Human individuals are often surprising. Each of us is the consequence of genetic inheritance, and of conditioning. What I mean to say by conditioning – that complex of geography, of the point in time of a civilization’s/people’s stage of development, of the style and degree of nurture received from one’s parents, of the texture of experience of education, etc., etc..  Differently expressed nature and nurture contribute to the adult individual that each of us becomes.

Also, we ought not to neglect the interplay between the biological inheritance, our genes, and the constraints of circumstances.  We are complicated, each bears an internalized scale

of values, our “table of goods.” That matrix of values, the soul is expressed in our behavior, by every project that we attempt. Do we not need others? Through conversation we reflect the shapes of our souls to one another. The projects that are near and dear to us, also reveal the particular shape, the nature of the soul of it’s creator(s).

These thoughts came to mind while in the course of several extended conversations with car owners, crew chiefs, drivers of race cars at Great Lakes Drag-a-Way track on Saturday.  The collection of photos shows the unique, strange, weirdly wonderful variety, of race car designs, graphics, some of which is wry, and makes one laugh to oneself, also signage which links to the 1960’s heyday of the sport.  A lifetime of individuality, a special unique expression of the structure of a soul can be appreciated in the form, in the engineering, in the paint color choice, even in the graphics of each race car.  More on this tomorrow.

Which group of sensations
is aroused, expresses itself and
issues commands in a soul most quickly,
is decisive
for the whole order of rank
of its values
and ultimately determines
its table of goods.

The values of a human being
betray something of the structure
of his/her soul…

Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Walter Kaufmann, aphorism 268