The tail of the kite, it is true, seems to negate the kite's function: it weights down something made to rise . . . - Cleanth Brooks

Without, its tail, the kite would fly off in the lightest breeze and allow it to be directed. Every force needs a counter-force to channel it effectively.

Ancient philosophers looked on the body as ballast for the mind. Without our physical anchor, they thought, our desires, our imagination, our ideas would run away with us and the world would go to wrack and ruin.

Our minds and our bodies aren't two different things. They're made of the same stuff. They make up one being. We can never say where one leaves off and the other begins, nor can we say that one weighs down the other.

We can say, though, that we contain within ourselves all sorts of contradictions, checks, and counter-forces. This makes life interesting. Looked at positively, it means that we can understand any human possibility because we contain them all.

Contradictions only bother me before I can see them as parts of a larger whole.

Ladies, Ask Yourself:

• What kinds of patterns do you follow?
• Where are the contradictions in that pattern?
• Based on what you just read, what have you learned?
• Based on what you just read and replied, how will you apply this to your life?