“Life is 2 things. First, life is a boat. All day long you row your boat. And while you row, you see things, you hear things, you do things. Until your boat is full. That’s the first part of your life. You and your boat. Then comes the second part. You go a shore. In the day you gather, in the night you dream. Life is two things. In the day you gather, in the night, you dream. In the day you crossed the sea and now in the night in your coastal camp, you stare into the fire and all of the contents of your day’s cargo display themselves in the flames. The junk and the diamonds, the smoke of lust and the rough, knotted rope of grief. A montage in the fire, an overwhelming montage. Feeling of despair and hope. The despair says, I will drown and I will never understand anything. But hope says, wait. When the day is done, when we’re left to ourselves, when the fire punches a circle in the dark, we look for a storyteller with a tale to tell. Because the right story enlists your soul in its enterprise. It’s the soul that sees gods and the constellations, and I would venture to say that for most of us in this room, our souls are underemployed.”