As introduced here, these Warm Recollections are random cullings from thirty years of notes files…
It doesn’t matter how you see yourself inside your head. People are behaviouralists. They believe what they see. You need to maintain two separate performances, outwards and inwards.
One of the truest things ever said:
“La vie contemplative est souvent misérable. Il faut agir davantage, penser moins, et ne pas se regarder vivre.”
Nicholas-Sébastien Chamfort, (1741-94)
I always want to be in every Yellow Cab I see. Who’s in there? Where are they going? Are they drunk, nervous, furious? Does one of them have a secret, or the start of a cold, or something important in their pocket? How did they start this day? How will they end the night? Is this a fizzy, chaotic first date — or will it turn out to be their last? I hate the fact I’ll never know… but I love it too. Every cab holds infinity.
Interesting thing about faith [this is old ground for theologians, I’m sure]. You never see God. At most, he is revealed through his works. Yet faith can be so very strong. You believe in spite of the fact or maybe even precisely because you don’t see. Don’t show the monster in a horror movie, and as a god, don’t reveal yourself to mankind. The connections we yearn to believe in are far stronger than those we actually see. The human mind is the strongest creative force in the universe, and drinks its own Koolaid: the unreal is far more real to us than the real.
You can’t keep every shell or pebble your child gives you: but how do you know which is the magic one?
As always, if you can think of anyone who might enjoy this Substack, please spread the word.
I love the last one. Don’t get me started on god’s hiddenness (hmm how many n’s?) as I’ve been on some YouTube rabbit holes on that one recently. Annoyingly you make an interesting point, kind of CS Lewis he’s so absent you just have to believe in him
God was invented by humans so they could make sense of the things they didn’t understand. Once we knew the cause of thunder and lightning we should have stopped! My opinion.