We must believe in free will — we have no choice.

— Isaac Bashevis Singer

Ironically funny, but my thoughts exactly, especially in this time when every nook and crook wants to emphasize fate and destiny.

There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It’s a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you ‘play’ with them!

— Richard Feynman

Ha, another one bites the dust.

We are often so blinded by the question whether we could,
We fail to consider whether we really should.

Never falters, the darkness of the night,
Pure and cherished, abstaining light.
Artists enrich, absolute spectrums colored
But miss serene beauty in pitch black.

Black, defines purity
Shades change name and emotion.
Undulating thoughts, stationary once
Dissipate into the abyss, from whence it came.

Under blissful stillness in the mountains,
Currents stream decisively, the veins lands yet see;
Nourishing what is, impartial, without a cause,
August setting to teach life lessons.

Beaten down path, the flow downstream,
Doubts remain to tread anew or to follow.
Calm and with purpose, conjoined into mother’s yoke.

Coarse and turbulent, the vivid upstream,
Discloses without bias, doorways supreme.
Sweet the prize, harder still the path.

Twin decisions lie ahead.
Swim against, reach the source,
Remain still, go with the flow.
How decides one?

Really like this story. We often forget that what we are now is an accumulation of experiences over years of successful endeavors and failed attempts.

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“But, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

h/t David Airey

There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This is a timeless observation. More true than ever, now.

Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Here’s my take.

Watching waves of hordes walking by,
A clarity dawns, suddenly.
The sense of joy, blossoming visages,
Evolved out of once parted tears.

When arrival welcomes the loved,
The parted, embrace the void. A wicked cycle.
The event, absolute,
the twisted coin, relative,
Binds in a mirage, to confound perspectives.