To be sane, he held, was either to be sedated by melancholy or activated by hysteria, two responses which were 'always and equally warranted for those of sound insight'. All others were irrational, merely symptoms of imaginations left idle, of memories out of work. And above these mundane responses, the only elevation allowable, the only valid transcendence, was a sardonic one: a bliss that annihilated the universe with jeers of dark joy, a mindful ecstasy. Anything else in the way of 'mysticism' was a sign of deviation or distraction, and a heresy to the obvious. (โThe Medusaโ)
Thomas LigottiMost people learn to save themselves by artificially limiting the content of consciousness.
Thomas LigottiFor optimists, human life never needs justification, no matter how much hurt piles up, because they can always tell themselves that things will get better. For pessimists, there is no amount of happinessโshould such a thing as happiness even obtain for human beings except as a misconceptionโthat can compensate us for lifeโs hurt.
Thomas Ligotti