There’s death in everything but I don’t mean the type of death that kills you – that would be merciful in comparison. No, I’m talking about the type of death that gets into your system and fills you up with deadly blankness, the blankness that attends those who have died on the inside, where it doesn’t necessarily show. Then we get plunged into The Game you see – the game of pretending that we’re OK when we’re not. The game of pretending that we’re not empty inside! What a great game that is – it is surely the greatest game of all time. If God invented anything better then He has kept it for Himself, as William Burroughs has so memorably said. The top players get to win prizes – theirs is the kudos that we all so urgently desire, the kudos that gets you noticed, the kudos that gets you to the very top of the shit pile. This is called societal validation.

There’s death in everything but it’s a disguised sort of death, the sort of death you wouldn’t ordinarily spot. The Flower of Corruption is blooming and all who see it remark upon its loveliness. The smell is rather abhorrent it is true but it’s nevertheless very pretty to look at – the Flower of Corruption has thick, velvety purple petals which feel like the ears of a large dog and delicate stamens of the most intense yellow you can imagine. Super-intense yellow that would almost hurt your eyes to look at it. It would hurt your eyes plenty in fact. Thick floppy purple petals that are strangely greasy to the touch. There’s death in everything, as I say.

We get to go through the motions therefore, we get to go through those old, old motions – the motions that have been appointed for us, allocated for us, ordained for us. Just as long as we keep on going through our allocated motions, and keep on smiling obligingly as we do so, then we’re sure to pass the test. Everyone wants to pass the test after all – that’s all we care about when it comes down to it. When it comes down to the absolute basics – as it always does in the end of course – then the only thing we really care about is whether we pass the test or not. Will other people like us|? Will we be waved on by blank-faced officials, their faces like expressionless slabs of meat – or will we get pulled out of the line and taken aside for questioning? Will we get a hearty slap on the back by our approving friends and colleagues or will we be met instead with looks of suspicion, looks of suspicion and fear?

Validation is what it’s all about, as I believe I have already said. To he who has been validated no harm shall ever come. To he who has been validated no honour is too great. Doors will open and dogs will wag their tails. ‘You’re welcome here’, everyone will say. ‘you’re very welcome here’… Death comes in many shades and colours and if one package doesn’t appeal to you another surely will. It’s the Product you see – everything’s the Product when it comes down to it.  We have been told to love the Product and we do – the thought of the Product is enough to bring a smile to anyone’s face! Our faces smile all by themselves like so many grinning masks. We go all giddy and start talking gibberish on cue. We gush like taps. We say the stupidest things but no on minds. No one minds at all…