Love! Is it the superlative expression of our innermost consciousness; the spark that ignites two souls, releasing the fire which shines forth as the beatific vision, illuminating all things? Or is love merely an excuse to draw forth from another the necessary nutrients required to satiate our own sensual and pathological desires?

Death! Is it a blessed release of our souls from the fetters of our fleshly prison; a doorway into an infinite eternity of freedom? Or is death merely the final insult, forced upon us by some unfathomable and unatainable foe, casting its shadow over us like a devious fog?

Life! Is it a manifestation of the almighty's ultimate drama, and we the thespians who emote in the shadow of his predestined plan? Or is life merely a slapstick rendition of his Divine Comedy, and we the jesters who are forced to serve as his crash-test dummies?

Robert C. Taylor