19 Jul Dedicated to Paul Rand

Man has two ways through life. The way of the dog and the way of god.

Dog/God is a semordniap, a word whose letters read backwards also spell a word but with a different meaning.

The way of the “dog” and the way of “god” are suggested by the typeface of each word. “dog” begins with the letter “d” whose topmost part is above the horizontal axis of the word and ends in “g” whose lowermost part is below the horizontal axis. This suggests that the way of the dog begins in the heavens and ends below the ground. It begins with a sense of superiority, arrogance, and ends in equality with all. Likewise, “god” begins with “g” whose lowermost part is below the horizontal axis and ends in “d” whose topmost part is above the horizontal axis. It begins with equality, modesty, and ends in the heavens, in oneness with God. Simply, starting with arrogance leads us to death and starting with modesty leads us to the heavens.

The way of the dog is animal consciousness and the way of god is divine consciousness.

“o” is a symbol of perfection. The space within and the space without the “o” are mutually exclusive, mutually dependent and all there is. It is the now, the akin Earth experience of both dog and god; differing only in that the dog way enters the now with a sense of arrogance and the god way enters the now with modesty. Beyond the Earth experience, there are two ways: the way to the ground (the dog way) and the way to the heavens (the god way), death or transition. The choice between the ways is easy; dog is not man’s best friend, God is.

Paul Rand was a personal friend, a graphic designer who assiduously focused on typefaces. I was with Paul at his deathbed. Paul didn’t die, he transitioned.