and now rereading prof nohrnberg's letter to me on the death of my grandfather, and finding it comforting and wise.

"Yes, the universe seems rather wasteful of human accomplishments, at least when the matter is considered from the point of view of our easily offended egos. Why load up consciousness with consciousness, so to speak, if it is all to be dispersed in the end? The Westerner thinks the soul can never die, but we are surrounded by souls that are dying or already dead; the Easterner thinks the soul is yet to be born, but we occasionally encounter souls that are living in eternity. We can hardly say that nothing truly of value is ever lost, but neither can we know how great a portion survives in some unsuspected form beyond our narrow ken."

(email, 2001)