Wednesday, May 30, 2007

psuedo-deep ponderation

What if you had to include parenthetical citations with everything you said? How much of what we say is made up when we pretend it comes from reputable sources, and how much do we pretend we've made up when it's really something we read? When's the last time someone really said something original? I don't mean in an original way, or referring to some superficially unique situation, but involving some actual new perception about the nature of the universe. Do really influential ideas, the kind we don't usually realize we have, originate with any one person? Did someone, one day, say "You know, I bet that the human person is divided into a body and a soul" or "Hey, I think the world is based on a dualistic system of good and evil" or "I really don't think that there's such a thing as good and evil" or "There is a value to personal freedom"? I mean, people have said those things of course, but was there ever a point at which the idea was truly original? And do those things usually arise in large groups simultaneously, due to similar circumstances, or was there a first person?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Has anyone observed that every time a faucet leaks an angel blows its nose? Or that ninety-nine percent of time spent writing comments on blogs is wasted? Or that lust is an expense of spirit in a waste of shame? I guess that last one has been observed. But still. Be that as it may. All things to the contrary notwithstanding.
Dolor de Cabeza