Beauty is not the goal of competitive sports, but high-level sports are a prime venue for the expression of human beauty.

But if I decide to decide there’s a different, less selfish, less lonely point to my life, won’t the reason for this decision be my desire to be less lonely, meaning to suffer less overall pain? Can the decision to be less selfish ever be anything other than a selfish decision?

I perhaps could have been somewhat better. One of the interesting things about playing competitive sports as a child is that you confront your own limitations rather starkly at a certain point.

I think the only thing for me, the tricky thing with the footnotes, is that they are an irritant, and they require a little extra work, and so they either have to be really germane or they have to be kind of fun to read.

Do not underestimate objects.

The parts of me that used to think I was different or smarter or whatever, almost made me die.

If you worship power, you will feel weak and afraid, needing ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay.