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               “A faint glow streamed from behind the building into the sky, the reflection of thousands of unknown lights, the electric breath of the city.  She wanted to rest.  To rest, she thought, and to find enjoyment somewhere.                Her work was all she had wanted.  But there were times, like tonight, when she felt […]

               “In creating, we make our own concrete objects and events out of abstractions; we bring the abstraction down and back to its specific meaning, to the concrete; but the abstraction has helped us to make the kind of concrete we want the concrete to be.  It has helped us to create—to reshape the world […]

               It was a new moon night, and without its light, stars appeared in even greater splendor as cast across seaside sky that mirrored on the ebb tide as oceans rose to moon in day on far side of the world.                 The low waters rose in undulations, breaking on the rocky shore, and from […]

               It was not a job Ryan enjoyed, but looking at the pasture-paddock, he saw no other choice.  Across the hillside, there were only weeds: ragweed, briars, and a lower weed that smothered the ground and no animal would eat.                 For years, he’d left alone, as the cattle picked through and ate on the […]

               “…had I not believed that after death the life of the soul remains with the consequences of our acts, a belief which Epicurus rejected; and I asked: If we were immortal and lived in unending bodily pleasure, with no fear of losing it, why should we not be happy?  What else should we be […]

               “…to make conversation, to share a joke, to perform mutual acts of kindness, to read together well-written books, to share in trifling and serious matters, to disagree though without animosity—just as a person debates with himself—and in the very rarity of disagreement to find the salt of normal harmony, to teach each other something […]

“…free curiosity has greater power to stimulate learning than rigorous coercion.”—Saint Augustine, Confessions _____                “And what have you learned?” Annie was asked.                    Annie listened, staring out from veranda upon street of colors, culture, and charm—all new, enchanting, to her.  She had wanted to go, to see and learn, and so they went […]