Dear Mr. Orwell

Wrightwood. Cal.

21 October, 1949

Dear Mr. Orwell,

It was very kind of you to tell your publishers to send me a copy of your book. It arrived as I was in the midst of a piece of work that required much reading and consulting of references; and since poor sight makes it necessary for me to ration my reading, I had to wait a long time before being able to embark on Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Agreeing with all that the critics have written of it, I need not tell you, yet once more, how fine and how profoundly important the book is. May I speak instead of the thing with which the book deals — the ultimate revolution? The first hints of a philosophy of the ultimate revolution — the revolution which lies beyond politics and economics, and which aims at total subversion of the individual's psychology and physiology — are to be found in the Marquis de Sade, who regarded himself as the continuator, the consummator, of Robespierre and Babeuf. The philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-Four is a sadism which has been carried to its logical conclusion by going beyond sex and denying it. Whether in actual fact the policy of the boot-on-the-face can go on indefinitely seems doubtful. My own belief is that the ruling oligarchy will find less arduous and wasteful ways of governing and of satisfying its lust for power, and these ways will resemble those which I described in Brave New World. I have had occasion recently to look into the history of animal magnetism and hypnotism, and have been greatly struck by the way in which, for a hundred and fifty years, the world has refused to take serious cognizance of the discoveries of Mesmer, Braid, Esdaile, and the rest.

Partly because of the prevailing materialism and partly because of prevailing respectability, nineteenth-century philosophers and men of science were not willing to investigate the odder facts of psychology for practical men, such as politicians, soldiers and policemen, to apply in the field of government. Thanks to the voluntary ignorance of our fathers, the advent of the ultimate revolution was delayed for five or six generations. Another lucky accident was Freud's inability to hypnotize successfully and his consequent disparagement of hypnotism. This delayed the general application of hypnotism to psychiatry for at least forty years. But now psycho-analysis is being combined with hypnosis; and hypnosis has been made easy and indefinitely extensible through the use of barbiturates, which induce a hypnoid and suggestible state in even the most recalcitrant subjects.

Within the next generation I believe that the world's rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience. In other words, I feel that the nightmare of Nineteen Eighty-Four is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World. The change will be brought about as a result of a felt need for increased efficiency. Meanwhile, of course, there may be a large scale biological and atomic war — in which case we shall have nightmares of other and scarcely imaginable kinds.

Thank you once again for the book.

Yours sincerely,

Aldous Huxley

Se não há tempo para sonhar
De que serve viver?
Se só estamos aqui para trabalhar
E no fim morrer?

Copo meio cheio

O que será que o futuro me reserva? Eis uma questão que raramente faço, por achar completamente desnecessário planeá-lo, uma vez que não temos a certeza daquilo que será, então como posso eu tentar controlar um aspeto incontrolável? Não é um pouco, egoísta da minha parte? Talvez, quiçá? Mas hoje, estou aqui a pensar nisso, enquanto oiço a Run dos Foo Fighters, que aproveito para acrescentar que acho fantástica, mesmo que o Dave Grohl abuse um pouco da sua capacidade de gritar sem provocar damage à sua garganta, pelo menos de forma aparente, mas acaba por ligar com aquilo que a música relata, com a sua edginess explosiva. Música essa que oiço, pela quinquagésima vez. É, não sei evitar ser obcecado com músicas, uma das minhas grandes falhas. Ou virtudes, quem sabe, depende do ponto de vista, Copo meio vazio ou meio cheio?

Onde é que eu ia? Ah sim, o futuro, esse misterioso tempo inalcançável que me deixa perplexo, pela sua filosofia, porque é um intervalo de tempo que se inicia após o presente e não tem um fim definido. Nunca terá, for that matter, porque ele nunca chega, é sempre interessante pensar nisto de um ponto de vista filosófico, porque ansiamos aquilo que nunca chega, e quando chega é assim mágico, momentâneo.

Mas a vida dá tantas voltas, há cinco anos atrás via as pessoas de um certo modo, tinha amizades que julgava serem para a vida e não supérfluas, e hoje aqui estou eu a olhar para aquilo que a minha vida era, e para aquilo que hoje é. Estou a repetir muitas vezes a palavra hoje não estou? Eu sei, mas não encontro outra forma de descrever estas vinte e quanto horas que passaram. Ou que passam. Ou que continuam a passar. E vão passar. E sempre passarão até ao fim dos meus dias.

Não vale a pena pensar nisto, porque o que quer que eu pense e/ou sinta, provavelmente o universo vai encarregar-se de arranjar uma maneira peculiar de fazer uma união com um universo paralelo, o que até à altura não fazia sentido, mas passa a fazer porque o universo assim o quer. E se ele assim o quer, quem sou eu para contrariar isso?

Corey Mother Fuckin' Taylor

""There's an unwritten responsibility that comes with this gig. People look to you for inspiration and guidance whether you like it or not.

"And I know a lot of people that don't like that responsibility. I take it very, very seriously.

"So in a lot of ways, I try to lead by example. And yeah, it's uncomfortable to open up like that, but at the same time, if you can't talk about an issue, how are you going to fix it?

"And that’s one of the things that people don't understand. If you just don't say anything, that's not going to fix the problem. You fix a problem by working on it, you know?

"I also know there's a giant stigma that comes with therapy and dealing with issues, with demons. A lot of people don't want to talk about it or look down at it or tend to make fun of other people for having it or engaging in it.

"I'm trying to break that down by showing people that, yes, I go to therapy as well and I'm still trying to work out my demons and the things I went through in my life.

"Will I ever get it all figured out? Probably not. But that's why it's a process.

"So if me bearing my shit and laying it all out helps people start to work on theirs as well, then where's the negative part of that? I can take criticism, I can take all that shit.

"But if I'm leading by example, why not? And if me doing that helps people get help and help themselves in their life and make better decisions and do better things for other people, that spreads like wildfire. I would be a fucking asshole not to try to do that.

"I'd like to think [that it's become easier to discuss mental issues]. But you can also be very myopic and only see your end of the cultural swimming pool whereas the world, the country, is still a big place.

"There's still big pockets even in places here in America where that's still looked down upon because of some stoic bullshit where it's like, 'Oh, you just sit on your problems, you shouldn't talk about it. Just suck it up, grow up.'

"Nah, that doesn't work for me, fuck you. Growing up and sucking it up is not the same thing.

"Growing up means owning your shit and if owning your shit means talking to someone, what's the problem?

"I think it's that tough-guy bullshit that people have bullshitted themselves into, which actually makes you weaker. It makes you more susceptible to negative things in life. Nobody wants to talk about that.

"It's one of the reasons why we have so many soldiers coming back with PTSD who are not getting the help they want because people around them for too long have told them to suck it up or get over it.

"That's not how you fix a problem. You don't fix a problem by getting over it, you fix a problem by talking about it and leaning on people who have been through it before. By talking to people, maybe you can get the answers that will help you with your problems.

"I have talked to so many soldiers who deal with PTSD and are so thankful that there's a network of veterans who have been through it before and have helped them get back on their feet.

"But people don't want to talk about that. I think maybe this is the time to talk about it. And I think maybe the juxtaposition is starting to break down and that conversation is starting to happen in places where maybe that conversation didn’t want to happen.

"But it's a cultural thing as well. It's not just the stigma of getting help but letting go of dogmatic bullshit that has been breaking us down for too fucking long of making the appearance of strength actually seem weak.""

like a stone

On a cob web afternoon,
In a room full of emptiness
By a freeway I confess
I was lost in the pages of a book full of death;
Reading how we'll die alone.
And if we're good we'll lay to rest,
Anywhere we want to go.

In your house I long to be;
Room by room patiently,
I'll wait for you there like a stone.
I'll wait for you there alone.

And on my deathbed I will pray to the gods and the angels,
Like a pagan to anyone who will take me to heaven;
To a place I recall, I was there so long ago.
The sky was bruised, the wine was bled, and there you led me on.

In your house I long to be;
Room by room, patiently,
I'll wait for you there like a stone.
I'll wait for you there alone, alone.

And on I read until the day was gone;
And I sat in regret of all the things I've done;
For all that I've blessed, and all that I've wronged.
In dreams until my death I will wander on.

In your house I long to be;
Room by room, patiently,
I'll wait for you there like a stone.
I'll wait for you there alone, alone.

Have a little patience