Man is troubled by spirits/habits/planets, which have no purpose, no intentions, and which cause no consequences and leave no memory. Yet at their moment of visitation, they trouble man; just at that very, non-purposeful, inconsequential, and forgettable moment – they trouble man.
What a curious and accursed plague.
If a situation you don’t like has no actual consequences, then what’s the point in worrying about it, and wanting to change it?
Being asleep, (forgetting Aunt Selma, having a dog that runs off), they are all situations which have no consequences, or even symptoms, and any that a sleeper might name will be symptoms common to all men, and are ultimately merely THE symptom of being alive.
(Note: The only actual symptom there is of being alive is that –
you’re not dead.)
One day one man suddenly thought, “I believe I’ve swallowed something!” He pondered what he’d thought for a moment, then further thought, “That would explain a lot.” Then after a few seconds more he suddenly thought, “No, I believe that something has swallowed me! Now that would explain EVERYTHING!”
J.