Being with Children My five years old niece asked me a seemingly simple question: How do we get days & nights? I groped for an expedient way to explain: When the Sun sets its night, when the Sun rises its daytime. Her follow up questions of Whys & Hows truly threw me off. The train of inquiry was clearly leading to the questions of the Big Bang, so to say. And then a thought occurred to me: if there is no intelligent meaning to the Universe, & if everything is just a random accident, how was I to give hope for the life that still lies ahead of her? Dostoevsky had wrote: If you were to destroy in mankind the belief in immortality, not only love but every living force maintaining the life of the world would at once be dried up. Moreover, nothing then would be immoral, everything would be lawful, even cannibalism. Children of men are proof that we do secretly believe in immortality (in whatever form), & meaning in the Universe. It is important that we believe in the practice of hope. Without which nihilism will rule. I love spending time with her, she makes me a curious child again, softens me, comforts me, & guides me. I will miss her
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 04:31:53 +0000