The Story of Your Life
I just read Bruce Sterling’s The Artificial Kid, from way back in 1980, when cyberpunks were still writing manifestos. I was struck by this passage (our heroes are swapping life stories):
Anne said, “I believe in God, the catalyst of life, the core of the universe, the essence of good. I believe in good, and I believe in evil, and I have sworn to support the first and destroy the second. I believe in a soul, which is manifested in matter, but is different from matter and superior to it. God breathed life into matter, because God is pure soul, and the souls of all living things return to God when their stay in the realm of matter is dissolved by death. Evil comes when the pure and passionless soul is polluted by material lust and greed. The way of salvation is to purge the soul of evil and return to the good. All forms of life contain some good, because they all come from God; therefore all life is sacred, and not to be wantonly destroyed. Such in the creed of my Church; such is my creed; such is my faith.”
After this strange statement, she fell silent for so long that I thought she had finished. I was annoyed and amused. “That’s it, then?” I said mockingly. “That’s your life story?”
“That is the core of it,” she said. “The rest is only personal details.”
What’s your life story, stripped of the personal details?
The Universe was created so that I could have fun.
Posted by Jimcat on June 2 2005 05:16