Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death–ought to decide, indeed, to earn one’s death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life.
Further reading
Magic acts
Strange Flowers 
That is amazing. I’ve just written my blog for today. Then come on here & read this & it seemed like a conversation with what I’d just written. I believe in fate.
Oh, was it about Baldwin as well? I’ve been reading ‘Go Tell it on the Mountain’ recently…20th century debut novels don’t come much better than that.
No, strangely it was about talismans. I’d literally just finished saying how useful my new postcard talisman is is to me. I came on here & read that SB rejected such things! I think we came to the same conclusion though by different routes. I ended by advocating living a passionate existence & so does SB. Thanks for your great selections…
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