The woman you buy - and she is the least expensive - takes a great deal of money. The woman who gives herself takes all your time. -- Balzac % Shortly before the departure [death] of Rabbi Sholem [of Belz], he received news of a great invention: carriages that travelled without horses. In other words, the first railways. For a moment Reb Sholem was lost in thought. "I fear," he said, "I fear very much lest salvation should come in a natural way." The reason for his fear was as follows: If salvation were to come by supernatural means, more or less miraculously, like the departure from Egypt, there would no longer be any doubters and unbelievers. Everybody would believe in God and His omnipotence. If, however, salvation came in a natural way, even if it was only an apparently natural way, then doubters would continue to exist on the earth. The holy Reb Yisrul of Ruzhen likewise shared this fear with Reb Sholem. What the two saints foresaw with some trepidation has manifestly come to pass, and in this too, as always, God has heard their prayers. We need now have no fear lest salvation may perhaps come in a natural way. In this modern age it is quite clear that the world will not find any salvation in all these human inventions. -- Jiri Langer, "Nine Gates to the Chassidic Mysteries" (pp. 53-54) % Buddha told a parable in a sutra: A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine maintained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it Tasted! % If Pacman had affected us as kids we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music. -- Mike Rudel % END