“Americans have different ways of saying things. They say ‘elevator’, we say ‘lift’…they say ‘president’, we say ‘stupid psychopathic git’…”
– Alexi Sayle
Last month, Charles Manson was on TV.
The interviewer asked him, “Are you crazy?” and Manson replied, “Of course I’m crazy, I am completely insane. But before, it meant something. Now everyone is crazy.”
“Everything is concealed in symbolism. . . . The large doors slide open, they close unbidden. Energy waves, incident radiation . . . code words and ceremonial phrases. It is just a question of deciphering. . . . Not that we would want to. . . . This is not Tibet. . . . Tibetans try to see death for what it is. It is the end of attachment to things. This simple truth is hard to fathom. But once we stop denying death, we can proceed calmly to die. . . . We don’t have to cling to life artificially, or to death. . . . We simply walk toward the sliding doors. . . . Look how well-lighted everything is . . . sealed off . . . timeless. Another reason why I think of Tibet. Dying is an art in Tibet . . . Chants, numerology, horoscopes, recitations. Here we don’t die, we shop. But the difference is less marked than you think.”
-Don Delillo