Mana

“Categorizing is necessary for humans, but it becomes pathological when the category is seen as definitive, preventing people from considering the fuzziness of boundaries,”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

“You need a story to displace a story.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

“It’s not fair!” Sunny wailed. “Why do you get to stay? Why can’t I stay, if you can?”

I had to swallow hard. “That wouldn’t be fair, would it? But I don’t get to stay, Sunny. I have to go, too. And soon. Maybe we’ll leave together.” Perhaps she’d be happier if she thought I was going to the Dolphins with her. By the time she knew otherwise, Sunny would have a different host with different emotions and no tie to this human beside me. Maybe. Anyway, it would be too late. “I have to go, Sunny, just like you. I have to give my body back, too.”

And then, flat and hard from right behind us, Ian’s voice broke through the quiet like the crack of a whip.

”What?”
― Stephenie Meyer, The Host

“Living on our planet, today, requires a lot more imagination than we are made to have. We lack imagination and repress it in others.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable