Still, a little knowledge helps stave off "the Imp of the Perverse." Thus, the reader is led to explore his or her own relationship with the larger world. The mathematics of navigation is like the code that governs the universe. Each of must undertake a study of this difficult subject, and hope to understand it as best we can. The way may be difficult. It may be fraught with high seas, or we may see lights that we mistake for those of another small boat, but which actually belong to a freighter that is big enough to swamp us, yet we continue on, braving the unknown.

Each adventure is another port on the voyage toward greater, and more complete, knowledge of the principles that guide our lives. The more we learn, the more we come to see that each individual piece of information fits together. Like the navigator, we assemble the pieces of a picture, and use those pieces to create a chart that will, with luck, guide ourselves and others. In life we...

This is a physical voyage. At work, we progress from novice to expert. This too, is a voyage. As children we go to school, and learn what it takes to be an adult. This is a voyage through life, one that continues on long past the days of the classroom. Life itself is all about learning and understanding. The more we learn, and the more we practice, the more we begin to see the similarities that underlie all voyages. We come to understand that navigation is universal and true. Somewhere out there, there is an absolute.
Work Cited

Philip Gerard. "Adventures in Celestial Navigation." In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction. Ed. Lee Gutkind. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., DATE.

Philip Gerard, "Adventures in Celestial Navigation," In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction, ed. Lee Gutkind (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., DATE) 248.

Gerard, 256-257.

Gerard, 254.

Gerard, 262.