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Entering The Kingdom
“I see,” I said. “And what do you teach?”
“On the basis of my history, what subject would you say I was best qualified to teach?”
I blinked and told him I didn’t know.
“Of course you do. My subject is: captivity.”
“Among the people of your culture, which ones want to destroy the world?”
“As far as I know, no one specifically wants to destroy the world.”
“And yet you do destroy it, each of you.
Each of you contributes daily to the destruction of the world. Why don’t you stop?”
I shrugged. “Frankly, we don’t know how.”
“You’re captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live.”
{Ishmael talking with his student, Alan Lomax}
— Daniel Quinn — Ishmael
*
Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector.
Hate is a lack of imagination.
I had to touch you with my hands, I had to taste you with my tongue; one can’t love and do nothing.
But it is impossible to go through life without trust; that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.
