape them into something better than they were before. Nowadays the raw material is lacking. Consequently the products are inferior.
What can be done?
I think we need to make all the school kids read Charles Dickens. That’ll shake them up.
Good idea.
152
Some seem eager to leap into a spiritual void.
Ignorance is bliss.
What are they hoping to find?
Self-correction.
How?
They think they can obliterate the past with a new building. But they don’t realize the old building will never go away.
Then what are wrecking crews for?
Wrecking crews remove only the part that is no longer relevant. The essence remains and is immovable.
153
The rambling disconnection of modernity is due in part to the search for self-realization.
Huh?
In yearning to be free, mankind has set free all but himself. He is now in chains to the natural world.
How is he any less helpless than he was before?
In bygone days there was a simple dichotomy of life and death. For the most part people either lived fully or not at all. Now there are three possibilities: life, death, and shadowy existence. We have the power to deny death but in so doing we impoverish life.
154
The weather’s been turning cold and wet lately. It’s a raw night.
I was born on such a night.
I thought the stars were shining the night you were born.
Only one.
155
How does one plan for one’s own funeral?
It’s better to prepare than to plan.
What’s the difference?
Planning connotes power, which for humans, is an illusion. Preparing connotes acceptance, which is closer to the truth of our condition.
GO to UNIt IX
