Asymmetry

Elisabeth, an artist born in the early thirties, told me that, on one of her honeymoons, her new husband asked whether she wanted to love or to be loved.

A point of departure for this neglected angle on life and its vexations.

Apparently, in biology, much is left-handed, rather than right.

I have noted that, on occasions when I have given something to someone, not out of generosity but because it was of small use to myself yet could be to the recipient, some time later they have returned a gift (usually useless to me, tho not because the gift was poor but because I live differently).

The expression "giving forward" has recently gained rightful currency.

Time, too, is asymmetric. It is unidirectional.

The principle (the insight) of universal symmetry is opposed to the much-cited and beloved Golden Rule, which, as I have argued here elsewhere, is at best silver.