Sign In, Sign Out, Sign On, Sign Off

A new recurring theme...

"We have every option open to us. We can do anything. But we're trained to look for a quick and easy solution that will let us go back to our ordinary lives, and it doesn't work that way. If you want to do something, you're going to have to be dedicated and committed. You have to keep at it, day after day...That's the way things change. You want a magic fix that will enable you to go back to watching television tomorrow? It's not there."
~ Noam Chomsky, interviewed in The Sun, issue 334

"Rather than deny the existence of something he couldn't perceive himself, he acknowledged the authenticity of his uncertainty and carried on, praying in the face of his doubt. After all, Ignatius of Loyola, a soldier who had killed and whored and made a thorough mess of his soul, said you could judge prayer worthwhile simply if you could act more decently, think more clearly afterward. As D.W. once told him, "Son, sometimes it's enough just to act less like a shithead." And by that kindly if inelegant standard, Emilio Sandoz could believe himself to be a man of God."
~ Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow

I was talking with my father the other day regarding signs and their meaning and importance. He shared that he gets most of his "messages" (my word, not his) through music, words and phrases popping out while the rest fades into the background. After thinking about it, I realized that mine happen the same way with books as the medium. I will be reading along, feeling thoroughly caught up in a story when suddenly a sentence or paragraph will strike me as particularly vibrant, not because of how it relates to the story, but because of how it relates to my life.

As my father and I discussed, the importance of these signs isn't in their existence, but rather in one's reaction to them. The first step, noticing them, is not nearly so important as the second, acting upon them. The signs that go un-noticed remain just that. The signs that go ignored become mistakes, missed opportunities and reason for self-recrimination. Can I learn to act on these signs that I am so often recognizing? Do I want to? Wouldn't it just be easier to return to ignorance and never know what I am missing? Simpler to pretend that my life is the result of fate rather than the result of my reactions and free-will?