GENESIS ON A BOOK SHELF (excerpt)

Because of words, Man is different from that mute animal whose past vaporizes quickly, and whose entire universe consists of that which lies immediately in front of him. The world of that other animal contains no abstract anticipation; there is nothing outside his periphery to revere or fear. Nothing exists outside his periphery,

If words were the tools that led to the creation of culture, creation of the abstract, affirmation of the past, hopes for the future, then the written word immortalized the fleeting thought and institutionalized concepts.

You don’t need Genesis to believe in miracles. With the written word, you can sit in your solitude and share a moment or share a dream with someone who has been dead for a thousand years. How’s that for a miracle?