I consider Everett a friend, and know that he probably worries I might be headed for "the bad place" and that is actually kind of sweet, when I think about it. There's not a wicked bone in his body, and his worry for us, here, is that we are doomed to an afterlife of suffering. He really believes these things.

But "belief" can only go so far in a world where others believe differently.

This is as it should be. Share those beliefs with me, even tell me you think my beliefs doom me, and if you really want to sell me, for lack of better words, be nice, set a good example, and I might even want to follow your example.

With some, you can feel the seething hatred oozing out of their words. Their words don't seem to come from a concerned, charitable place, inside, but from someplace else. Those people will only convince me that they are just projecting some free floating anxiety out into the world, for whatever reason. I should know--I've done my share of that, over the years.

I'm basically an aging hippie who has never shared his beliefs, because they're kind of unclear, even to me: I MAKE things, and put ALL my energy into that, leaving little time to contemplate "who I am and what I believe" --and maybe my making of things is simply a running away from knowing myself. Could be.

But at the end of the day, I have my nice, shiny "thing" I've made, to enjoy and share. And if we peel away all our layers, who are we, really?

It's somehow far easier for me to know what I don't believe and who I ain't, haha.

Can we "know ourselves" by process of negation?

If so, then maybe I know myself, just a little.

Mike

Last edited by Michael Zaneski; 03/26/23 07:27 PM.
Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice

-The Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon)
from the song "Songs of Love"
from the album "Casanova" (1996)