A quotation captured my imagination this morning.  Consider that there are varieties of knowledge.  The knowledge that is acquired by learning the proper names of the elements, by learning how they combine to form complex molecules, by learning the mathematics by which molecular chemistry is expressed – are all types of knowledge.  Then there is the beauty felt by contemplating a sample of naturally occurring calcite crystals, – another variety of knowledge.

Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 wrote that the secret of life is “knowing how to fall in love and stay in love.”  He said this and wrote this on more than one occasion.  I am sure that Bradbury did not mean a serial infatuation.  What types of things, individuals, experiences speak to me, attract me, invite me to become? What gets me up in the morning? What am I willing to live (and die) for?

Those types of knowledge ought to be pursued with relentless resolve.

I like this rock tune.  It seems apt for launching a new year.  Dreams by Van Halen.

Dreams

By Van Halen

World turns black and white
Pictures in an empty room
Your love starts fallin’ down
Better change your tune
You reach for the golden ring
Reach for the sky
Baby just spread your wings

We’ll get higher and higher straight up we’ll climb
We’ll get higher and higher leave it all behind

Run, run, run, away
Like a train runnin’ off the track
The truth gets left behind
And falls between the cracks
Standing on broken dreams
But never losing sight
But you spread your wings

We’ll get higher and higher straight up we’ll climb
We’ll get higher and higher leave it all behind

So baby dry your eyes, save all the tears you’ve cried
Ohh that’s what dreams are made of
Oh baby we belong in a world that must be strong
Ohh that’s what dreams are made of

[Solo]

We’ll get higher and higher straight up we’ll climb
Higher and higher leave it all behind
Oh, we’ll get higher and higher who knows what we’ll find

So baby dry your eyes, save all the tears you’ve cried
Ohh, that’s what dreams are made of
Ohh, baby we belong in a world that must be strong
Ohh, that’s what dreams are made of

And in the end on dreams we will depend
Cause that’s what love is made of

Lyrics by Alex Van Halen, Edward Van Halen, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony