I was talking to my dad as he drove me home, and I commented on how one classmate was saying Nostradaumus (sp?) predicted that the Apocalypse will come bearing his four Horsemen before him--Hunger, War, Pestilence and Death. And each Horseman will take its turn to come. And the world has just passed the stage of war and gone into Pestilence, hence the numerous types of diseases that are running amok in the world now.

My parents are both of the faith belonging to the Buddhism--Soka Gakkai, which teaches the Buddhism of Syakamuni Buddha. However, the presidents of Soka have made this faith a very practical thing, a very simple thing, yet one that holds a lot of profound thoughts in it (I am a very strong atheist, but even I agree with a lot of their philosophies), and my dad has studied a lot into this faith, and is a leader in his district.

So, he was saying how the four Horsemen of Apocalypse aren't enough to emcompass the whole concept. He put it very briefly to me ('cause I'm not as learned in it as him) that all worlds go through four stages: Birth; Development; Breakdown; and Returning to the Void. After which, the whole process will start again. That is how the universe works. And that is how life works.

I agree.

He also talked about a book my neighbor lent him, one written by the Dalai Llhma (sp?), ttitled: "Life and Death." And in it, the DL was saying about how people always differentiated between just LIFE, and just DEATH, without conscious thought of the process and the time-frame in-between both. My dad didn't explain further, but I'm now very intrigued, and will get my hands on that book ASAP.

If all else notwithstanding, I've got a new idea for a story, at least. And have understood how, in the ultimate end, mere words fail to express what is the simplest, yet, the most moving, and the most profound, and only one's soul can feel and express those things, in which we understand what life is about, without using words, without using thoughts...