writer | canoeist | photographer | contemplative | My highest value is the appreciation of beauty and excellence. I notice it in nature, ideas, and people. My second highest value is truth. I seek it in thinking, relationships, and perception. I trust the great traditions, science, and I study religion, literature, and art tuned as they are for the heart. I appreciate the sparks of genius that come to all who think and question and ponder. It remains strangely evident -- the truth sets us free.