God 1 adv. the Omnipresent Center SEE Copenhagen interpretation, quantum consciousness 2 v. The Connector of Space and Sustainer of Time; One, Alive, and Intent 3 n domesticated primates’ ultimate attribution of excuse, tragedy, success or inspiration
Stephen3PO
The writers’ strike wears on, but our nerves don’t thanks to those daring and resourceful folks at Operation Facestrong. Long may it wave.
“I Seen It Too!”
WAITING FOR THE GRATEFUL DEAD with Sputnik at the Shoreline, c. 1989ish, one of us began the following conversation:
“For example, that guy over there with the ‘I Climbed Lassen’ T-shirt.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he obviously wants everyone to think that he climbed Lassen. But ‘those who know do not speak,’ so…”
“So you’re saying he didn’t really climb Lassen?”
“I’m saying that whether he did or he didn’t, he wants everyone to think he did.”
Pithyism #0
The future is an open hand; the past is a closed hand.
What’s in between?
Mapping God
Like any Torah Nerd, I’ve never met a commentary I didn’t like — the more abstruse and seriously-taking the better — but I’ve always had difficulty with the traditional view of God As Punisher and Rewarder.
Perhaps that stems from an inherent distrust of authority, honestly earned by dint of entering my formative years about the time Nixon was talking to the White House portrait gallery. But whatever the reason, the Deuteronomic Theology has never struck me as an accurate model for my own devotions; I’m much more of an “I can’t figure it out, so I’ll enjoy what I can while I’m here, help others do the same, and try to do my best” Ecclesiastician.
Librarians Are Hiding Something
Stephen said it, I believe it, and that’s good enough for anyone.
(P.S. to the Incomparable Bird of Paradox himself: Good to see “your back”.
In the spirit…
… of its content, this might have been posted 12/28/6, the day I wrote and sent it to my coworkers. But it wasn’t:
Friends,
If you can imagine a universe-sized sponge made of galaxies surrounding bubble-like voids, congratulations: you’re hip to the current scientific model of the Big Picture.
We humans don’t always do too well with the Big Picture, though. Our tiny brains like to slice reality into assimilable, us-sized bites. Instead of Limitless Space, we distinguish between Here and There; instead of Eternity, we think about Then and Now. Sometimes, we even think about Later.
Every time our planet completely circles its star, many of us commit to doing (often changing) something as we travel the orbit to come. (That orbit doesn’t actually start on January 1st — that’s a date as arbitrary as the alphabet I’m using to type this email — but as the man draining the swamp said, “You have to start somewhere.”) If it’s your custom to do that, may you have the strength to live up to your commitments. If it’s also your custom to become frustrated with yourself a week later, take heart — it’s a big universe, with enough room to start over and enough time for patience.
Happy New Year, whenever it finds you.