Just for a few minutes. Not literally.<\/p>\n
The way things look is undeniable.<\/p>\n
The more we look, the more we see. And it’s still undeniable.<\/p>\n
But behind it all. Between shadows and flickers of distraction, is some other thing, a gossamer lighthouse, impossible and tall.<\/p>\n
I don’t know what other shapes it has; only the ones I’ve seen: It’s the desperate hope that the way something looks is not the way it will be. Will be tomorrow. Will wake up. Will have some greater meaning.<\/p>\n
Hope is a spark that flares inside a broken heart and hides\u00a0before the faceless\u00a0winds of a disinterested time, that cycles and turns but never brings us back to the source of that\u00a0indefinable, indefatigable longing for something that was. Is no more.<\/p>\n
Step outside. Ignore the world. Ignore what happened. Ignore what you know. Hope.<\/p>\n
And when you step back inside, and the world crashes in like a drowning man demanding air: It’s ok. It’ll be there when you step outside again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just for a few minutes. Not literally. The way things look is undeniable. The more we look, the more we see. And it’s still undeniable. But behind it all. Between shadows and flickers of distraction, is some other thing, a gossamer lighthouse, impossible and tall. I don’t know what other shapes it has; only the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[98,159,90,161],"tags":[],"metadata":[],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-bashful-hope","category-all-posts","category-blog-posts","category-poetry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":255,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/11\/06\/sons-of-r-gamliel\/","url_meta":{"origin":572,"position":0},"title":"Sons of R’ Gamliel","author":"Pala","date":"November 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The following have coalesced in my mind: The first module of the Mishna; the study of Mishna vs Torah; the temporal track-marks of Judaism. First I'll introduce these, and then unpack them as a whole. First The first Mishna teaches the times for the recitation of Shema in the evening[I].\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A Bashful Hope"","block_context":{"text":"A Bashful Hope","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/blog-posts\/a-bashful-hope\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1191,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/06\/02\/the-day-cupid-dropped-acid\/","url_meta":{"origin":572,"position":1},"title":"The Day Cupid Dropped Acid","author":"Pala","date":"June 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: Reflections about drug (and love) experiences, in which emotions and feelings are analysed (\u201cHacking\u201d) that are intensely felt but too changing and formless (as in \u201cchariot mysticism\u201d) to give reliable solid information; \u201cto be studied but not believed; or Hacking the chariot of fire.\u201d The reflections are deeply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":772,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/03\/11\/when-i-first-met-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":572,"position":2},"title":"When I first met god","author":"Pala","date":"March 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I first met Adam he was picketing cigarette sales outside a convenience store. When I think of him now, I think of his bulging eyes, sweaty stubble, the smell of aniseed as he leaned in confidentially to whisper something he thought must be a secret, but back then he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1779,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/05\/03\/defining-molecular-biology-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":572,"position":3},"title":"Defining molecular biology","author":"Pala","date":"May 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: This Essay was found as a 'draft' entry in Everything2. It was last updated on 03\/05\/2011. To\u00a0me,\u00a0molecular biology is that part of\u00a0biology\u00a0that is concerned with the\u00a0molecules\u00a0that make up biological systems. It is concerned with those molecules' lives, and the way they interact with each other. It manipulates molecules\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1126,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/04\/25\/perplexed-sceptical-but-searching\/","url_meta":{"origin":572,"position":4},"title":"Perplexed, Sceptical, But Searching","author":"Pala","date":"April 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"[Editor: Poor and looks barren] This is probably antithetical to the goal Not happy with this. Plan: Opening room for hope [Optional section, dry but makes methodology justified - how to test belief systems [Optional section: cleaning the board; religion vs Judaism, and implications for approaching a test here. Marking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2955,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/06\/21\/closing-down-eofy-sale-summer-hols\/","url_meta":{"origin":572,"position":5},"title":"Closing Down EOFY Sale Summer Hols","author":"Pala","date":"June 21, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A new psychology, or \u201cA Title Which Says QUICK HELP\u201d I\u2019ve dabbled in a model for my vision of Torah-originated mapping of our experiences, such that it would not defy approach by strange elocution, whose tempo and logic dance and lose themselves in weaves, and would instead welcome by dazzling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-9e","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}