How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.
Nor can that endure Which has not its foundations upon love, For love alone diminishes not, but shines with its own light, Makes an end of discord, softens the fires of hate, Restores peace in the world, Brings together the sundered, redresses wrong, Aids all and injures none. And who so invokes its aid will find peace and safety, And have no fear of future ill.
