Simplified Complexity

“We cannot fathom the marvelous complexity
of an organic being;
but on the hypothesis here advanced
this complexity is much increased.
Each living creature must be looked at
as a microcosm--a little universe,
formed of a host of self-propagating organisms,
inconceivably minute and as numerous
as the stars in heaven.”

-Charles Darwin

Imperfection

“We look for medicine to be an orderly field
of knowledge and procedure. But it is not.
It is an imperfect science,
an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge,
uncertain information, fallible individuals,
and at the same time lives on the line.
There is science in what we do,
yes, but also habit, intuition,
and sometimes plain old guessing.
The gap between what we know and what we aim for persists.
And this gap complicates everything we do.” 
― Atul Gawande,
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on An Imperfect Science

Balloons

Who knows if the moon's
A balloon coming out of a keen city
In the sky - filled with pretty people?

-E.E. Cummings 

Vino ~ The Process

"The discovery of wine

is of greater moment than

the discovery of a constellation.

The universe is too full of stars."

-Benjamin Franklin, c. 1700