...Genuine pathological openness is about as seductive as Tourette's Syndrome.

There are secrets within secrets, though--always.

In fact, the likeliest reason why so many of us care so little about politics is that modern politicians makes us sad, hurt us deep down in ways that are hard even to name, much less talk about.

The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: "This is water." "This is water." It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out.

Please learn the pragmatics of expressing fear: sometimes words that seem to express really invoke. This can be tricky.

The other half is to dramatize the fact that we still "are" human beings, now. Or can be.

Fiction is about what it is to be a human being.