The Ultimate Question

Algren:  What do you want from me?

Katsumoto:  What do you want for yourself?


- The Last Samurai

Views of Taisekiji - Small Bench

Small bench near the Demon Gate, Taiseki-ji Temple, Japan

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"The universe was made on purpose, the circle said.  In whatever galaxy you happen to find yourself, you take the circumference of a circle, divide it by its diameter, measure closely enough and uncover a miracle -- another circle drawn kilometers downstream of the decimal point.  There would be richer messages farther in.  It doesn't matter what you look like, or what you're made of, or where you come from.  As long as you live in this universe, and have a modest talent for mathematics, sooner or later you'll find it.  It's already here.  It's inside everything.  You don't have to leave your planet to find it.  In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature.  Standing over humans, gods, and demons, subsuming Caretakers and Tunnel builders, there is an intelligence that antedates the universe."

- Carl Sagan, Contact