In a Nutshell

Victor Pelevin “The Sacred Book of Werewolf”

‘The real super-werewolf is a heavenly being.  A heavenly being never loses her connection with the heavens.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘In this world there is nothing but dust.  But when a heavenly being sees the dust, she remembers the light that makes the dust visible.  While a tailless monkey only sees the dust on which the light falls.  That’s why when a heavenly being dies, she becomes light.  But when a tailless monkey dies, he becomes dust.’

‘Light, dust,’ he said, ‘so there is something there after all!  There is some kind of individual personality.  You’ve definitely got one, Ginger.  I’ve felt that pretty strongly just recently.  Or will you tell me I’m wrong?’

‘This personality, with all its quirks and stupidities simply dances like a doll in the clear light of my mind.  And the more stupid this doll’s quirks, the clearer the light that I recognize over and over again.’

‘Now you’re saying “my mind”.  But you only just said it’s not yours.’

“That’s the way language works.  It’s the root from which infinite human stupidity grows.  And we were-creatures suffer from it too, because we’re always talking.  It’s not possible to open your mouth without being wrong.  So you shouldn’t haggle over words.’

‘All right.  But the personality that dances like a doll – that’s you, isn’t it?’

‘No.  I don’t think of this personality as me, because I’m very far from being a doll.  I am the light that makes it visible.  But the light and the doll are only metaphors, and you shouldn’t clutch at them.’

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Posted on November 28th, 2009 under Literature, Quotes • Tags: "The Sacred Book of Werewolf", dust, heaven, language, light, meaning, mind, personality, quirks, quirky, stupidity, Victor Pelevin. • • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback