1. I know
zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same
problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.
2. I can
well imagine an atheist's last words: “White, white! L-L-Love! My
God!”—and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he
stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry,
yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing
him by saying, “Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,”
and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.
3. [W]ithout
Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you my story.
4. Life on
a lifeboat isn't much of a life. It is like an end game in chess,
a game with few pieces. The elements couldn't be more simple, nor
the stakes higher.
5. The lower
you are, the higher your mind will want to soar.
