Vickie

“Beware:
All too often,
We say
What we hear others say.
We think
What we’re told that we think.
We see
What we’re permitted to see.
Worse!
We see what we’re told that we see.
Repetition and pride are the keys to this.
To hear and to see
Even an obvious lie
Again
And again and again
May be to say it,
Almost by reflex
Then to defend it
Because we’ve said it
And at last to embrace it
Because we’ve defended it
And because we cannot admit
That we’ve embraced and defended
An obvious lie. …
Thus, without thought,
Without intent,
We make
Mere echoes
Of ourselves—
And we say
What we hear others say.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents

“The great illusion of mind is its singularity. The lie that it originates from some inalienable and solitary point. The self. The soul. On Earth, mind arises from the interactions of millions of neurons, deceiving the organism into believing that it thinks.”
― Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shroud

“how do i teach my ears to hear songs without the ghosts of you inside of them?”
― Sabrina Benaim, Depression & Other Magic Tricks

“The more one knows, the sooner one grows old,” Midnight returned cheerfully.”
― Katherine Arden, The Girl in the Tower