Five men sat around a camp fire in Mendocino County long ago. Each expressed his fear, anxiety and resentment regarding the laws, principles and forces of the universe. One man railed against the extent of the necessary. Another feared chance. A third was in the grip of compulsions. A fourth felt victimized by karma. I most feared, resented and found incomprehensible the strain of irony in the universe.

Necessity, chance and compulsion did not seem to require supermundane intervention. Physical laws, statistical probabilities and patterns of behavior seemed to explain the workings of these three.

Karma, however, and irony seemed to extend to and from the visible and immaterial realms. These two seemed to require response, continuation and completion, partially shaped by forces far subtler than physical. Karma might require psychic consent, but who consciously consents to irony? Irony seemed almost infernal or impish. Almost a kind of black humor. Why would a benevolent power provide for so much irony? Justice often is unobservable in the torture of irony.

The next morning we realized that our philosophical and metaphysical discussions had so engrossed us, that we had left unprotected our supplies. A bear had not missed the opportunity. Thus began again our discussion of the night before.

– Raphael O’Suna,  Haiku