A Kiss Is Still A Kiss
Hello and good day!
There was a time in my life when I tried to go back and read all the classic books I was supposed to have read in high school and college.
In particular, I remember tackling War and Peace by Tolstoy. I felt so good, superior really, carrying around that thick, thousand-page book with me wherever I went.
People asked me what I was reading, and I stood up very straight and proud, with my chin up in the air, and it was my privilege to inform them that I was reading the greatest novel of all time, War and Peace. I was on page 675 and still had 400 pages to go, thank you very much.
They whistled, impressed.
Then, many years later, I suggested to my wife that she read War and Peace. I bought her a copy translated into Spanish, as Spanish is her first language, and she delved in. A couple days later, I asked her what she thought about the iconic work of literature.
"It's a telenovela," she said. A soap opera.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "I thought it was going to be a very deep book. But it's just a bunch of people falling in love and fighting and making up and there is good and evil, and revenge and war and jealousy and people are wondering about God and religion. You know, just regular stuff."
Hmmm. I thought about that, and I realized that she was absolutely right.
You might assume that War and Peace is a hard book to read because it is thick and revered, but in truth, it is a very entertaining, well written, extended soap opera.
It is a book about people living their lives in Russia during the Napoleonic wars, but they might as well be people living in the United States or Peru in 2023. The highs and lows and problems and joys are the same as always.
Here is something else to get your head around. 85% of human and mice DNA is the same. 70% of human and slug DNA is the same. 50% of human and plant DNA is the same.
Half of human DNA and half of cacao tree DNA are the same. You are part cacao! Actually, you are part everything, and everything is part you.
17 or 18 years ago my Uncle Carl sent me an essay that he wrote. Carl was my mother's brother. Unfortunately, he has since passed away.
When I was growing up my mom loved to tell me how she used to pester her older brother by following him around and saying in an annoying, whiney voice, "play with me Schmarl!".
Later in life, Carl converted to Christianity. He was a brilliant man who studied astronomy extensively. His essay was an attempt to square the book of Genesis with what physicists have discovered about the origin of the universe.
One thing from that essay has always stuck with me. In it, he asserted that every element that makes up the human body was originally created in stars.
It's true. Look it up. Humans are made from stardust.
I also remember an interview I heard with the world's leading expert on nuclear fusion. He said that one of the best things fusion scientists can do is take Einstein's formula E = mc(squared) quite literally. Energy = mass times the speed of light squared.
Mass is nothing more than a certain quantity of energy. Energy and mass are one and the same. Everything in the universe is made of the same stuff.
This all makes me think of the beautiful old song from Casablanca,
As Time Goes By
In case you've forgotten, here are the lyrics.
You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by
And when two lovers woo
They still say "I love you"
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by
Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate
Woman needs man, and man must have his mate
That no one can deny
It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by
Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate
Woman needs man, and man must have his mate
That no one can deny
It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by
I take great comfort in knowing that the wisdom needed to live a good life is readily available. It has been around a long time and has more or less been the same for as long as human beings have lived together in societies.
Not only that. We form part of an underlying tapestry that connects us to all of nature and the entire universe.
Reality is a unified whole and the rules that govern reality and human relations are well known and understood.
All that remains is for individuals to make their choice about whether they will live in accordance with the rules or not.
Anyhow, I am running out of steam on this line of thought for now.
I wish I had a snappy way to sum it all up, but I don't, and my brain is fried from trying to think deep thoughts.
Thank you so much for your time today.
I hope that you have a truly blessed day!
Adam
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