Nothing CAN be fun!

Gibran is wonderful, is he not, Jessica? A magnificent poet, philosopher, prophet, and
artist form the beautiful land of Lebanon--a second paradise, as Kahlil called his beloved
homeland.

Incidentally, Gibran had another quote relevant to nothing; he wrote, "My lonliness was born when men praised my talkative faults and blamed my silent virtues." And
you noticed a silent virtue, Jessica--I was having fun!

I'm delighted you noticed, Jessica, that which I did NOT SAY in my postings on nothing--i.e, I did not say that I was having fun but still you noticed. That felt nice. I often find it's fun, too, to try to be like Alice and see what isn't there--and what power of observation we then can have!

And though I'm having fun, I'm doing it seriously. As Heraclitus phrased the matter thousands of years ago in 500 B.C., "A man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play." No doubt of it, fun is a virtue. The superfluous is very important, said Voltaire. Or at least I think that's what Voltaire said, but maybe I'm mistaken inasmuch as making mistakes is an important part of who I am. In any case, the best thing about life, in fact, is that it's something to do instead of doing nothing.

I have read the new postings on dream theory but am again not understanding well. What I find I am longing for is a few succinctly and simply worded summary statments with an opportunity to get even them clarified so that I could start to believe I'm actually understanding. I don't do well with complexity unless I can first make it simple in my own mind. I mean really simple. I don't believe I understand something until I can say it so simply that I could teach it to young children. (When one tests one's understanding this way, it's wonderful how brilliant and well phrased are the implications that children will
then ask about--and with all the seriousness of play that makes them most nearly themselves--thank you Heraclitus.)

I immediately indentified with Seymour Cray (inventor the Cray supercomputers!) when I read his statement "I like simple; if it's complex then I don't understand it." So I like fun AND
simple; without them, complexity is beyond my grasp. When my reach exceeds my grasp, I grope.

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Relevant to nothing:

"I'm known as one who talks a lot; but thankfully many persons have helped me learn that silence is an under-valued language skill worth developing." Jim Duffy

Replies:

An email exchange: Neutrality and Nothing, by Jessica , 5/2/99

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