excerpt from choke that i found very interesting
the mommy, she used to tell him she was sorry. people had been working for so many years to make the world a safe, organized place. nobody realized how boring it would become. with the whole world property-lined and speed-limited and zoned and taxed and regulated, with everyone tested and registered and addressed and recorded. nobody had left much room for adventure, except maybe the kind you could buy. on a roller coaster. at a movie. still, it would always be that kind of faux excitement. you know the dinosaurs aren't going to eat the kids. and because theres no possibility of real disaster, real risk, were left with no chance for real salvation. real elation. real excitement. joy. discovery. invention.
the laws that keep us safe, these same laws condemn us to boredom.
without access to true chaos, well never have true peace.
unless everything can get worse, it wont get any better.
she used to say, "the only frontier you have left is the world of intangibles. everything else is sewn up too tight." caged inside too many laws.
by intangibles, she meant the internet, movies, music, stories, art, rumors, computer programs, anything that isnt real. virtual realities. make-believe stuff. the culture.
the unreal is more powerful than the real.
because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it.
because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. stone crumbles. wood rots. people, well, they die.
but things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.
if you can change the way people think, she said. the way they see themselves. the way they see the world. if you do that, you can change the way people live their lives. and thats the only lasting thing you can create.
besides, at some point, the mommy used to say, YOUR MEMORIES, YOUR STORIES AND ADVENTURES, WILL BE THE ONLY LASTING THING YOU CAN CREATE.
the laws that keep us safe, these same laws condemn us to boredom.
without access to true chaos, well never have true peace.
unless everything can get worse, it wont get any better.
she used to say, "the only frontier you have left is the world of intangibles. everything else is sewn up too tight." caged inside too many laws.
by intangibles, she meant the internet, movies, music, stories, art, rumors, computer programs, anything that isnt real. virtual realities. make-believe stuff. the culture.
the unreal is more powerful than the real.
because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it.
because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. stone crumbles. wood rots. people, well, they die.
but things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.
if you can change the way people think, she said. the way they see themselves. the way they see the world. if you do that, you can change the way people live their lives. and thats the only lasting thing you can create.
besides, at some point, the mommy used to say, YOUR MEMORIES, YOUR STORIES AND ADVENTURES, WILL BE THE ONLY LASTING THING YOU CAN CREATE.