It only just came to me earlier this morning that living the life of the domesticated ego is of course the very same thing as being totally and utterly nullified. The thought struck me with considerable force, I can tell you. I know it doesn’t feel like that and I know that no one would believe you if you told them but that’s precisely the point – you can’t know, it’s not permitted for you to know. We absolutely don’t want to know anyway so that pretty much seals the matter. That pretty much puts a rubber stamp on it, and a very official one at that! Signed and sealed and we’ll leave it at that so we will. We’ll leave it at that if we know what’s good for us! It never pays to go against the authorities after all. So the point is that we’re allowed only enough freedom to be able to play our little games – we are permitted – within the privacy of our own narcissistic envelope or cocoon – to entertain this little fantasy where we’re having a great life and are a great person. Exemplary, in fact. All very odious of course but part of the setup is that we never notice that; we’re spared that disagreeable awareness – the awareness of our own squalor. We are granted this much in return for never taking any interest in what’s going on in the world and being automatically satisfied with any bullshit that we are told. We’re more than happy to accept this deal anyway because if we did start to take an interest in what’s going on in the world then the first thing we’d notice is that our life is deeply squalid and inauthentic and all the rest of it, and  – as I’ve already said  – we don’t want to notice that! Of course we don’t, naturally we don’t. So the deal is that we get to live in this pathetic little fantasy of ours (in which we are ‘the star of the show’) just as long as we leave the forces that run this world alone to get on with their sordid business, unobserved and not interfered with. Not that we could do a hell of a lot about it anyway, says you! This racket has been going on for a long time after all; these lads are pretty well established at this stage, you can be sure of that! So that’s the deal – that’s what it comes down to. Nice and simple, wouldn’t you say? Easy enough to understand. Easy enough, easy enough. That’s called ‘modern society’, don’t you know. That’s called ‘the modern world’. Isn’t it great? Life as we know it. It’s hard to imagine any other way it could be really. You’d would feel silly suggesting that there could be another way; you’d feel like complete fool. People would mock you in the street. They’d follow you home and piss in your porch. It’s a simple enough idea really as I think you will agree. Not too hard to grasp – we are kept happy with the very latest Ceramide hair technology whilst the evil empire thrives all around us. The irony here is rich indeed. The ultimate consequence of all this is of course our complete and utter nullification, as I started out by saying. That is ‘the Final Cut’, I suppose you could say. Like the Pink Floyd album. We spend our entire lives, most probably, feeling that we are great and that we are leading a meaningful life, that we are respected members of society and so on, when the whole time this is just a pitiable fantasy we are allowed to have just so long as we don’t make any trouble, just so long as we don’t rock the boat. Not that we could probably do very much anyway since no one would ever believe us! An old, old story, I know. Old but good. That’s exactly what our life amounts to – a hideous act of self-deception, a wilful ignoring of the appalling reality of our situation. Not exactly something that we can expect to receive a medal for, is it? We do expect that medal however – each and every one of us is secretly convinced that we deserve it.