“It goes without saying that I am essentially a religious person, and always have been.”—Henry Miller, The World Of Sex

“The great work must inevitably be obscure, except to the very few, to those who like the author himself are initiated into the mysteries.”—Henry Miller, Wisdom Of The Heart

Nothing like a good quote or two to get one’s mind back into the game when you’ve been off getting things done of late. After all, not many of us have the luxury of devoting ourselves full time and wholeheartedly to Art, Poetry, or whatever you might want to call what goes on here at the Cafe. And to be honest, I wouldn’t want to. That’s because to my thinking love of family and involvement in community provides the essential nutrients in a balanced and indeed joyous participation and hence outlook on Life. Walking the son and heir to school, putting in a little work for the manna here and there, tidying up around the house for the beloved wifal unit, playing a family game of Settlers Of Catan, all share equally and indeed enrich whatever time is left for the happenings here at the Omphalos Cafe.

On the other hand, isn’t the devoting of oneself full time and wholeheartedly… not to art or poetry… but to the ‘whatever’ portion of what goes on here at the Cafe the aim of each and every one of us when all is said and done? What else is there but the making of every act and moment of one’s day a sanctified instant, an atonement (at-one-ment) with …. Life?

Wow, big New Agey words. But how else describe, explain—point towards— a full and unhesitating, unsullied participation in the Great Passing Through we momentarily delineate and distinguish as you, I, and every other living creature we share this modest little wing of the vast universe with?

Miller writes of being “…essentially a religious person….” He is referring to religious in its original sense: from the Latin ‘religar’ (or something to that effect), to bind or connect. All artists are essentially religious, aware and dealing with the bonds and connections we as humans have—and periodically lose—with one another and the world about.