From e0b1c2737397839ff5ba8c129d31baf6f97805fe Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Case Duckworth Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2015 13:10:17 -0700 Subject: Finish linking Elegy, Hezekiah; Rename files --- movingsideways.txt | 63 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+) create mode 100644 movingsideways.txt (limited to 'movingsideways.txt') diff --git a/movingsideways.txt b/movingsideways.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc373e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/movingsideways.txt @@ -0,0 +1,63 @@ +--- +title: Moving Sideways +genre: prose + +project: + title: Book of Hezekiah + css: hezekiah + order: 5 + next: + title: Problems + link: problems + prev: + title: Proverbs + link: proverbs +... + +A dog moving sideways is sick; a man moving sideways is drunk. Thus if +you want to be mindful of the movings of the universe sideways, become +either drunk or sick. By doing this you remove yourself from the +equation, and are able to observe, without being observed, the universe +as it dances sideways drunkenly. + +Shit wait. The problem is not that by observing you are observed +(although quantum mechanics may disagree[^1]), because obviously dogs +don't know we're observing them when we watch them through cameras in +their little yard while they play and eat and poop---who poops knowingly +on camera? The problem is *the actual act of observing that distorts the +world into what we want it to be*. + +What I want to know is this: Why is this necessarily a problem? The dog +is made, by mankind, to frolic and poop and sniff and growl and dig. Why +cannot the man be made to observe the world incorrectly around him, and +worry about it? Men have always wandered about the earth; does it not +make sense that also they should wonder in their minds what makes it all +work?[^2] In fact this is the very center of the creative being: the +ability to move sideways, to dance with reality and judge it as it +judges you, much like teenagers at the junior prom. + +Of course, reality doesn't judge us back. But that doesn't mean that it +doesn't! If you think it's judging you, then *observe in your +surroundings your own insecurities*. It is obvious that this way of +doing things is far from vogue; usually projecting [inner pain][] onto the +outer world is classified as pathology. However, this is because it is +assumed that the outer world is *on its own terms*, which it obviously +isn't, as far as we know. It follows that as [there is no backdrop][backdrop] +against which to judge our quirks, the quirks must not exist. Thus all +is right with the world. + +[inner pain]: telemarketer.html +[backdrop]: philosophy.html + +[^1]: Quantum mechanics, as is well known, are the most hornery and + least agreeable of all mechanics. The cost to get one quantum + serviced is usually at least eight times more expensive than the + cost of an average automobile tune-up, for reasons not clearly + known. The quantum mechanics themselves claim it's the smallness of + their work that justifies the price, but it doesn't really look like + they're doing anything, and besides, my quantum always seems to + break again within six months---maybe I'm just driving it too hard. + +[^2]: I attempted to strike this terrible pun from the account, but + Hezekiah demanded I keep it if he were to continue the relation of + his prophecy-slash-advice column -- cgit 1.4.1-21-gabe81