But even as the influence of decentralized ideas grows, there is a deepseated resistance to such ideas. At some deep level, people seem to have strong attachments to centralized ways of thinking. When people see patterns il the world (like a flock of birds), they often assume that there is some type of centralized control (a leader of the flock). According to this way of thinking, a pattern can exist only if someone (or something) creates and orchestrates the pattern. Everything must have cause, an ultimate controlling factor. The continuing resistance to evolutionary theories is an example : many people still insist that someone or something must have explicitly designed the complex, orderly structures that we call Life.
Mitchel Resnick (Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams, p.7, MIT Press, 1994)
Je subis une crise d’équilibre !
Natalie Clifford-Barney (Éparpillements, p.22, Persona, 1982)
[Le poète] est humain et veut partager ce qu’il comprend à la vie. Retenir ce qu’il y découvre de précieux. Illuminer ce qu’il y trouve d’odieux. Propager ce qu’il y voit de miraculeux. Dénoncer ce qu’il y remarque d’injuste.
Mikaël Ollivier (Celui qui n’aimait pas lire, p.49, De La Martinière, 2004)
L’eau que tu bois
A connu la mer.
Eugène Guillevic (Du domaine, p.105, Poésie/Gallimard)
Devant la mer houleuse
la corde à sauter
ouvre un vide
Niji Fuyuno (Haiku, trad. Corinne Atlan et Zéno Bianu, p.182, nrf, Poésie/Gallimard, 2002)