A song for Rachel

One of the most incredible human traits: the capacity for new beginnings, the ability to look forward..."if" (G. Steiner). In fact, so amazing that it almost doesn't seem human...a superabundance of will, vision, imagination. But a beginning is also opened up for one...

What once was not, suddenly is; and the other way around, too. This strange intertwining, like that of "black" and "sun". All this is a mystery.

No-one knows a thing about the distribution of "it". Some are destined to be happy, others: not so. That's the way it is. A stoical or religious inclination don't very much appeal to you. What now of philosophy or theology? A kind of dizziness, nausea, or vertigo in the face of the sheer unknowingness of freedom and destiny. No-one knows what is what, or who is who. The tree of life, the tree of knowledge.

And yet, there is the pragmatic spirit as well: 'do what you can', don't think too deeply.

Vaguely remember former times, times of freedom, spontaneity, and play. But much is blotted out by the structures of dominance, the rigorous institutionalization of discipline and unfreedom.