The Essence of Nathan Biddle

by J. William Lewis

The hush of the evening was punctuated only by the incessant, rhythmic pounding of the surf like a gigantic heart.

Maybe what bothered me was the thought that Nietzsche was supposed to be a genius and his poem was supposed to be extraordinary; but I didn’t appreciate either the content of the poem or the poetics. I wondered if there was something wrong with me.

Come on in here and let me buy you some balm for the fret du jour, whatever it may be. There’s hardly any fret a couple of beers won’t soothe.”

“I just know that I am not the author of this story. I am a mere player and thus constrained to follow the script even in the face of uncertainty or, God help us, total absurdity.”

I like to buy a cigar sometimes and smoke it and think about things. Everything seems more serious and consequential when you’re smoking a cigar.

As you may know, it is established fact that people who have no father, or even a distant father, often have difficulty with the concept of God. Maybe it’s because a person’s first idea of God is his father.”

I have gradually formed a belief system that, I will candidly admit to you, is not susceptible of verification. I think that we are here for a purpose that unfortunately remains shrouded, and I think God has expectations of us that he reveals to us in his time and only if we listen. For some reason, the hard part seems to be learning how to listen. I think the thing you need to do is to listen to what he’s trying to tell you.”

“Plants thrive after pruning. And crops grow best in manure. Don’t dismiss calamity until you can look over your shoulder and see what it has produced.”

“People are attracted to one another,” Dr. Gross interjected, “because of perceptions at the time: special gifts, perceived benefits, the satisfaction of needs in the association. In that sense, we are all meeting the needs or failing to meet the needs of others. When needs cease to be met as expected, the attractions begin to disappear, and repulsions replace them. If that’s being used by someone, then we’re all tools in one way or another to those in our milieu.”

I ignored the fact that truth has its own vitality, its own primal essence like blood, and I failed to understand that love is nourished and sustained by truth.