I don't want Paradise

(A fragment)

I know that the happiness of seeing beauty, of experiencing a connection with »history« - the sheer pleasure of travelling - is nothing but an expression of the longing for the wider, greater, brighter bliss of ineffable domains.

I know that the beauty of this world is a mere – and very pale, immeasurably pale – reflection of "What-is-to-come", of the great Beyond. But I am willing to settle for it. I am willing to forgo the highest bliss of the Whole for the bitter-sweet pleasure of the humble human Quest. To forever wander (and wonder) – as long as it is in the company of my loved ones, so be it.

I don't want Paradise. I want those glimpses of it, from among the thorns and out of the mud road, that make up our human happiness.