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61 " it is the emptiness of the bowl that creates the bowl "
― Nick Flynn , The Reenactments
62 " My father may not hear voices but he also has an impossible project, he’s also filled with a force larger than himself. In nearly every letter my father has sent me for the last twenty-five years he tells me his writing is going very, very well. His novel, such as it is, if it is at all, written in blackout and prison, is his ark, the thing that will save him, that will save the world. His single-mindedness impresses most, his fathomless belief in his own greatness, in his powers to transform a failed world, to make it whole again by a word, by a story. That if you stick with your vision long enough you will be redeemed. All this in the face of near-constant evidence to the contrary. The actual circumstances of his life—his alcoholism, the crimes he’s committed, his homelessness and decades of poverty—these are mere tests, and what is a faith not tested? Noah needed to gather nails, to sort the animals, to convince his sons. He planed his timber and laid out the ribs. His ark would be bigger than the temple. We all need to create the story that will make sense of our lives, to make sense of the daily tasks. Yet each night the doubts returned, howling through him. Without doubt there can be no faith. At daybreak Noah looked to the darkening sky and vowed to work faster. My father cannot die, he tells me, will not, until his work is completed. But is there a deadline inside him for when he must finish, a day, like Noah, when the rains begin? When the boat, finished or not, begins to rise from the cradle? "
― Nick Flynn , Another Bullshit Night in Suck City
63 " How am I doing? He nods. I smile and turn the question over in my mind. I begin to point out that it isn't really the right question, but start to laugh before I can finish, and keep on laughing, a laughter that builds on it self. How am I doing? he might as well ask, Would you like more pebbles in your shoes, or Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like the play? "
― Nick Flynn
