The cure for suffering…is not to be submerged in unconsciousness, but to be raised to consciousness and suffer more. The evil of suffering is cured by more suffering, by higher suffering…. Do not close your eyes to the agonizing Sphinx, but look her in the face, and let her seize you in her mouth, and crunch you with her hundred thousand poisonous teeth, and swallow you.

Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life (cited in The Black Sun, by Stanton Marlan) __________________________________________________________________

(29)  Shark Attack When I returned home to Fairbanks in late February, I received a full written report from the Mayo Clinic. I discovered that I had “severe bi-atrial enlargement,” meaning that two of the chambers of my heart were now more than twice their normal size. This sounded ominous to me. Once again I was scared for my life. I’ve never been able to find reassurance in optimistic clichés, such as It is always darkest just before the dawn.  This saying has always seemed to me to be nothing more than Pollyannaish self-delusion, a mantra employed to deny reality. No, it’s better to look Reality squarely in the face, and to be wary of false promises that things will get better: It is always darkest…. Just before it gets pitch black.   March 14, 2007