L E S T O N P E C K
PROLOGUE
Our lives are collections of events scattered unevenly along our way. We are followed by these events, and by the spirits and shadows of our former selves. We are left to ponder these old energies as they revisit us from time to time, crisscrossing our paths, leaving us to navigate our mysteries, to interpret our dreams and unravel the anthropology of ourselves, our families, and our friends, all while making plans for our daily life as we travel through time and space, until our end.
ANOTHER COUNTRY
The harsh and unforgiving state of human existence can't pass unnoticed. It leaves us sighing and yelling, in whispers and rages, at the world around us. Unfairness and injustice are the threads that run through all the tragedy and violence in the world. The poor behave badly and break the law because they do not know how to get what they want, often with catastrophic consequences. While the rich behave badly and break the law because they do know how to get what they want, with little or no consequence at all. Civilization in general, and Democracy in particular, require a shared reality to exist, survive, and prosper. We need longer views, bigger ideas, honest hopes.
"The atoms of our bodies are traceable to stars that manufactured them in their cores and exploded these enriched ingredients across our galaxy, billions of years ago. For this reason, we are biologically connected to every other living thing in the world. We are chemically connected to all molecules on Earth. And we are atomically connected to all atoms in the universe. We are not figuratively, but literally stardust."
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
At one point, we humans believed the sun revolved around the earth. It seems silly now. If, however, the sun actually circled our globe, it would look the same as it does today. The point is: what do we really see or know? In our 'dominion' on earth, we are gracelessly ruling over what we don't understand, while living among the flora, fauna and fragments of stars. We are born with two secrets that are joined like the two sides of a coin. One is about ourselves and the other is about the universe. The purpose of life is to discover these two secrets that are hidden within the enigma of human nature.