don’t take this the wrong way

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The supreme triumph of reason, which is analytical, that is, destructive and dissolvent, is to cast doubt upon its own validity. A stomach ulcer ends by causing the stomach to digest itself, and reason ends by destroying the immediate and absolute validity of the concept of truth and of the concept of necessity. Both concepts are relative: there is no absolute truth, no absolute necessity. We call true that concept which agrees with the general system of all our concepts; and we call true that perception which does not contradict the system of our perceptions; truth, then, is coherence, connection.

(…) And so, neither the vital longing for human immortality can count on any rational confirmation nor can reason supply us with any incentive or consolation in life or any true end purpose for it. And yet, here in the depths of the abyss, the despair of the will and of the heart meets rational scepticism and in the encounter they embrace like brothers. And from this embrace, this tragic embrace, that is, this intimately loving embrace, will surge a wellspring of life, a life both true and terrible. It is scepticism, uncertainty, the final position reached by reason in its exercise of self-analysis, the analysis of its own validity, that provides a foundation upon which the heart’s despair must build its hope.

Miguel de Unamuno, “The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and Nations,” p. 116-18

basalt cliff/ liverworts/ lichen, Cladonia spp./ slime mold Trichia decipiens/ blue chanterelles/ amanitas/ honey mushroom/ bird’s nest fungi/ second growth forest/ an extra-large petrified stump/ S’il Vous Plait

words escape me

As the poets strained for metaphors to convey their enjoyment of speed and freedom, their verse became comic, but their sentiments remained true. Skiing was, for them, sacred play. Giddiness and ecstasy were the poles between which these skier-poets slalomed. –Bernard Mergen