I was obsessed with religious questions, the basics: Why are we here? Why is the world so beautiful?

If I am an angel, paint me with black wings.

Don't you see? It is a new age. It requires a new evil. And I am that new evil.

an intoxication with forbidden knowledge in which the natural things become unimportant.

Old truths and ancient magic, revolution and invention, all conspire to distract us from the passion that in one way or another defeats us all.

The NRA disgraced itself this morning with a self-serving press event in which they demonized the media and the entertainment industry for gun violence in America, and advocated a national data base for all mentally ill persons. They apparently want armed guards in all American schools, and it seems, armed volunteers as well. Shocking.

It's not so," I said. "And how long do you think it will sustain you, feeling and seeing and touching and tasting, if there is no love? No one with you?