The possession of a strong will and a clever head makes some things very difficult to see - Alan Watts

the mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.

The very identity of racist Southerners depends upon contrasting themselves with those dirty black “nigras.” But, conversely, the out-groups feel that they are really and truly “in,” and nourish their collective ego with relishingly indignant conversation about squares, Ofays, Wasps, Philistines, and the blasted bourgeoisie. Even Saint Thomas Aquinas let it out that part of the blessedness of the saints in Heaven was that they could look over the battlements and enjoy the “proper justice” of the sinners squirming in Hell. All winners need losers; all saints need sinners; all sages need fools — that is, so long as the major kick in life is to “amount to something” or to “be someone” as a particular and separate godlet.

Most of us believe in order to feel secure, in order to make our individual lives seem valuable and meaningful.