Ascension

He smiled and stood up. “Because that’s what life is. A constant climb. Eternal growth. The continual battle against entropy. It doesn’t matter what the destination is, or what’s at the top; all that matters is that you keep climbing. That’s what it means to be alive, Harold. That’s what it means to be human.

I wish there was a word for things that you do not because you want to do them but because you want to be the sort of person that wants to do them.

Whatever is going to happen, it’s going to happen. It’s already happened. It’s happening right now. It’s up to you to decide how you make that count. How beautiful you let that be.

People like to think empathy means being able to imagine how you'd feel in a certain situation,' she said, head tilted, holding my gaze. 'But it really doesn't. It means being able to imagine how they'd feel, and how it might be completely different from you.

Progress is never easy, but it is necessary.

There’s something that runs deeper than that – biological instinct, perhaps, that won’t let you go through with mutilating yourself.

The Japanese have a word, yūgen, for when one becomes aware of the immensity of the universe. It is, in part, a feeling of total insignificance and abject humility. A realization of how tiny one really is. But only in part, for it also intersects with a sensation of perfect peace and pure balance, a sudden understanding of one’s place in the harmony of the cosmos.

What we have is will. The will to act. It's what makes us human. If we give up when things get tough, then we're just dumb animals scrambling around in the mud.

Even though I missed her every day, and it brought me pain, I remembered her every day. You can’t just pretend the past doesn’t exist and move on. There are no new beginnings, Harry. They carry all the old ones with them. The only way to live in the present is to embrace the past, to use it as a seed to grow the future.

Not everything here is as it seems.

You don’t forgive people because they deserve it, Harry,” she said. I turned back—a half turn. A look. “That’s not what forgiveness is for. You forgive people because they need it. You need it.

That I would never forget this moment. That it would stick with me forever. But time passed and the moment drifted into obscurity like all moments eventually do. I know. It feels like this will haunt you forever. But it won’t. Things never do.

Nobody spoke. Words felt insufficient, out of place. In the face of its magnitude, simile and metaphor felt ridiculous.

It’s like a seed—it carries the past inside of it. Through it, our memories are allowed to grow and flourish. It’s how we remember who we are: culturally, individually, spiritually. Through ritual.

God doesn’t care if you believe in Him or not. Or if you love Him. It doesn’t change the fact that when we are at our most holy, when we exhibit dignity and humility, when we are closest to God’s image—that is when we feel our most human.

It’s not reliving, it’s . . . ritual. How can I put it? These days, particularly here, we’re always encouraged to try new things. To be innovative, to be inventive. Novelty has inherent value. How I grew up, it was different. In Japan, to be a master craftsman is not to try anything new. It is to pick one thing and perfect it. There are chefs who devote an entire lifetime to making one specific type of sushi. Blacksmiths who make only one knife, over and over and over again, seeking impossible perfection. Everyone here is obsessed with moving on, with the new. They forget about their connection to the past. This . . .” She pointed at the netsuke. “It’s like a seed—it carries the past inside of it. Through it, our memories are allowed to grow and flourish. It’s how we remember who we are: culturally, individually, spiritually. Through ritual.

You can't just pretend the past doesn't exist and move on. There are no new beginnings, Harry. They carry all the old ones with them. The only way to live in the present is to embrace the past, to use it as a seed to grow the future.

Christ, I hope so. Nothing worse than working with people who aren’t your friends.