Be the architect of your life. Know how to arrange it with intelligence. Plant its foundation firmly and develop it with foresight. Life’s a difficult, fatiguing expedition. Intellectual stimulation mixes well with the dust & stones of the long road to eternity.
-Baltasar Gracian
One hour drive freeway north; winding backroad south home.
History comes to us third-hand in book form; hung dry. Our personal history, on the other hand, is as real for our first-person memory as one can account.
Wink instead of nodding. Nod instead of whispering. Whisper instead of speaking. Speak instead of writing. Write instead of brain exploding.
“Ignorance has been our king. Since the death of empire, he sits unchallenged on the throne of Man. His dynasty is age-old. His right to rule is now considered legitimate. Past sages have affirmed it. They did nothing to unseat him.
“Tomorrow, a new prince shall rule. Men of understanding, men of science shall stand behind his throne, and the universe will come to know his might. His name is Truth. His empire shall encompass the Earth. And the mastery of Man over the Earth shall be renewed. A century from now, men will fly through the air in mechanical birds. Metal carriages will race along roads of man-made stone. There will be buildings of thirty stories, ships that go under the sea, machines to perform all works.
“And how will this come to pass?”
He paused and lowered his voice. “In the same way all change comes to pass, I fear. And I am sorry it is so. It will come to pass by violence and upheaval, by flame and by fury, for no change comes calmly over the world.”
A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959)
Life Is an Experiment
We’re all testing hypotheses, learning from outcomes, and iterating as we go.
Every choice is a variable, every experience a data point.
Rocket Launch Live <- for the latest launches to date
Click on the image to enlarge, look closely at the bottom; just left of center is newly named Monet’s Fault.
Imagine the horror with which darkness, rain, and wind, fill persons who have lost their way in the night; and who, consequently, have not the pleasant prospect of warm fires, dry cloaths, and other refreshments, to support their minds in struggling with the inclemencies of the weather.
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding