Transcendence

Transcendence, mother had said, is another word for escape. But escape to where? This life is all we have. To desire escape from life is to desire death. -- Karl Schroeder

Chesterton's Fence

If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering. -- Aldo Leopold

Normal(s)

one of the signs of an abusive relationship is the creeping normalization of the abnormal: that one takes the most disturbing or painful circumstances as a meter stick for everyday life, and assumes that what one is experiencing is in fact the way everyone else lives, and not an aberration -- Charles Stross