Tenderness is rare compassionate warmth; a gentleness reserved for those for whom one feels deep affection. Or admiration. Or pity. Tenderness cannot occupy the same mind—at the same time—as the mind that harbors red-hot hatred or blind rage. Because tenderness feeds on the same emotional fuel required of those altered states. The mind distills experience in a manner similar to the way an oil refinery distills crude oil. Either jet fuel or petroleum jelly may emerge from the process, but not simultaneously. Similarly, emotions can create either Florence Nightingale or Charles Manson, but not in the same person and not at the same time. Or can they? Can the manner of combustion of flammable emotional fuels lead to two very different outcomes? For example, will causing an electrical spark lead to a different fire than striking a match? The answer is as simple and straightforward as coffee is clear and sweet.
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Everything exists along a continuum. Whenever I think deeply about a subject—any subject—I come to the inarguable conclusion that the object of my thought is a tiny spot within an unimaginably long spectrum. Invariably, every item and every idea is inexorably connected to every other item and idea. The connections initially may seem tenuous, but with enough attention those couplings become as real and as unbreakable as the links in the stainless steel chain to an anchor the size of a planet. I can visualize the way everything is connected to everything else like this: On a globe of any size, select a spot. From that spot, draw a line that bisects the globe. Then, draw another line perpendicular to the first. Continue one, each time halving the distance between the lines until the lines are so close together it is impossible to see any spaces between them. Pick any other spot and do the same. Keep selecting spots until ever spot on the globe and go through the same process until spot has been selected. In every direction, each spot is connected to every other spot. Perhaps my description does not do the concept justice. Maybe the concept is suited only to philosophy and not to graphical expression. Regardless, I stand by my assertion. Everything exists along a continuum; a spectrum of connections that links everything with everything else. Now, what do I do with this “knowledge?” That question is what propels me toward the oblivion toward which we all hurl. There is no reliable answer.
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Imagine a world in which the future is dictated by the selection of a paint color. Choose green and the universe will unfold in one way. Selected grey and the universe will provide a very different experience. Pick red and the future will appear utterly different from the one arising from the other color choices.
Knowing the choice of paint color will determine the course of the future, but not knowing precisely how the choice will impact the future, how much time would you spend making the selection?
Every choice we make is like the decision on paint color. Every. Single. Choice. Picking salmon over herring for dinner can alter everything for all time. The blue shirt instead of the brown one; ditto. The discrepancies between outcomes may be imperceptible, but they are real. If you choose the brown shirt, you may be party to the exploitation of laborers in Guatemala…people who worked in slave-like conditions in un-air-conditioned factories to make your shirt. The demand for the product manufactured in that factory—your choice of a shirt—could be the trigger that leads to an uprising and a revolution. Yeah. And the choice of a paint color could lead to the decimation of Amazon rain forests. Or, by contrast, to the transformation of entire cultures from living in barely-survivable conditions to lifestyles of comfort for every member of the tribe. Choices have far-reaching consequences. And indecision is a decision, in and of itself. No matter how hard we try, we cannot escape either blame or responsibility. Or both. You might as well choose deliberately.
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An unexpected message can brighten one’s day. This one is for you. It can mean anything you want it to mean. This secret message is for you, alone.
