John's Dura Mater Blog

“Humans consider themselves unique, so they’ve rooted their whole theory of existence on their uniqueness. “One” is their unit of “measure” — but its not. All social systems we’ve put into place are a mere sketch: “one plus one equals two”, that’s all we’ve learned, but one plus one has never equaled two — there are in fact no numbers and no letters, we’ve codified our existence to bring it down to human size, to make it comprehensible, we’ve created a scale so we can forget its unfathomable scale…Time is the only true unit of measure, it gives proof to the existence of matter, without time, we don’t exist. “

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now, and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. - Mark Twain (1924)

Life is about trust. Trust isn't always rewarded, but on the other hand, if you make decisions based on trust, they always seem to have a sort of rightness to them. - Johnny Worricker

It's an important question you ask - But one, I think, with a simple answer. We have this need, you and I, from the time we are little, to peek over your neighbor's fence. And once we do, we see there's wonder waiting on the other side. Every step you take brings the world one step closer. You'll narrow the influence of narrow minds. You'll bridge continents. Puncture prejudice. And keep peace. You may not always know it at the time, but one day you will look back and see that you've made this world a better place. So, the question you asked me - 'what is the key'?  It's you. - Trans-Siberian Railway     Travel the World Better

“If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions" - Hsin Hsin Ming

“Have you ever seen the aftermath of a suicide bomber? I have. I was meeting two associates at a restaurant in Tel Aviv. As my car was pulling up, a twenty year old Palestinian entered the restaurant and detonated a vest wired with C4. The shockwave knocked me flat, blew out my eardrums; I couldn't hear. The smoke.. it was like being underwater. I went inside – a nightmare. Blood, parts of people.. You could tell where he was standing when the vest blew. It was like.. a perfect circle of death. There was almost nothing left of the people closest to him. 17 dead, 46 injured. Blown to pieces. The closer they were to the bomber, the more horrific the effect.  That's every suicide. Every single one. An act of terror, perpetrated against everyone who's ever known you. Everyone who's ever loved you. The people closest to you, the ones who cherish you, are the ones who suffer the most pain, the most damage. Why would you do that? Why would you do that to people who love...

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. -T. S. Eliot