Art? What is it and what’s it for? These eternal questions kept coming up on our very artsy visit to London last week, where we took in:   Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam at the British Museum; Dickens & London at the Museum of London; the play “The Pitmen Painters” at the Duchess Theatre on Drury Lane, and even a visit to ancient Stonehenge. (2012/02/27)

There are, it seems, people even in this country, even in this century, who honestly, unironically believe that there is an intelligent, self-conscious force above and beyond humanity and that this force — generally thought of as male, and generally called God — has a will that it exercises over us and everything in the universe. (2000.09.01)