“They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. THEY LIVE.”
–John Carpenter’s “They Live”

Sarvam annam, everything is food. We feed not only on vegetarian or non-vegetarian food, but on all sound and visual vibrations, on all kinds of impressions: architectural proportions, union of forms and colors, harmonies and rhythms of music, and all the ideas with which we come in contact. All this, absorbed mechanically and without real attention throughout the day, has made up our being and continues to do so.
–From Roberto Assagioli’s “The Act of Will”

I want to be your absolute ultimate
Want to be your only one now
Feel the wave come up from your sulkiness
Feel the rays you radiate now

Sweet and plain unsingable name
That rings in my mind now
That strums me like a string
Shine, unsingable name
Over everything

Beware the thrum of hearts in your presence and
Watch the breeze that snaps at you now
All the dogs that bark from the fences and
Everything is wanting for you
Smirk on the face and fists in the clenches and
Make the radiator blow now
Crack the planks and shatter the lenses and
Mix the salt, the sugar and flour
–From Mike Doughty’s “Unsingable Name”

Ever wonder why you eat beef and not cow? Pork and not pig? Because when the Normans ruled England, the commoners in the field used their word for the animal, and the French nobility in the castle used their word for the meat that was served to them:

In 1066, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons. After the invasion, the Norman kings and the nobility spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman, while English continued to be the language of the common people. This class distinction can still be seen in the English language today in words such as “beef” vs. “cow” and “pork” vs. “pig.” The aristocracy commonly ate beef and pork, which are derivatives of Anglo-Norma, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle and hogs, retained the Germanic and ate cow and pig. Many legal terms, such as “indict,” “jury,” and “verdict” also have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ruled the courts. It was not uncommon for French words to replace Old English words; for example, “uncle” replaced “eam” and “crime” replaced “firen.” French and English also combined to form new words, such as the French “gentle” and the Germanic “man” forming “gentleman” (Bryson1990). To this day, French-based words hold a more official connotation than do Germanic-based ones.
–From The Great Melting Pot of Language

Suddenly I turned around and she was standin’ there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair.
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns.
“Come in,” she said,
“I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”

Now there’s a wall between us, somethin’ there’s been lost
I took too much for granted, got my signals crossed.
Just to think that it all began on a long-forgotten morn.
“Come in,” she said,
“I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”
– Bob Dylan, “Shelter From the Storm”