Reification (660 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 2 on 15 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by The Yellow Dart (View user info) at 2006-04-12 14:37:25 EDT
"Tis an ill wind that blows no minds"
--
The thing about them is that they're out there. One day you'll wake up not knowing what time you dosed off, but know it must have been really late. You would have been up all night flirting with a dictionary trying to figure out what it was you saw.
An ordinary lunch at a familiar deli at your customary table with your usual server: Samantha. Lord knows she refused to see it when it skittered by; everyone does. It can't really exist, that would render sanity unbearable and make life so pointless that we'd fight over guns to shoot ourselves with.
You haven't come to this yet; you've yet to accept, nay, believe it. The dictionary has nothing on this though. It merely reaffirms what every other humanly produced concoction can, lest they turn out to be "irrelevant" or "disregarded" or a reason for others to tell the authors to lay off the drugs.
You're clean though. Haven't done drugs in ages, just did a physical a few months back and are considered healthy, and was mentally stable until... it.
It's terrifying to think about because since it ran past your old familiar state of mind you haven't been able to revert back to comfort and safety, where the only things you ever had to worry about (briefly) would be along the lines of terrorism, global warming, and having enough money in the bank to escape to even more comfort in the predictable future.
At least you can still fall asleep, you comfort yourself for a second. Fuck. You know that your life (and everyone else's for that matter) is based around comfort; avoiding certain facts; the entire world runs on this. Day in, day out, people obviously have no other choice but pretend that the metaphysical paradoxes and mind-blowing qualities of life don't exist or are better left not thought about.
You were told they didn't really exist. We tell each other they don't exist. They're just a problem with language and shouldn't be focused on when more important issues are at hand, like that report you're supposed to be writing about sales figures so your company can better ensure people concern themselves with what's important, which is obviously attaining money (something like a card game a person can make up and then just add and add to the rules with mounting detail and reasons for playing instead of taking a step back and wondering why the fuck you're wasting your extremely finite existence on a game of cards) so you can one day settle down and focus on your life's meaning: being arrogantly comfortable until one day after a lovely snack after church you croak and suddenly it means fuck-all.
Did you actually just come up with all that? You look around you. The clock reads 10:20 a.m.; you're definitely missing work today. Further off to your left you see it again. It's sitting with one leg dangling off the ledge of your bed's headboard (now would be a good time to mention it is about a foot tall).
Its head is tilted and it wears a grin. Of course your facial expression is one of silent terror, with dinner plate eyeballs and mouth agape, as if the innocent thing was actually physically threatening. No, it's much worse though. It threatens everything you've ever known.
Was is it?
Truth.
How can there be truth in a world of so many opinions and values? Why can't you make your own truths and go with them like the rest of the world has for its entire history? Why can't you be in control?
"You aren't important enough, silly", it responds to your thoughts in the same voice that was ranting earlier: your own. It manifests itself in your head while smirking on the headboard; lips peacefully sealed.
You gaze into its eyes, afraid of what you might see (typical human). One really cannot understand the significance of this moment without actually experiencing it for themselves. Why? Because you don't believe this is happening. You could never believe this scenario true merely because it can't be. No, dear reader, this is fiction to you, for it's starting to merit what you believe to be "the unknown".
Humanity doesn't care about what it doesn't know or thinks it cannot.
There is no "truth" out there. "Luck" doesn't exist either. There is no actual "rightness" or "wrongness", nor is there really such thing as "nothing" or "perfection" or even "freedom". These are all human made concepts that we slap terms like "objectively" and "subjectively" on, as if we made them and can control their use.
They are out there though. Truth's starring back at you, dumbing you down to the finite, meaningless, poor-sensed being that you truly are. Ignoring lets you pump yourself up to a level of dominance where you can ignore what you don't know and can focus on what you do (or think you can) know.
Are you going crazy? Of course not. In its eyes you finally see the significant insignificance of it all; the lack of importance in that report due on this day of hooky. Do you wish to end your insignificant life or pursue insignificance and embrace this finiteness as your own?
Comfort is what we all seek. In its eyes you find a new comfort. An indescribable comfort from knowing no barriers that cannot be pursued. No, you cannot best them, but you can try and not settle for a life of denial.
Truth vanishes from your sight, but never from your mind. They will call you insane for not caring about them. Humanity will be displeased to learn you do not need it; never again will you cower in its presence and demands for submitting to their line of thought. At present: you're not going to work today.
Why?
Exactly.
--
"Earning a living is regarded as moral. This is because a person who is answerable only to himself may or may not be wasting his time; an employed person is certain to be." - Celia Green
User Reviews
Submitted by Kale (user info) at 2006-04-16 20:28:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fair enough.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-04-16 15:32:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Pretty much.
Knowing all this is not easy. It's a labyrinth with no cheese. There is no 'end' to anything, and yet we have to listen to our hearts and sort out all these thoughts and try our best to follow the course of what we perceive to be the 'one true way'.
All the great religious icons talked about it. Whether we believe it exists or not, we are often at odds with what we feel is right and what we see ourselves doing.
For the agnostic, there is no ultimate truth, but at the same time everything is ultimate truth. There is no way of knowing ultimate or omniscient truth in this body. This body, and the mind that runs it is finite in its capability of calculating the real value of 'truth'.
Think of it in terms of calculating pi. You could set 100 million of the fastest computers on the planet to calculating pi for the next 100 million years, and you'd still be no closer to an absolute representation of pi than when you started.
The same goes for our minds and truth. We begin as children calculating what truth is to us based on all that we've seen or experienced, but there can never be enough information to pin it down. The best we can do is APPOXIMATE truth with regard to all the information we possess.
For me, the lessons of my youth will always shine through in my approximate perception of where truth must lie. The urging of my mother to always say "please" and "thank you", to always look both ways before crossing the street, to question authority if you feel they're wrong, to be respectful to the elderly, and to never hit women help me, still, to find my way in this ever-darkening and befuddling world.
Submitted by forthewin (user info) at 2006-04-16 14:49:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Kale: Did I say that on another one of his posts? Hmm, I guess I didn't change my mind about his writing, then. But, really, it's just so good, I think it deserves more recognition.
Submitted by Kale (user info) at 2006-04-16 14:43:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
er.. maybe I exaggerated a little.. but the sentiment remains
Submitted by Kale (user info) at 2006-04-16 14:38:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 though.. FTW, it's kind of strange how with every post he's written recently you have to say "wow this was good.. if only it got as much publicity as MY stuff"
I just don't think it's necessary.. he KNOWS his writing is fantastic
Submitted by Roth_Carson (user info) at 2006-04-16 14:29:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good stuff. A strong vibe of existentialism going on there. Definitely read up on Jean-Paul Sartre if you haven't done so already. The situation you describe is almost the perfect example of existentialist angst.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-04-12 23:43:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
ALRIGHT!
Great stuff right here. I don't think I've read enough of your work. This will have to be rectified.
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Truth's starring back at you
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I think this was supposed to say 'staring'. Small typo. That's all I've got. I have no real criticism for this whatsoever.
Submitted by forthewin (user info) at 2006-04-12 21:27:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think your writing is amazingly good.
Stuff like this should be on MVM, but instead it goes to people like me who blatantly target the incredibly large market of lazy viewers, who would rather take the easy route than actually bother reading a post that requires thinking a little bit.
Not that I'm complaining. I saw how things were and took advantage of the situation. I'm still a bit shocked that my plan of Uber domination succeeded.
Anyway, you are probably close to the best writer I've seen on this website. Please continue.
Submitted by GGG (user info) at 2006-04-12 21:26:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Now you listen here. This is a wonderful piece of writing. Call me ignorant, but I didn't know this place allowed such things.
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2006-04-12 19:59:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Quality over quantity, m'dear.
Alas, the time has come to talk at random about bridges.
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2006-04-12 19:34:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
your posts dont get nearly enough reviews.
but, sigh.
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2006-04-12 16:17:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I got to the truth statement and stopped. I don't fucking go for the personification of a broad word that has no real handle in the first place. I'm still waiting for a minotaur to kick me in the ass and serve me some chicken salad. That's truth.
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-04-12 15:33:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Reification is one of my favourite concepts. I'm not sure if I agree with it, but it's still cool.
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2006-04-12 14:50:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I would probably require beer to say much, as I'm actually quite a shy person 'round strangers.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-04-12 14:42:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Reading your posts always makes me think you'd be an interesting person to go for a beer with. But then alcohol, if taken in sufficient quantities, turns everyone into Oscar Wilde.
Yes, including the anal penetration and bad haircut.