Wonder

Ursula Le Guin reasserts herself as my favourite writer, this strikes so close to my personal credo. Here she reviews a Salman Rushdie novel in The Guardian:

Some boast that science has ousted the incomprehensible; others cry that science has driven magic out of the world and plead for “re-enchantment”. But it’s clear that Charles Darwin lived in as wondrous a world, as full of discoveries, amazements and profound mysteries, as that of any fantasist. The people who disenchant the world are not the scientists, but those who see it as meaningless in itself, a machine operated by a deity. Science and literary fantasy would seem to be intellectually incompatible, yet both describe the world; the imagination functions actively in both modes, seeking meaning, and wins intellectual consent through strict attention to detail and coherence of thought, whether one is describing a beetle or an enchantress. Religion, which prescribes and proscribes, is irreconcilable with both of them, and since it demands belief, must shun their common ground, imagination. So the true believer must condemn both Darwin and Rushdie as “disobedient, irreverent, iconoclastic” dissidents from revealed truth.

As quoted in Science Notes and Missing Points.

Update on solitude

It has taken me years of living alone, all the while knowing how much solitude meant to me, to get anywhere near a sense of peace and balance with it. I used to use it too much as an escape, and at times I was terribly lonely.

Just this week I achieved a level or orderliness as never before (partly because Dad was coming to visit on the weekend, and he is so meticulous, and the thought of him dealing with the mess made me uncomfortable, but this is also part of a process that has little to do with him). The apartment is both more functional for me and hospitable toward others than it has ever been. It's exciting. It's lovely having uncluttered spaces in which to work, and not getting depressed every time I walk into the kitchen. My own experience of personal space, boundaries and creative time continues to evolve.

Sometimes I'm still at odds with the loneliness, and want change the situation. Perhaps I will, but at the moment most considerations point toward staying here alone. It doesn't discourage me to think I'm 44 and still working out these issues. They're immensely important. The journey is rich.

This was a comment I made elsewhere, repeated here as a personal signpost.