Monks

Standing there thinking about the last few years of his life, he knew beyond a doubt that he no longer needed anyone. For the most part he really didn’t even like anyone. It was a reasoned approach, it was. He had never much liked them before the experiment, and now that the test was complete and the results were in the truth could not be avoided. Their near complete lack of thought, their sweeping inconsistencies. Even the ones you think you can like or respect, you
can't. Just get to know them better. To deal with people is to lie and lie and lie and lie and misrepresent the truth and compromise oneself and then lie again.

There are those moments, after laboring for great lengths of time, when poignancy or connectedness or a moment of truth occurs. Don't get caught up in those moments, because in the very next moment it will all be ruined in falseness.

A code. A system. Rules built from solid premises. Try to climb those stairs, take a step at a time keeping your head up and gazing toward the future while each movement gets easier and more fluid. The solitary walk. If you start at the bottom surrounded by others, you must push them all away or you’ll end up at the bottom surrounded by others wondering why you could never make it very far without falling back down again.

It really is so very simple. With each additional person, though, it becomes exponentially harder. You’ll still see where you need to go, you can see the heights you could reach, but each movement will be accompanied by a punch in the face or a knee to the groin. “Hey, where do you think you’re going? If we’re all down here, it can’t be so bad, can it? Come on back down here. Join us on the floor, we’re all really just bottom feeders anyway. Listen to the cliches, get
caught up in the nonsense and the drool and piss and baby talk. It’s where you belong.” Do whatever it takes to rid yourself of tapeworms.