Up. Down

New York, New York lyrics: “I’m number one / Top of the list / Head of the heap / King of the hill”

When we stand at the summit of personal achievement, there is only one way to go: Down.

The full catastrophe

The real calamity is not that we die but that we are born. There is no school of truth. We are fated to find out the hard way that life has no opposite.

Everything

Everything begins and ends. We’re good with beginnings, not so good with endings.

Sweet spot

There is a sweet spot between the patterned polarities of optimism and pessimism: acceptance. Allowing what is to be. This is a rich and loamy soil. Eros inhabits it. Green erupts from it.

Binary mind

Replacing negative thinking with positive thinking is like seeking relief from the South Pole by travelling to the North Pole. Less thinking is the better bet. How much less? Oh, say 80 percent.