August 07, 2008

The truth

Originally published February 28, 2005

I once thought I knew The Truth. I once thought that I could see it and understand it. But I was mistaken.

The older I get, the more fungible and diaphanous Truth seems to be. It's not etched in stone. It's more like a bead of mercury sliding around on a plate of glass. You can see the perfection of the bead, but you can't pick it up. If you try, it breaks into smaller pieces and they all form their own perfect little beads on the glass and you can't pick up any of those, either. If you play with those beads long enough, they will poison you.

That's the Truth.