What If I Were Smiling And Running

And If I Remain In The Dark About Our Purpose Here, And The Meaning Of Eternity, I Have Nevertheless Arrived At An Understanding Of A Few More Modest Truths: Most Of Us Fear Death. Most Of Us Yearn To Comprehend How We Got Here, And Why-- Which Is To Say, Most Of Us Ache To Know The Love Of Our Creator. And We Will No Doubt Feel That Ache, Most Of Us, For As Long As We Happen To Be Alive.

He Was Unheeded, Happy, And Near To The Wild Heart Of Life. He Was Alone And Young And Wilful And Wildhearted, Alone Amid A Waste Of Wild Air And Brackish Waters And The Seaharvest Of Shells And Tangle And Veiled Grey Sunlight.

Although The Far Territory Of The Extreme Can Exert An Intoxicating Pull On Susceptible Individuals Of All Bents, Extremism Seems To Be Especially Prevalent Among Those Inclined By Temperament Or Upbringing Toward Religious Pursuits. Faith Is The Very Antithesis Of Reason, Injudiciousness A Crucial Component Of Spiritual Devotion. And When Religious Fanaticism Supplants Ratiocination, All Bets Are Suddenly Off.

He Needed His Solitude At Times, But He Wasn't A Hermit. He Did A Lot Of Socializing. Sometimes I Think It Was Like He Was Storing Up Company For The Times When He Knew Nobody Would Be Around.

It Is Easy, When You Are Young, To Believe That What You Desire Is No Less Than What You Deserve, To Assume That If You Want Something Badly Enough, It Is Your God-given Right To Have It.