Goethe at 12:50 A.M.

“We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I suppose each of us on some level make a deal with the devil, like Goethe's Dr. Faustus. Sometimes, the devil is a person, a job, a belief, or situation. Sometimes, it's a lie we tell ourselves until we believe it. Until the deception is the truth and we believe it, completely, regardless of personal harm or unhappiness. Many times we resign ourselves to our fate and continue on with the devil we know, rather than gather our courage and head to the edge of the world where cartographers warned, "there be dragons here" and the Vikings believed the Valkyries lurked.

The end is right there in the beginning. We know the truth, even if we chose to deceive ourselves.

At this moment, at 12:59 am in the morning, while my dogs sleep peacefully in thier dreams of utter veracity, I declare I saw the end that first day, and every day since, and that I have seen, and I will see, and at this moment, I see, the end, the beginning, and the finale.

I see, and can no longer deceive myself.