Of all the emotions and settled thoughts which have convinced me inalterably – or at the very least persuaded me beyond hesitation – two set themselves apart. One, is the recognition that razor clams in brine are not for everyone. Two, is the recognition that certain people are crazy. These are naturally purely metaphorical. The first for example captures the peculiarly individual – and innately powerful – characteristic of each of us. The second – though admittedly not as patent – is a universal trait which springs from a lapse which any one of us might suffer. Consider those instances when sudden paranoia or frightful impalpability arise.
These trademarks are not world-altering but they assist to direct one’s mind. The razor clam allegory is a reminder that being a gourmand is not necessarily everyone’s avenue to discovery. It is as axiomatic to me that one should establish one’s individual tastes as it is for me to say, “If you do what you like, then you’ll like what you do!” Yet this inescapable truth often struggles for air. Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated or contaminated by others whose only ambition is their personal favour. It helps in these matters to be guided by the principle that, “The best mask for a treacherous heart is an honest face!” or that, “Flattery is a net before another man’s feet“. The distillation is that when all the rubbish burns off, what’s left is closest to the heart of things. The process is inevitable though you can abuse its evolution by unnecessarily protracting the acceptance or pretending to be someone else.
The crazy code is ironically driven not by some very unchristian name-calling but rather by the need to accept the reality of others. Sometimes that reality is messy or disturbing.The easiest way for me to express this agenda is to compare it to the adage that one should believe what one sees. This caution directs us to ensure we haven’t confounded another’s meaning by imposing the wrong features. The result of such obfuscation is an avoidance of what is being communicated to us.
