>>>>>>> Can [be] encountered empirically? How exactly do you mean that? Do you mean in this lifetime?
>>>>>
>>>>>Of course. That is why Christianity is called a walk of faith.
>>>>
>>>>How did you do that? You answered Mikes post, but you're response is attached to my post.
>>>>
>>>>Is this one of those miracle thingees?
>>>
>>>Occam's razor would suggest g[backspace]cut'n'paste inheritance-similar mechanisms before entering the miracle area.
>>
>>
>>Ye of little faith! <g>
>
>Ask him if Occam's razpor explains why somebody would go through the touble of removing my entire post and pasting in yours before sending me the reply. Go ahead, ask him, ask him.


I do not need to ask. I know, for it is written.

Have spent the last few minutes enjoyably perusing Graham Greene links on the web. Maybe it's time to reread his books again. One of the reasons he appeals to me is his comfort level with ambiguity and human frailty, but there is one question I can answer unambiguously. When anyone asks who my favorite writer is, I answer "Graham Greene" without hesitation. And that's out of lots of favorite writers. The droll style, the romantic hopes fighting against world weariness, the pure beauty of so many of his runs of words. One I remember particularly -- although not particularly enough to quote it exactly or even say which novel it was in <lol> -- had something to do with a man buying a packet of Weights and trains leaving the Outer Circle every two minutes.

Here is a sample, the opening passage of "The Third Man". Well, no, it's not a sample passage; not even Graham Greene was this good all the time. It does give a flavor of what came to be called "Greeneland."

"One never knows when the blow may fall. When I saw Rollo Martins first I made this note on him for my security police files: 'In normal circumstances a cheerful fool. Drinks too much and may cause a little trouble. Whenever a woman passes raises his eyes and makes some comment, but I get the impression that really he'd rather not be bothered. Has never really grown up and perhaps that accounts for the way he worshipped Lime.' I wrote there that phrase 'in normal circumstances' because I met him first at Harry Lime's funeral. It was February, and the gravediggers had been forced to use electric drills to open the frozen ground in Vienna's Central Cemetery. It was as if even nature were doing its best to reject Lime, but we got him in at last and laid the earth back on him like bricks."