The General and the Particular

Aging man, by the stove, stirring oatmeal…

We can discuss the nature of things, the way of man, a God mindful of him? Being? Does life open to the sacred, or the sacred reveal itself? And so on…

Or, instead, look closely at concrete events.

Aging man, by the stove, stirring oatmeal…

Yet when the man bears no name nor history, and the meal’s been prepared countless times, boundaries fade and particulars evoke universals.

Aging man, by the stove, stirring oatmeal…