 If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power to move us! The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty. Consider living creatures—none lives so long as man. The May fly waits not for the evening, the summer cicada knows neither spring nor autumn. What a wonderfully unhurried feeling it is to live even a single year in perfect serenity! If that is not enough for you, you might live a thousand years and still feel it was but a single night's dream. We cannot live forever in this world; why should we wait for ugliness to over take us? The longer man lives, the more shame he endures. To die, at the latest, before one reaches forty, is the least unattractive. Once a man passes that age, he desires (with no sense of shame over his appearance) to mingle in the company of others. In his sunset years he dotes on his grandchildren, and prays for long life so that he may see them prosper. His preoccupation with worldly desires grows ever deeper, and gradually he loses all
sensitivity to the beauty of things, a lamentable state of affairs. *from ESSAYS IN IDLENESS by The Surezuregusa of Kenko. Translated by Donald Keene
Great video close up of recent NASA photographs of a sliver of the Universe. Every tiny dot is a star, perhaps a planet...similar to Earth.
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from and for Michael Dickes
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Photos used under Creative Commons from ipi6r, Guilherme Yagui, TMAB2003, goldsardine, Paul Stevenson, Mr. Theklan, SAASphotography, colinpoe
